SLUG Meeting: April 22nd

Meeting Minutes

A huge welcome to Jonathan Fortney's students who will be working down the hall.

1. Equipment Purchase
• We've discussed both the existing inventory and the items on the Google Doc that will be submitted to Patti Schell for ordering. Enrico has stressed that we should submit one giant order to minimize paperwork for Patti, so please add items to the Doc right away if you think we are missing something. Also, everyone should be checking over the list to ensure that we haven't forgotten anything either already in inventory or that is needed for purchase. 
• Andrea and Monique previously volunteered to get an inventory count and fill in the spreadsheet so we have a snapshot of what is still needed. 
2. Summer Schedule
• Please update your summer schedule (where everyone plans to be from June-September) at the link here. We can then share this with Jonathan and Enrico. Please fill this out as soon as possible. If you're not around, it's fun to hear what awesome workshops/summer schools/conferences you might be attending. 
3. Summer Weekly Meetings:
1. Journal Club
• Weekly meetings to review scientific papers in the field of astrophysics. We need someone to manage this group. Any takers? Meetings will commence at the end of the quarter.
2. Text Discussion Group
• Weekly meetings to review an astrophysics text (Rybicki and Lightman?) and discuss problem sets therein. We need someone to manage this group. Any takers? Meetings will commence at the end of the quarter. 
3. Science Lunch Hour
• Weekly lunch meetings to discuss science research progress over some lunch (bring your own brown bag). We need someone to manage this group. Any takers? Meetings will commence at the end of the quarter.
4. Lab Management Meetings
• Bi-weekly meetings to discuss basic lab management (like the one we had today). We need someone to manage this group and the next meeting should take place within the next two weeks.
4. Delegating Responsibilities
• Office Manager: Melinda Soares and Ian Weaver
• Mentors new recruits -- new recruits set to join in late June
• Provides keys to new recruits --keys have already been ordered, but there is a delay due to a shortage of keys. We should check back in on this in a few weeks.
• Discussion Coordinator: Still needed
• Organizes group discussion sections for SLUG members to discuss scientific topics. It would be useful to meet weekly for these discussion groups. Enrico has suggested several books that we could use for our discussion groups this summer. I prefer Rybicki and Lightman if no one objects. We need someone to volunteer to run this group. Anyone?
• Resident Technician: Monique Windju
• Helps diagnose the cause of broken equipment
• Leads the upgrading and installation of new computers in the lab.  
• Monique is currently working on getting the Mac Mini's available for use when idle. 
• Visualization Group Meetings
• We need to find out who is creating 3-D sims this summer and those individuals should begin meeting weekly to work on visualization techniques.
• Web Guru: Aaron Lopez and Melinda Soares
• Support staff for website design and management (personal and group)
• Updates and maintains the group blog
• Updates and maintains the group website (SLUG)
• Outreach Coordinator: Melinda Soares 
• We have an outreach event scheduled for early May. I'll send out an informative email later this week so that everyone is on the same page with this.
• Entertainment Coordinator: Still needed
• Organizes entertainment activities for SLUG members as "team building" exercises. Yes, it's a bit silly, but this may be a nice thing to try. I believe we should aim for 1 activity each quarter. Who is up for this one?
5. Party
• Enrico is kindly hosting a party in honor of the students heading off to graduate school in the Fall (Jacqueline, Andrea, and Melinda). The party will take place on the weekend of May 24-25. More details to follow. :)
6. Website Management
• Ian needs to update the bio portion on the SLUG group website. 
• Every member should publish at least one image to the Visualization Gallery page. If you have not yet done so, please log in and do this at your earliest convenience. We should all know how to edit the site and contribute content. Uploading content should not be a task responsible to a single individual. 
• We should each individually review the website once per quarter to search for any editing needs and ensure that all content is up to date.
7. SLUG Snack Supply
• A HUGE thanks to Monique for supplying us with delicious snacks. Make sure to add to the karma envelope if you take an item. Melinda is planning to make a Costco run this weekend to fill up on more goodies. If you'd like to get a thing or two, feel free to grab some cash from the karma envelope to reimburse yourself.
8. SLUG Maintenance
• We need to make a new chore schedule for trash pick up.
• Melinda has sent out a "whenisgood" for a mass clean of our room. 
• Fortney's group is meeting this weekend to clean up their spot down the hall. I have arranged for my stepfather to paint the new room as soon as the cleaning is complete.

