Pre-MAP 2019
Welcome to Pre-MAP 2019, Cohort 15! Class takes place Monday/Wednesday/Friday from 11-12:20pm in the 3rd floor computer lab of the Physics and Astronomy building (B360; see floor map of the department here).
Instructor
I’m Margaret Lazzarini, the instructor for Pre-MAP 2019. I am a fifth year PhD candidate in the astronomy department. My research focuses on observational high energy astrophysics, I study black holes and neutron stars with X-ray telescopes. I had the pleasure of teaching Pre-MAP in 2018 and I’m excited to be teaching it again!
Margaret’s office hours this quarter are Mon. 3-4pm and Thurs. 10:30-11:30am in B323.
Academic Mentor
The course Academic Mentor is Nicole Sanchez. Nicole is a fourth year PhD student in the astronomy department. Nicole’s research focuses on theoretical astrophysics. She does computer simulations of galaxies similar to the Milky Way to understand the evolution of the Circumglactic Medium (CGM), the gas surrounding galaxies.
The Academic Mentor is an additional resource for you to use throughout this entire academic year (including the winter and spring quarters, after the Pre-MAP class is over). Nicole will also have office hours to be available to help you with homework, research, selecting courses, and in-class assignments, and she will be present at many of the in-class exercises. The Academic Mentor is around to help you with anything you may want to talk about. Don’t wait to take advantage of this excellent resource!
Nicole’s office hours are TBD the first week of class.
Course Overview
Pre-MAP can roughly be broken up into two halves. In the first half, we’ll equip you with the skills you need to start working on an astronomical research project. These skills include programming in Python, and critical reading and writing of science literature. Then in the second half of the course, you’ll work with a research mentor and a class partner on a guided research project. There will also be professional development talks on Fridays, and social events and lab tours throughout the quarter.
Syllabus
Please make sure to read over the course syllabus the first week of class. Link to course syllabus.
Course Materials
The Python lessons will be taught from instructional iPython Notebooks (no textbook required!) which can be found on our GitHub page. These notebooks will be saved there as a permanent programming reference for you.
There are also many freely available textbooks on programming in Python, which you could optionally use for Python help (no readings will be assigned from these books). Take a look at this webpage’s free Python texts labeled “beginner” for supplemental texts that might be useful programming references appropriate for this course. Three reference texts that I recommend include Learn Python the Hard Way (which isn’t actually hard!), A Byte of Python, and A Whirlwind Tour of Python (written by a former UW astro grad student).
Homework Assignments
Homework 1 – when2meet poll, first week survey, website bio paragraphs (check your uw.edu email for this homework assignment, complete poll and survey via links and send in website bio paragraph via email)
Homework 2 – UNIX exercises (assignment is written up in a Google doc that will be emailed to you. To turn in, follow instructions on the assignment.)
Homework 3 – Part A: First astrobites reading + questions (Google doc, HW3A), Part B: python basics + numpy (Jupyter notebook, HW3B)
Homework 4 – Part A: Second article reading + questions (Google doc, HW3B), Part B: Python loops + functions (Juypter notebook, HW4B)
Homework 5 – Personal statement (Google doc)
Homework 6 – Part A: last article reading + questions (Google doc, HW6A), Part B: Python plotting (Jupyter notebook, HW6B)
Homework 7 – Cover slides + 1-2 background slides for final presentation (Google slides, complete in final_presentation_lastname)
Homework 8 – 1-2 methodology slides for final presentation (Google slides)
Homework 9 – 1-2 data/results slides for final presentation (Google slides)
Homework 10 – elevator pitch on research project (Google doc)
How to turn in Assignments
Writing Assignments, Final Presentation Slides
Writing assignments are shared with you using your UW Google Drive account. You will need to activate the suite of Google applications through your net ID (this purple text is a link to the page) in order to access these assignments. Log on to your UW Google drive by going to drive.google.com and logging in using your UW email address (netID@uw.edu) and password. Then go to “Shared with me” and you should find writing assignments shared with you as they are assigned. Each will be named “HW1”, “HW3A”, etc. which will match the way they are listed on the calendar at the bottom of this page. Please complete writing directly on the Google document. I am already shared on it so you will not need to do anything to turn it in.
