Course practicals
Classes: Fridays 3-5pm (we will not be meeting every week. Scroll to the bottom of this page for schedule)
Place: AB88 (we have changed from the original BF323 to the basement lecture room in the AB building)
Super-advisor: Prof. Yanqin Wu
Office: MP 1210; Email: wu_at_astro.utoronto.ca
Course Goals:
In this directed research course for senior undergraduate students, you will apply all that you have learned in the past few years to a current research problem, under supervision of a faculty member. Specific goals are
Acquire research skills (computing, analytical thinking, time-management...)
Learn to write scientific proposals, reports and papers in LaTeX.
Practice delivering scientific presentations.
Keep abreast of scientific progress by, e.g., participating in the weekly departmental Colloquia.
Mark distributions:
First pitch (5%). The student will briefly (3min talk + 2min question) describe the plan for the project - as consulted with the adviser - during class meeting.
Written project proposal (10%) due a week after the first pitch. The proposal should be 2-3 pages long, formatted in LaTeX using AASTex (see Links below). The proposal should explain the background and motivation for the project, as well as the research plan, in a compelling and concise manner. This should be an expanded version of your first-pitch.
Class participation (10%): over the year. attendance of classes with lectures by the instructor and invited faculty members, on discussing the weekly astro colloquium, how to write an abstract, how to give a scientific talk, how to communicate science, etc. We will only be meeting in selected weeks during the year. See schedule below.
Interim talk (10%): two sessions, Jan 9/16. interim talk to examine your research progress. They should be 4 minutes talk + 4 minute discussion. The talk should contain clear motivations, a good sense of how well your research has progressed, and a good plan of how to go forward. Submit slides on the day of your talk.
Final talk (15%) . These are 6minutes talk + 4 minutes discussion, with advisors present. Other members of the DAA/CITA/DI will also be invited.
Final written report (30%), due at the end of the term. 5 pages long (include abstract, intro, procedure, result, conclusion, reference). Should be composed in LaTeX, in the style of Astrophysical Journal Letter (double columns). Evaluation will be done by the course instructor as well as the supervisor.
Overall grade by advisor (20%): end of term. This will be given based on both the progress made during the year, and on the gradient of improvement.
Adviser and Project:
Identifying an adviser: I have sent out a list of potential supervisors and projects. But you are welcome to scope more broadly among the 3 astronomy units in UofT (DAA, Dunlap, CITA). Students will identify and contact potential research advisers, meet with them either alone or with a peer group. They should have chosen their supervisers by the end of September. Both faculty and postdoc members in DAA, CITA and Dunlap can serve as an adviser. In case a post-doctoral fellow is an adviser, a faculty member must act as a co-adviser.
A good project: ideally, the project should be useful and interesting to both the student and the adviser, and should contain a publishable research contribution, either as a separate publication or as a part of the adviser's publication. It should be a genuinely new research contribution.
Interactions: Discuss goals and expectations for the project with your adviser, and develop a research plan for the whole duration. Plan to meet with the adviser on a weekly basis. Good communication is the key to good research. Both you and your adviser will enjoy these meetings a lot more if you arrive with new results and new questions each time.
Independent research: the nominal (meaning 'minimum') work load for this course is about 10 hours per week. But any good researcher would tell you that working 9-5 oftentimes won’t get you very far...
Useful Links:
A useful compilation of information for “how to be a good researcher “ is Prof. Chris Matzner's links for undergraduate researchers (initially created for AST 425)
For help on how to use LaTeX and the AASTeX package (normally used for preparing manuscripts for ApJ, AJ, and PASP), check out the documentation. You can either download the required files for local (your computer) use, or use Overleaf.com for cloud editing.
Class schedule (I am free for individual consultations on days with 'no classes')
Sep. 5th: first lecture, course outline, 'how to talk to an advisor',
Sep. 12th: lecture: developing a written proposal; basics of scientific writing
Sep. 19th: lecture: modifying your written proposal; presentation drills
Sep. 26th: first pitch presentation (5%; 3+2 minutes); slides due as a single pdf file by 1pm.
Oct. 3rd: ---- (no class, written proposal due by 11:59pm, 10%; can get feedback for talks)
Oct. 10th: ---- (no class; can get feedback for proposal)
Oct. 17th: ---- ( no class; can get feedback for proposal)
Oct. 24th: ---- (no class; can get feedback for proposal)
Oct. 31st: ----- (reading week, no class)
Nov. 7th: discussing progress/talks/proposals
Nov. 14th: ---- (no class)
Nov. 21th: --- (no class)
Nov. 28th: --- (no class)
----------------- (no university classes from Dec. 2nd to Jan. 5th)------------------
Jan. 9th (2026): interim talk (10%, 4+3 minutes) -- observational group; slides due as a single pdf by 1pm
Jan. 16th: interim talk (10%, 4+3 minutes) -- theory group; slides due as a single pdf by 1pm
Jan. 23rd: ----(no class; can get feedback for talks)
Jan. 30th: ---- (no class)
Feb. 6th: ---- (no class)
Feb. 13th: ---- (no class)
Feb. 20st: ---- (reading week, no class)
Feb. 27th: discussing progress/talks/proposals
Mar. 6th: ---- (no class)
Mar. 13th: ---- (no class)
Mar. 20st: ---- (no class)
Mar. 27th: ---- (no class)
April 3th: --- (Good Friday, no class)
Monday, April 6th: (make-up for Good Friday) final presentations (15%, 5 + 4min), a marathon session, 1-5pm, supervisors/dept will be invited. Slides due as a single pdf by 9am.
April 30th: --- (final written report due by 11:59pm. 30%; if this conflicts with your exam schedule, you can submit as early as you like.)