SLUG Meeting, March 4th

Minutes

- 9:00am - Meeting begins

1.     Spent most of the meeting in search of keys for -SLUG.

- 10:00am - Meeting adjourns

Miscellaneous

• Potential team-building exercise:  Field trip to aquarium/museum/exploratorium?
• SLUG snack supply:  Suggestions?  
• Discussion Coordinator, Outreach Coordinator, and Entertainment Coordinator still needed.
• March 4th has the potential to be used as a pun with the phrase "March forth".

2014 Meeting and Presentation Skills Series

Going to a scientific meeting this year? APS is offering a series of online workshops on meeting and presentations skills to undergraduate and early graduate trainees to help you prepare. You may take one or all of the workshops; APS Members Price is $90 for 1 workshop or $180 for 3 workshops.

Learn more about the workshops and how to register by visiting http://www.the-aps.ort/PST.  Questions about the workshops should be directed to Miranda Byse, PhD, Program Manager at mbyse@the-aps.org.

2014 Meeting and Presentation Skills Series

Note: Each workshop/course is led by an experienced faculty member.

Creating a Poster for a Scientific Meeting

February  27–March 5 (Online)

Participants will learn the essentials of poster content and poster design necessary for a professional scientific presentation. Participants will have the opportunity to critique mock posters in order to apply their knowledge and will receive a poster creation checklist for future use. (You do not need a poster to take part in this course)

Presenting a Scientific Poster

March 13-19 (Online)

Participants will learn how to present their poster to different audiences, deal with aggressive or critical questioners, and gain greater confidence in their presentation skills. The course includes videos of common poster visitor types and how to deal with them and is also INTERACTIVE with students taping their presentation and getting feedback from peers and instructors. (You do not need a poster to take part in this course)

Networking at a Scientific Meeting

March 27-April 2 (Online)

Participants will learn how to make a great first impression, how to continue a conversation, and the do’s and don’ts of successful networking.  This course provides opportunities for students to practice their formal introductions and receive feedback from peers and instructors.

Master Post of Resources?

Monique's note: 

I would like to start a master post where we collect useful links and resources during our research process that we think other people would like to read. I'm imaging a sort of pseudo-library of useful resources arranged by subject with proper sources. Maybe we could also share a dropbox folder of the raw files, for safe-keeping. I will bring this up at our next meeting :)


Example:

Conferences:

• Directory: Conferences on Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Cosmology. Calendar of Upcoming Events.

Plotting Software:

• Gnuplot Tips (not so FAQ) 

Textbooks:

• Feynman Lectures

Stellar Physics:

• Degeneracy Pressure in Stars

Simulation work:

• James Guillochen's website, Astrocrash

SLUG Meeting, February 25th

Minutes

- 9:12am - Meeting begins

1.     Jacqueline's talk

• Implications of Fourier transforms in astrophysics and their potential utility in detecting periodicity of gravitational waves.
• Project status:  Frustrations with Mathematica's lack of intuition abound.  Internalizing differences between discrete and continuous Fourier transforms.

2.     Monique's talk

• Analyzing how a zero age main sequence star evolves.
• Project status:  Problems encountered with large (>30) solar masses.  MESA update changing how mass coordinates are defined proves frustrating.

3.     Aaron's talk

• Baby steps in FLASH using the Sedov code to simulate multiple simultaneous explosions.
• Project status:  Working alongside Ian and FLASH king Rodolfo.  Current step in the project is brand new, so no frustrations encountered yet.

4.     Andrea's talk

• Curve fitting frustrations about incomplete data.

