Resources for Research
The Haverford Galaxy Group research concerns galaxies in the Universe. We tend to work with large samples (thousands, or 100s of thousands) of galaxies where you can see visible internal structures. I have been most interested lately in what structures correlate with star formation – either active, or dying off, as well as the potential for future star formation (traced by the atomic hydrogen gas which can be observed in radio wavelengths).
The group works a lot with data from the MaNGA survey of SDSS-IV, as well as classifications from Galaxy Zoo. We are working on a neutral hydrogen (HI) followup program of MaNGA galaxies (HI-MaNGA), observing them with the Green Bank Radio Telescope.
Students joining the group will work with me to identify a suitable project which lets them explore a topic or technique of interest, which fits with their preparation and skills in astrophysics and coding, and which I think is likely to be scientifically fruitful.
A list of current and former projects can be found on the main Research Page of this website.
I will take on students with any level of preparation, but I expect students who will be successful will show enthusiasm for coding and data science (or for learning about it) and galaxies/astrophysics in general. Most student in the group take ASTR204 as a sophomore, but I frequently take on first year students (or sophomores) before they take this class. The “Topics in Coding” class, ASTR/PHYS104 is excellent preparation for the type of work we do in this group. Any interested student is welcome to join our Research Group meetings (reach out to me, or a current student in the group to find the time this semester) to learn more about what we do.
Resources for Equity and Inclusion in Astronomical Research
- Astronomy in Color (blog run by members of the AAS CMSA – Committee for the Status of Minorities in Astronomy)
- Full Spectrum (Documentary project to showcase BIPOC in astronomy, led by Bryan Mendez)
- Resources from the CWSA (AAS Committee for the Status of Women in Astronomy)
- Groups and Resource for Underrepresented Scientists (TriCollege Library Reading List).
Research Productivity/Time Management
A research project might be the first time you manage your own time without lots of a short term deadlines. Time management and productivity is an ongoing battle for basically all scientists! Here are some resources/tips for doing better.
- Template of a Research Journal (for academic semester research)
- Advice on Managing your Supervisor from “The Wellbeing Thesis”
- Time Management for Researchers (Nature Article – free to read on the Haverford wifi).
- Astrobetter.com – a blog of tips and tricks for professional astronomers
Astronomical Literature Reading Resources
- Cooke et al 2020 – paper which describes how to read astronomical journals, and also how to engage in a Journal Club discussion. The link is to the ADS (see below) listing – for the PDF click on the icons to the right under “Full Text Article”.
- Astrophysics Data System (ADS) literature search – the search engine of choice for most astronomers.
- Astrobites – a daily astrophysical literature journal written by graduate students in astronomy since 2010. Their goal is to present one interesting paper per day in a brief format that is accessible to undergraduate students in the physical sciences who are interested in active research.
- Astrobites advice on reading Journal Articles
- Demonstration of how to get a list of papers cited by another paper (using Masters et al. 2019 as an example).
How to get started Coding
- Python for Astronomers – a free online text book with examples to get started python coding (also has a chapter on Unix/command line).
- Introduction to Astronomy Research – a Github repository with a set of Jupyter (python) notebooks which have a self guided introduction to python and data analysis in astronomy (with mostly exoplanet examples).
- Learn Astropy – Astropy is a set of incredibly useful python modules for astronomical coding. This is the page of their tutorials.
- Haverford Galaxy Group Github – has a lot of example code, and commonly used code for the group.
Advice on Science Writing and Latex Tips
- Be Concise, Yet Precise, A guide to scientific writing by Heloise Stevance.
- Writing Scientific Papers in Astronomy, Knapan, Chamba and Black 2021.
- Write Science in Plain English, a working document by me (KLM).
- Most astrophysicists use Latex (often these days via Overleaf) as the software to write scientific papers. It’s always easier to start from a template. Overleaf has a lot of resources to help you learn.
- Useful Latex help:
- Create Latex tables (in the browser)
- Detexify (to find how to make any symbol in latex)
Making a Scientific Poster
Resources about Galaxies/Surveys/Our Science
- Surveys/catalogues/data we use a lot – page of summary info by KLM (ask for additions)
- HI (21cm) measurements of galaxies (called “Understanding ALFALFA” which is the name of a specific 21cm survey)
- A playlist of talks on Youtube I think might be useful (by me or others).
Careers Resources
- American Astronomical Society Jobseekers Webinars (Youtube Playlist for careers which benefit from astronomical education both outside and within academia).
Graduate School Resources
- Astrobetter information on graduate program requirements for the GRE
- Community sourced list of GRE requirements and fee waivers for astronomy and physics programs.