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. 

SLUG Equipment Purchase

I've started a Google spreadsheet for SLUG members to add in items that we think are useful for the upcoming equipment purchase. Please add any ideas you have to this document and we can discuss them in the group meeting. If you do not have editing access, please email me and I'll adjust the settings for you.

I have a few ideas about getting the new space up and running. Would other SLUG members be interested in painting the room? I can get the necessary supplies, since my step-father is a painter. Additionally, we could pool together money to order a pizza that day to make it fun.

I also think it would be useful to purchase a locked supply closet that houses extra equipment (keyboards, monitors, cables, etc.). We should spend an afternoon to review our current inventory in an effort to find out what we already have and what else might be needed. We can then post a copy of our in stock inventory on the door of the supply closet. What are your thoughts regarding this idea?

Lab Management -February 2014

I am reviving the blog as an effort to provide an online resource where we can share minutes, plan meetings, and collaborate as a research group. This first entry is a summary of the topics discussed at our meeting yesterday and some of the efforts that I have made to move forward on several of these items.

First off, I'd like to review the online resources available to us as a research group. You do not need to feel obliged to use these resources, but please know that they are available if you would like to do so. If you do not have access to one of these tools or if you are unable to edit and contribute to the content, please let me know and I will fix this right away.

SLUG Website: http://cargo.ucsc.edu/tasc/slug/
This is our group website, providing informative content for outside audiences who are interested in what sort of work we are doing collectively. This site should be updated quarterly, ensuring that we have up-to-date content and links to personalized websites for both current and former members. Someone will need to take on the role of 'webmaster' for this site when Melinda leaves in August. Any takers?

Personalized Website
This is your individual website, which should be linked from SLUG. This is a site where you provide a more detailed glimpse of your research interests, list your publications, host an updated version of your CV, and anything else you think is useful to share. It is important to create your website before you apply for graduate school, but this really can be done much earlier. Please see Melinda, Andrea, or Jacqueline if you have trouble designing or hosting your site.
Melinda's example: http://cargo.ucsc.edu/msoares/

Blog: http://slugphysics.blogspot.com
You are visiting the blog now. This is where we discuss new ideas, share meeting minutes, organize discussion groups, etc. I think it is useful to house this information publicly, because it leaves a nice trail of things that have taken place in the past, which future members can access. I think it is important that we use this blog on a somewhat consistent basis. Everyone should feel free to publish and edit content. Please contact Melinda if you are having trouble publishing content. I recommend posting content related to journal clubs and GRE study groups here as well.

Facebook Group
There is also a Facebook group that you can access if you'd like to share content there. This is less useful, since not all SLUG members use this platform. Just know that it exists as a tool and can be accessed if the interest arises.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Supercomputing-Lab-for-Undergraduates-SLUG-at-UCSC/156869757750452

And on to more boring things in lab management fun...

We need to organize garbage removal lists. I will send out a list with everyone's name and their garbage removal duty date. If you do not utilize the SLUG lab and feel that you should therefore be exempt from taking out the trash, please email me and let me know.

We also need to organize one deep clean day per quarter. I think it makes the most sense to do these deep cleans at the beginning of the quarter (after everyone has let off some steam). That being said we definitely need to plan a deep clean day for the first week of April. Please make sure that you show up for this, since it really takes a group effort to do this well. We also should bring our own supplies (wipes, brooms, mops) for the afternoon. I have a vehicle and am happy to pick up people with lots of items to bring to campus.

Additionally, we should seek to ensure that as a group everyone is happy with their workspace. That being said, I think it is important that anyone who feels unhappy with either their work station or their lack of a work station feels that they will be supported if they speak up. Now that we have an additional room to utilize, please feel free to discuss the possibility of moving to the new space.

With the new funding for equipment on the horizon, we should discuss what tools we would like to purchase. A date for this discussion needs to be arranged. In the mean time, please compile a list of supplies that you would like to purchase with these funds. Let's think about how we can maximize the space allotted to us. How can we make this space better?

Other tasks that need to be completed are as follows:

• We need to create a SLUG manifesto. Yes, it's silly, but I think it will be a fun exercise.
• Someone needs to be in charge of making keys and providing access to SLUG to new members. 
• Someone needs to be in charge of maintaining the machines at SLUG.
• We need to name our rooms in order to keep track of them. I vote alpha, beta, gamma (unless someone wants to think of a better naming scheme), where alpha is the main room we have been using, beta is the room next door that will house the visualization machines, and gamma is the room down the hall. Thoughts on this?

Graduate School Applications:
For those of you planning to apply to graduate school in the future, please remember you have access to a helpful document that was created by students in prior years. Here you will find lists of potential physics and astrophysics graduate programs, prior application deadlines and requirements, potential advisors, and admissions results for students in former years. Please feel free to contribute to this document -- in fact, we encourage it. If you cannot access this document (due to permission issues), email Melinda Soares-Furtado.

Flyer - Updated!

Preparation for the Coming Quarter

I wish to address the coming school year plans. The following classes will have students interested in attending our lecture series by Paul and future lecturers.

Course / Days & Time / Where
105 / TuTh 10-11:45 / PSB 110
116C /TuTh 2-3:45 / PSB 110
171 /TuTh 2-3:45 / ISB 231
139B / MWF 2-3:10 / PSB 114
195A / M 3:30-5 / NS Annex 101

I want to announce to the following courses of our lectures on the FIRST day of class where the attendance would be highest. However, I cannot be at two places as once for 116C and 171. Would someone like to present our lecture series to either one?