- 10:00am - Meeting adjourns

Miscellaneous

• Potential team-building exercise:  Field trip to aquarium/museum/exploratorium?
• SLUG snack supply:  Suggestions?  
• Discussion Coordinator, Outreach Coordinator, and Entertainment Coordinator still needed.

SLUG Meeting -February 18th

Meeting Minutes

1. Equipment Purchase
• We've started adding items to the Google Doc. Please add anything that comes to mind here.
• Jill has kindly offered to help us choose equipment. I think we should take her up on that offer. We need a volunteer to sit with Jill and discuss possible equipment set ups and to fill in the spreadsheet with suggestions.
• Andrea has volunteered to get an inventory count and fill in the spreadsheet so we have a snapshot of what is still needed.
2. Delegating Responsibilities
• Office Manager: Melinda Soares and still needed
• Mentors new recruits 
• Provides keys to new recruits
• Discussion Coordinator: Still needed
• Organizes group discussion sections for SLUG members to discuss scientific topics. It would be useful to meet weekly for these discussion groups. 
• Resident Technician: Monique Windju
• Helps diagnose the cause of broken equipment
• Leads the upgrading and installation of new computers in the lab.  
• Visualization Lab Manager (Beta Room): Ian Weaver
• Leads the upgrading and installation of new computers in the Visualization Room (Beta).  
• Web Guru: Aaron Lopez and Melinda Soares
• Support staff for website design and management (personal and group)
• Updates and maintains the group blog
• Updates and maintains the group website (SLUG)
• Resident Photographer (headshots): Melinda Soares
• See Melinda to schedule a headshot if one is needed
• Outreach Coordinator: Still needed 
• Organizes volunteer outreach activities for the SLUG group to enrich the community. We should aim for 1-3 activities during the summer and 1-3 activities during the academic year. Small goals, but a nice thing for us to do.
• Entertainment Coordinator: Still needed
• Organizes entertainment activities for SLUG members as "team building" exercises. Yes, it's a bit silly, but this may be a nice thing to try. I believe we should aim for 1 activity each quarter.
3. Website Management
• Ian needs to update the bio portion on the SLUG group website. 
• Every member should publish at least one image to the Visualization Gallery page. If you have not yet done so, please log in and do this at your earliest convenience. We should all know how to edit the site and contribute content. Uploading content should not be a task responsible to a single individual. 
• We should each individually review the website once per quarter to search for any editing needs and ensure that all content is up to date.
4. SLUG Snack Supply
• We have agreed to maintain a snack supply for SLUG members with a "karma jar." Melinda is happy to pick up supplies after her Caltech visit and others are also encouraged to contribute to the stash. We still need to decide where will we house said goodies. 
5. SLUG Maintenance
• A schedule of "chores" is on the wall next to the door. Make sure you know what you've been assigned to do. 
• We need to organize a deep clean day for the first or second week of April. This is still far enough away not to be a major concern, but this shouldn't be forgotten completely. 

Writing Technical Papers

Over the past few weeks, I have been reviewing some books, blogs, and videos that discuss the process of writing a scientific paper. In that process, I have encountered some informative resources that outline methods for effectively reading and writing technical papers. I have attached several links below in case you are interested in perusing them. Please bear in mind that many of these resources are not generated by astronomers, however the guidelines are still relevant.

Writing a technical paper:

• I highly recommend the book 'Writing Science' by Dr. Joshua Schimel: 
• Video interview with Dr. George Whitesides of Harvard University describing his take on what he defines as an effective technical writing process.
• An outline of notes supplied by Dr. Henning Schulzninne of Columbia University on the techincial paper writing process (this is somewhat specific to computer science and electrical engineering).
• A video by Dr. Simon Peyton Jones of Microsoft Research on writing a great research paper.
• Seven simple suggestions: don't wait - write, identify your key idea, tell a story, nail your contributions, put related work at the end, put your readers first, listen to your readers.

Reading a technical paper:

• An in-depth description of the 3-pass method of reading a technical paper. Also discussed is the literature survey process.