NRAO Summer Student Orientation (Charlottesville)

Wednesday, June 9th 2004
John Hibbard ( jhibbard@nrao.edu)

This page is available on-line at http://www.nrao.edu/students/NRAOstudents_cv_orientation.shtml

Most information presented here is available either at http://www.nrao.edu/students/NRAOstudents_summer.shtml or http://www.nrao.edu/students/NRAOstudents_cv.shtml. I link to those documents wherever relevant.

The presentation by Roy Norville from Human Resources is available in pdf format at http://www.nrao.edu/students/Student-TeacherOrientationCV2003.pdf. Please note that HR personel do not really have blue faces.

Who and where are you?

There are eight summer student at NRAO-CV this year. Two are at our Edgemont Road offices, and six at the NRAO Technology Center (NTC). You are: A list of all NRAO 2004 Summer Students can be found at www.nrao.edu/students/archive/archive.php
The Charlottesville Summer Student Wiki page can be found at https://wiki.nrao.edu/bin/view/Main/SumStuds
All Charlottesville summer students can be reached via the email alias cvss04@nrao.edu
All Charlottesville Mentors can be reached via the email alias cvmentors04@nrao.edu
All Socorro summer students can be reached via the email alias nmss04@nrao.edu
All Socorro Mentors can be reached via the email alias nmmentors04@nrao.edu
All Green Bank summer students can be reached via the email alias gbss04@nrao.edu
All Green Bank Mentors can be reached via the email alias gbmentors04@nrao.edu

Travel Reimbursement

You should have received form when you picked up your paycheck. If not, get one from either John Hibbard (Rm ER-312) or Cathy Burgess ( cburgess@nrao.edu, Rm NTC-211). There is a maximum reimbursement of $500 for travel and $200 for temporary accommodations while you located local housing. Include receipts up to that amount. See http://www.nrao.edu/students/NRAOstudents_summer.shtml#Travel and associated documents for further details. Fill out form and give to me or Cathy.

Car/Bike sign-out

We have AUI and Government cars and a single mountain bike available for sign-out. Government cars are only available for observatory business (e.g., trips to Green Bank). AUI cars are available for short-term sign-out for e.g. grocery runs. Cars needs to be arranged directly with Penny Ward (pward@nrao.edu; receiving room of Edgemont road building). Bike is kept there and can be signed out if the key is there. Keep it locked up, and use the available helmets. Do not abuse these privileges, or we will loose them. For daily transportation, UVa has an extensive, and free, bus system (see http://www.virginia.edu/parking/bus/about.html).

Computer Concerns

You should be set up with a computer, computer account, and NRAO username. To see how to set up to read email for your NRAO username, set up a webpage, print out to NRAO printers, log in from home, etc., see the Gold Book at www.nrao.edu/gold/. For computer requests use the Help Desk.

Building Construction

There will be a lot of construction going on this year at the Edgemont Road (ER) building. Security will be an increased concern as workman gain more and more access to the building. Security cameras will be installed. Pay attention to emails to "allemploy", and keep your office and valuables locked up. You may be asked not to drive to work during some times.

Work Expectations

From http://www.nrao.edu/students/NRAOstudents_summer.shtml#Research:

"Your project adviser will have told you the topic of your research prior to your acceptance. You will spend 10-12 weeks over the summer working on this research project. You are expected to conduct your research during the normal weekly operating schedule. Justifiable alternatives can be discussed with your adviser. If you require a break in your research schedule, and your adviser agrees, a brief period of absence can be negotiated. Students who fail to report regularly, perform poorly, or who violate NRAO rules or regulations may lose their research appointment without notice."

Summer Lecture Series

Lectures will be held on most Wednesday and Fridays from 9:30am-10:30am in the NTC Penthouse (this room), starting on June 9th and probably ending on July 31st (8 weeks). The schedule will be posted on my Summer Student Wiki page ( https://wiki.nrao.edu/bin/view/Main/SumStuds). You can add items to this schedule, but will need to set up a wiki account to do so.

It is generally considered rude to sleep through peoples presentations. A good way to stay alert is to ask lots and lots of questions. Feel free to request specific topics.

Lunches

Fill free to use the canteen facilities (fridge, microwave, etc) at your assigned site. On Tuesdays we sometimes have informal brown-bag (i.e., BYOL) lunch talks in ER-311 by visiting or local astronomers. The lunch talk series is posted at http://www.cv.nrao.edu/tuna/.