Considering the increased attendance, I propose to change the current days of lectures. Currently we meet M 5-7:30 PM and Fri 10 AM - 12:30 PM. Friday doesn't fit well for Melinda and me since we have a meeting with our research group.

The United States Astronomy Program Map

http://dimitriveras.com/mapUSSafari/

Monday August 29 Meeting Update

NEW SCHEDULE

Mondays 5-7:30 PM

Fridays 10AM-12PM

at ISB 235

Since the school year is starting at Cabrillo College, Paul Graham (pagraham@cabrillo.edu) must change his lectures. Upon voting, the new schedule is above.

Topics discussed tonight:

Classic problems onE&M ranging from 1D to 3D problems and brief overview of Classical Thermodynamics for our new attendee. Also a few problems from the '86 test.

Topic from next Friday:

Statistical Mechanics

First and Future Lectures for PGRE

Yesterday was the first meeting at ISB 235 by Paul Graham. He discussed what he felt are great test taking tips for this test. We went over a few problems from the '86 test and showed us his techniques for problem solving along with some interesting tangents related to each problem.

The next meeting is Tuesday from 5-7 at ISB 235 again.

• 1992 and 1996 exam will be reviewed at Davis Boot Camp.


• We are saving the fourth exam (1984) for a last check.


• Graham believes that the purple book is good for content review, but not representative of GRE problems.


• Actually solving GRE problems is not the best line of action and there are often other, faster techniques recommended for achieving a strong score.


• Particle physics questions on the GRE are often very easy, but often overlooked by students who have not taken particle physics courses (the majority). A one-hour crash course (summary of the standard model) is sufficient to get students up to speed on such questions.

Dine Skype Meeting

Paul Graham will contact Michael Dine to discuss the layout of the course and various logistics. Dine mentioned that it would be a good idea for the faculty members providing PGRE lectures to meet with Graham and David Dorfan to ensure that everyone is on the same page. David Dorfan is in Japan until ~September 1st, so this will be discussed again in the future.

Paul Graham Review Session

We'll be meeting on Thursday, August 18th, in ISB 235 at 7pm. Please bring any copies you have of the public Physics GRE questions (digital or paper copies). See you there!

Update & Quick Review Website

Maria and I did problems on the Daily GRE problems Daily GRE. These questions are better than what the book we tried last week, but they still are written poorly.

Maria and I plan to show up Tuesday at 9 AM at the science library to do problems on our own.

Maria stumbled on this review site that has topic by topic equations for review

Correspondance from Dine

Michael Dine is awaiting feedback from Tesla Jeltema, but he has sent an email out to her. I asked him to send out information to the other professors that we mentioned at the meeting yesterday. 
He had an enthusiastic response from Dave Dorfan and suggests that Dave cover E&M or Classical Mechanics.  
Dr. Dine is happy to do a session, preferably on quantum mechanics and/or atomic and nuclear physics.  
I've added this information to the Google Doc!

Book Review

Maria, Matt S., and I reviewed

GRE Physics - The Best Test Prep for the GRE

In our opinion, this book is an inadequate resource for studying. It has problems that are overly difficult and poorly written in terms of grammar, consistency, and correctness. To be fair, there are some problems that are similar to actual problems. Conceptual questions are most similar to actual problems in comparison. However, questions will force one to calculate numbers that are not possible under a time constraint.

At best, this is a decent source of quick reference over formulae, which has not been verified by us.

Meeting -August 11th, 2011

Today we met to discuss the formation of a Physics GRE prep group at the University of California, Santa Cruz campus. Matt Hogan, Matt Stanton, Melinda Soares-Furtado, Maria Uribe, and Paula Altamirano met on August 11th to discuss ideas regarding the focus of the group and how to best organize the content that will be covered. The content can best be grouped in three categories:

(a) problem drills where we will meet to just work problems in an allotted amount of time 

(b) lecture review where faculty will provide lectures on a variety of topics covered in the Physics GRE 

(c) mock exams where we hope to simulate the Physics GRE test taking experience as closely as possible

We are planning to review all 4 released Physics GRE exams, in entirety, over the course of the next three months. This equates to 400 problems that we need to master in content and test-taking methodology (remember this test is a very specific kind of exam and there are often strategies that reduce the time spent on each question).

The group shall begin by reviewing the ETS Physics GRE review book. Maria and Matt shall determine how similar the questions contained within this book are to the actual exam, since they have taken a physics GRE exam once before. Michael Dine and Sissy Madden shall be contacted to determine what other materials may be supplied by the UCSC Physics Department. 

Michael Dine has permitted us to begin meeting right away, so we are awaiting availability feedback from a group of professors who have been suggested to cover the exam topics. Steven Ritz, Jason Nielson, Bruce Schumm, Gey-Hong Gweon, Michael Dine, Dave Dorfan, and Paul Graham were all mentioned as possible faculty to cover selected material. 

Melinda is also planning to contact Paul Graham to secure a weekly review session that he will host on campus. 

Monday, August 15th, we shall meet for a problem drill at 1pm in the Science Library. Daily problem drill sessions shall be scheduled until the date of the exam. 

All of us have been added to the UC Davis Physics GRE Boot Camp weekend taking place on September 10-11th. Carpooling options are available. 

Matt Hogan, Paula, Maria, and Matt Stanton plan to take the exam in October, while Melinda will take the exam in April. 

If you have not already been added to the Physics GRE Prep Google Document, please email Melinda Soares-Furtado at msoares.physics@gmail.com to be added right away. Once added as an author, feel free to edit the content as you wish. 

Also: General GRE prices are $80 for the months of August and September and rise to $160 thereafter.