AST 185C - Conference on Modern Astronomy

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AST 185C - FALL 2005
Dinerstein, Wed. 2-3 PM, RLM 15.216A (Edmonds Lounge)

Philosophy of this course
AST 185C is a professional development seminar tailored for incoming graduate students in the UT Astronomy Ph.D. program. It is informal, consisting mainly of information, advice, and discussion. The main activity is weekly attendance and participation. We will try to address questions and issues that can be important to your progress in our program, and in astronomy as a profession, but don't generally come up in conventional courses. UT's Graduate School offers a number of less field-specific professional development courses, as well as occasional one day workshops on topics such as grant proposal writing, applying for academic jobs, etc.

Topics
A major goal of the semester is to give you an in-depth overview of research activities at UT Austin, including the areas of stellar, interstellar, extragalactic astronomy, planetary systems, and theory. This may be particularly useful if you have not yet picked a research area and advisor, but even if you know what your area of specialization will be, it is a good thing to know generally about what is going on in the department. We will also discuss issues such as: What does it really take to succeed in graduate school and beyond? What are the prospects of finding a job, what kind of jobs are available, and how does one prepare for various career paths? These questions will be addressed by a variety of guest with various backgrounds and experiences.

What is expected of you in this class?
To attend regularly, except in case of illness or conflicting activities such as an observing run. Several class sessions will require a little bit of preparation (one round of short oral presentations and and possibly a brief survey or reading), but most of the time you'll come just to listen, ask questions, and participate in discussions.

Books, Resources
A couple of books I like are: 1. "A Ph.D. is Not Enough! A Guide to Survival in Science," Peter J. Feibelman (1993), Addison-Wesley paperback. 2. "To Boldly Go: A Practical Career Guide for Scientists," Peter S. Fiske (1996), American Geophysical Union. These and other materials, including a looseleaf notebook for this course, will be on a shelf in Peridier Library labelled "Careers." There is also a lot of material on the Web these days. Note in particular the Career Services site of the AAS, http://www.aas.org/career/index.htm, and the on-line "early career" advice website of the AAAS's Science magazine, http://nextwave.sciencemag.org.

Topics for discussion in Ast 185C (not necessarily in this order)

Introduction to research at Texas:
- research facilities at McDonald Observatory (and elsewhere)
- research activities at Texas, reviewed by research area (five sessions)
Survival and success in the UT Astronomy program:
- the official program (A to Z)
- perspectives from several graduate students who are further along in the program
Survival and success in an astronomy career:
- statistics on the current job market in astronomy & how UT grads have fared
- how to get yourself and your work known, job hunting strategies & advice from post docs
- grantsmanship, professional norms, & ethical issues
- non-academic careers, e.g. "industry," soft-money, and observatory or mission support
Professional and communication skills
- we'll do short practice oral presentations (before you have to do it in a seminar or class)
- and discuss what goes on in the peer review process for journal articles & grant proposals

7 September 2005
Astronomy Program · The University of Texas at Austin · Austin, Texas 78712
prospective student inquiries: studentinfo@astro.as.utexas.edu
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