On Thursdays, various members of both NRAO and UVa astronomy have pizza lunch together at Anna's Pizzeria, off of Alderman road before Fontaine. I'll try to get a map to link to here. A group usually starts walking from NRAO-ER at about 11:50pm. We encourage you to join us. Greasy pizza or Italian subs are the menu. It costs about $6-$7/person.

Other Weekly Activities

Green Bank Observing Project

We have been able to arrange for you to have some observing time on the GBT, the largest fully steerable telescope in the world. The observations will be on Saturday July 10 and Sunday July 11 from 9:45pm-midnight (LST ~ 14:30hr to 17:00hr). You will have two scientific advisors: Al Wootten (awootten@nrao.edu; Rm ER-309, x0329) and Jeff Mangum (jmangum@nrao.edu; Rm ER-220, x0347). You will meet with these advisors several times prior to the observing run to choose possible targets and devise an observing strategy. You will travel to Green Bank for the weekend to observe, then come back to Charlottesville and analyze the data. In the past some projects have resulted in important results.

Green Bank Visit

The summer student field trip to Green Bank will be right after the Green Bank Observing Project, on on Monday July 12. Green Bank is ~2hr 40min drive west. You will have a tour of GBT and the GB NRAO facilities and the Visitors Center. Other things to do near GB: Cass railroad; Snowshoe mountain. Its worth looking into before the trip, in case you want to make a side trip. You may also want to return to Green Bank for the Green Bank Picnic on Saturday afternoon, July 31st.

Visit from Green Bank Students

We will host a visit from the Green Bank summer students sometime on July 15-16. This is the Thursday and Friday right after you get back from observing with the GBT. Generally, the Green Bank students will arrive for Pizza Lunch on Thursday, we'll have an afternoon session where GB students and CV students briefly present their summer projects to each other (and NRAO-CV staff). On Friday morning, all students will tour the NTC labs and the UVa detector laboratory. In the afternoon, UVa astronomy usually host students for a brief presentation and refreshments. Friday evening CV students take GB students to Fridays After Five. The weekend is open, and you are encouraged to be social with the GB students, showing them CV.

Other Summer Activities Activities

Give me suggestions and I'll list them here. Here are some that previous students have done (these must be arranged on your own, and must not involve NRAO vehicals!).
  • Trip to DC (2hrs northeast)
  • Rafting on the James River (30min south)
  • Trip to Kings Dominion/Water Country (70min east)
  • Trip to Williamsburg/Busch Gardens/Jamestown (3hrs east)
  • Hike Appalachian trail (8mo, GA to MA. Or parts of it 45min W)
  • Drive Blueridge Parkway and/or Skyland Drive (beware motorhomes)
  • Visit many Civil War battle fields (Manassas, Bull Run, Appomattox, Brandy Station, Fredericksburg, Front Royal, Lynchburg, Spotsylvania Court House, Waynesboro, etc, etc). Heck, you could probably take part in a historical reenactment.
  • Trip to Baltimore (4hrs), Philadelphia (6hrs), or NYC (7.5hrs)

End of Summer Presentation (Oral and Written)

Near the end of your appointment, you will give a short (~15min) lunch talk to the scientific staff about your research, and will write up a short project summary. Examples of past year projects and summaries can be found at http://www.nrao.edu/students/NRAOstudents_progsum03.shtml#REU. You will also produce a short (~4 page) report outlining your summer research, and present this to me or Rich Bradley by the end of September (HTML or PDF versions encouraged). You MUST hand in your written report on time if you want any hope of getting financial support to attend the January AAS meeting (see below).

Preliminary schedule:
July 27th: lunch talks by C.Kelly, R.Percy
August 3rd: lunch talks by L.Quick, Q.Lin, J.Kelly
August 10th: lunch talks by M.Logan, S.Jaeggli, D.Stewart

Attending the January AAS Meeting

You may apply for financial support to present the results of your summer project at the January AAS meeting (to be held Jan 9-13 2005 in San Diego, CA. See http://www.aas.org). Matching funds from your host institute are usually expected. An application is required. See information at http://www.nrao.edu/students/NRAOstudents_aas. Funds are mostly for REU-funded students, so many of you may have a reduced chance. But we rarely have all students apply, so some funds are generally available.

Questions?

Don't hesitate to ask myself or Rich Bradley (rbradley@nrao.edu), or any NRAO staff member.



John Hibbard
Last modified: Wed Jun 9 15:40:03 EDT 2004