Important Links and Updates

Instructors and Mentors

Leads: 

• Fei Dai (Caltech)

• Howard Isaacson (UC Berkeley)

• Chetan Chawla (ZS, ASIAA)

Mentors (To be announced): 

• TBD

Dates and schedule

Duration: Monday, June 12th, 2023 to Monday, August 7th, 2023 (8 weeks)

Sessions: The Instructor-led sessions on tools used in astronomy research will be done via asynchronous video sessions uploaded on YouTube throughout the duration of the workshop.

The class will meet for one hour at 5 pm Pacific Time on Mondays in a virtual audio/visual connection (Zoom) for doubt sessions and one-on-one with the mentors.

Time Commitment: Students are expected to commit 5-10 hours per week outside of the sessions to the tutorials, assignments, and readings.

Course Content and Structure

The Instructor-led sessions on tools used in astronomy research will be done via asynchronous video sessions uploaded on YouTube throughout the duration of the workshop

The one-hour meeting at 5 pm PT on Mondays will be instructor-led and will include:

• An introduction to the weekly topics

• One-on-one discussions with the mentors to clear doubts and ask questions

• Discussion of the research paper assigned for self-reading from the previous week

• A short writing prompt on a variety of astronomy-related topics. 

Specific topics include, but are not limited to the following:

• Introduction to programming (in Python)

• Creating scatter plots of real astronomical data

• Fitting transit light curves and modeling radial velocities for exoplanets.

• Querying online data archives (Gaia, MAST, Exoplanet Archive)

• Planetary Geology

• Machine Learning in Astronomy

• Studying Galaxies

• Creating professionally-oriented research websites and CVs

• Writing a research proposal on the topic of their choice

How to Register as a Student:

Fill out a basic interest form with your contact information to stay updated about the 2023 program, and that's it. There are no prerequisites in terms of content or programming and no formal enrollment in a University or Community College is required. The program is open to international students.

The target audience for this course is first and second-year undergraduate students, and advanced high school students who are interested in gaining experience in astronomy research but have no previous research experience, but typically anyone who is interested can apply.

Registrations are now closed for 2023. You can still check out the tutorials on YouTube and assignments on Github (links above).

How to Volunteer as a Mentor:

We ask graduate-level students and advanced undergraduates who are interested in mentoring undergraduate students, developing open-source educational tutorials, and sharing their astronomy inspiration to volunteer their time for the program. The mentors are expected to develop/update tutorials on open-source tools and techniques used in astronomy research (focussed on, but not limited to exoplanets), deliver the session(s) on the same, and help mentor the next generation of astronomy enthusiasts in developing their research skills.

The commitment is small (a few hours per week), and very rewarding, as we are inspiring young undergraduate students to continue into Astronomy.  The primary hour of instruction will be Mondays at 5 pm Pacific Time from June 12th to August 7th. Developing the tutorials and helping mentor the students via Piazza/office hours would be asynchronous based on your availability.

We will be opening the forms again in ~April 2024. If you'd want to connect in the meantime, please drop an email to Fei Dai at fdai-at-caltech-dot-edu (replace -at- by @ and -dot- by .).