Course practicals
Classes: Fridays 3-5pm (we will not be meeting every week. Scroll to the bottom of this page for schedule)
Place: AB107 (Cody Hall)
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 talk (5%). The student will briefly (3min talk + 3min question) describe the plan for the project - as consulted with the adviser - during class meeting (Oct. 4th, 2024).
Written project proposal (10%) due Oct. 11th, 2024. 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%): end of fall semester, 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.
Final talk (15%) : April 4th ,2025 . 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 Apr 11th, 2025. 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 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:
Sep. 6th: first lecture, course outline, 'how to talk to an advisor'
Sep. 13th: lecture: developing a written proposal; basics of scientific writing
Sep. 20th: -----
Sep. 27th: lecture: modifying your written proposal; presentation drills
Oct. 4th:first pitch presentation (5%; 3+2 minutes):
Oct. 11th: ---- (no class, written proposal due Oct. 11th, 10%)
Oct. 18th: --- (no class)
Oct. 25th: ---- (no class)
Nov. 1st: ----- (no class, reading week)
Nov. 8th: --- class: discussing progress/interm talks/proposals
Nov. 15th: ---- (no class)
Nov. 22th: interim talk (10%, 4+3 minutes) -- observational group
Nov. 29th: interim talk (10%, 4+3 minutes) -- theory group
Jan. 10th (2025): lecture + short drills;
Jan 17th: --
Jan 24th: --
Jan 31st: lecture + short drills, discuss Wed. colloq. by Keith Vanderlinde
Feb. 7th: ----
Feb. 14th: ----
Feb. 21st: ---- (reading week)
Feb. 28th: lecture + short drills, discuss Wed. colloq. by Xinting Yu
Mar. 7th: ----
Mar. 14th: ----
Mar. 21st: ----
Mar. 28th: ----
April 4th: final presentations (15%, 6 + 4min), a marathon session, 1-5pm, supervisors/dept will be invited .
April 11th: Final written report due (30%)