ASTRO 376 (UNIQUE 47760)/FALL 2010
           	 A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH
                	  COURSE OUTLINE 

I will try to adhere to the course calendar below as closely as possible, 
but there may be changes as the pace of the in-lab exercises depends on
the students. The most current version of the calendar can be found at 
    http://www.as.utexas.edu/~sj/a376-fa10/a376-fall10-calendar.txt
In-class activities and quizzes can take place at any time in the semester 
and are not always listed on the course calendar. 



====== Week 1+2  (Aug 26, Aug 31, Sep 2, Sep 7)

- Course overview 

- What is scientific research and the scientific method?

- Guidelines for the scientific method of enquiry

- Typical steps in an  observational scientific project
     -  Identify an important problem/research question
     -  Put the question  in the 'big picture' context.
      - Select an appropriate sample
     -  Obtain observations or data for the project
     -  Reduce and analyze data  (via  mathematical model, statistics, etc) 
     -  Report results with their statistical significance
     -  Critical evaluation of results & systematic effects
     -  Compare observational results to theory
     -  Write up results according to guidelines of Scientific method 
     -  Report results via different modes: posters, papers, talks

- Difference between theoretical and experimental projects 

- Understanding the different ways to communicate scientific results
   - Posters
   - Unrefereed papers
   - Refereed papers 
   - Oral presentations 

-  How to search for different types of scientific literature
-  How is research funded? How does this impact you?
-  Ethical concerns and responsibilities of research

-  What is a research University? 
   Who are typical members of  a research department?

-  Why  Participate in Undergraduate  Research at UT? 
-  Getting Involved in UG Research at UT : 10 Tips 



====== Week 3 (Sep 9, Sep 14) 
- Hands-on Tutorial on the Linux operating system 
- Homework 1 and Quiz 1

====== Week 4  (Sep 16, Sep 21, Sep 23)
- Hands-on Tutorial on the Emacs text editor  
- In-class exercise/quiz with Linux and Emacs (Sep 23)

====== Week 5+6+7 (Sep 23, Sep 28, Sep 30, Oct 5, Oct 7, Oct 12)
- How telescopes and CCD work
- Characteristics of imaging data (depth, S/N, PSF, etc)
- Introduction to CCD reduction & photometry
- Hands-on Tutorial on IRAF
- Hands-on IRAF Exercise: Basic CCD Reduction  & Photometry"
- Hands-on IRAF Exercise: Structural Analysis


====== Week 8+9+10  (Oct 14, Oct 19, Oct 21, Oct 26, Oct 28)
- Hands-on Tutorial on IDL
  Array manipulations 
  Reading multi-dimensional catalogs
  Basic statistics
  Producing scatter plots & histograms

- IDL-based exercises


====== Week 11+12 (Nov 2, Nov 4, Nov 9, Nov 11) 
- Basic concepts in the study of distant astronomical objects
  Cosmological and Doppler Redshift 
  Bandpass shift
  Angular diameter distance
  Surface brightness dimming

- The Galaxies and Cosmos Explorer Tool
 (GCET; http://www.as.utexas.edu/gcet/)

- Hand-on exercise with IDL and GCET: Exploration of extreme
  systems at early epochs 

====== Week 13+14  (Nov 16, Nov 18, Nov 23. No class on Nov 25=Thanksgiving)
- Tutorial on Near-Infrared Spectroscopy with IDL

====== Week 15 (Nov 30 and Dec 2) 
- Final lecture: Class Goals, Skills Learnt, Future Steps
- Template CV 
- Mini Latex Primer