For your final presentation slides, you and your partner (if applicable) will be shared on one Google slides document, which is also shared with me. Please create slides within this document directly.
Coding Assignments:
Coding assignments are meant to be straightforward practice of what we’ve learned in class. This year, coding assignments have been designed to follow along with your scientific reading/writing assignments.
Check out THIS PDF DOCUMENT (linked) for a review of how to remotely log into your astrolab computers and how to open a Jupyter notebook when you’re logged in from your own computer.
To complete an assignment, please open the Jupyter notebook for a given homework assignment. These can be found at ~/PreMAP2019/homework/ when you are logged in to an astrolab computer (see the first unix lesson for a refresher on how to remotely log in if you are doing this from your home computer). Work through the exercises in the notebook. When you are finished, please copy your notebook into the correct turn-in directory. Each assignment will contain the exact path for you to turn in your homework.
Schedule
Lab Tours
Monday October 21 @ 3:30pm: Physics Lab tour with Zeeshawn
Wednesday, November 6 @ 4:30pm: Astro Machine Shop tour with Debby
| WEEK | MONDAY | WEDNESDAY | FRIDAY |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No class | Sep 25 Introduction to Pre-MAP Assigned: HW1 | Sep 27 Guest Speaker: Elisa Quintana – Astronomy Major, Computer Set-Up Due: HW1 |
| 2 | Sep 30 Intro to Unix Assigned: HW2 | Oct 2 Python Intro | Oct 4 Research mentor project pitches Due: HW2 Assigned: 1. Project Ranking (Due Sun, Oct 6 @5pm) 2. HW3 (writing part A and coding part B) |
| 3 | Oct 7 Python: numpy part 1 | Oct 9 Python: numpy part 2 | Oct 11 Python: loops Due: HW3 (writing part A and coding part B) Assigned: HW4 (both parts) |
| 4 | Oct 14 Python: Functions | Oct 16 Python: Plotting part 1 | Oct 18 Guest talk: Applying for Internships/REUs (Brianna, Trevor) Due: HW4 (both parts) Assigned: HW5 (personal statement) |
| 5 | Oct 21 Python: Plotting part 2 | Oct 23 Python: Fitting | Oct 25 Recap: Personal Statement Guest talk: Career Paths in Astro (Diana, Rudy) Due: HW5 Assigned: HW6 (both parts) |
| 6 | Oct 28 Academic Mentor Workshop | Oct 30 Start research with mentors! Mentor Grading Rubric | Nov 1 Research Due: HW6 (both parts) Assigned: HW7 (cover and 1-2 background slides) |
| 7 | Nov 4 Research | Nov 6 Research | Nov 8 Research Due: HW7 Assigned: HW8 (1-2 methodology slides) |
| 8 | Nov 11 No class (Veteran’s Day) | Nov 13 Research | Nov 15 Research Due: HW8 Assigned: HW9 (1-2 data/results slides) |
| 9 | Nov 18 Guest talk: Presentations/ Public Speaking | Nov 20 Research | Nov 22 Research Due: HW9 Assigned: HW10 (elevator pitch) |
| 10 | Nov 25 Research | Nov 27 Research | Nov 29 No Class (Thanksgiving) |
| 11 | Dec 2 Prepare Presentations Due: HW10 | Dec 4 Practice Presentations Presentation Rubric | Dec 6 Last day of class / Research Presentations |
| 12 | Dec 9 No class (finals week) | Dec 11 Final Course Evaluation 2:30-3:30pm in B360 REQUIRED | Dec 13 No class (finals week) |