Pre-MAP 2019
Welcome to Pre-MAP 2020, Cohort 16! This year’s class will be fully online with Zoom Sessions Monday/Wednesday/Friday from 11-12:20pm. To accommodate varying time zones and any other time constraints, recordings of each Zoom Class will be available after each class session concludes.
Instructor
I’m Natalie Nicole Sanchez, the instructor for Pre-MAP 2020. I am a fifth year PhD candidate in the astronomy department. My research focuses on the evolution of galaxies, primarily by studying supermassive black holes and the large gas reservoir that surrounds galaxies (called the circumgalactic medium). I use computer simulations to do my research, and often compare my results to properties from observed galaxies. I had the pleasure of being the Academic Advisor for Pre-MAP in 2019 and I’m looking forward to teaching the class this Fall!
Nicole’s office hours this quarter are TBD the first week of class.
Academic Mentor
The Academic Mentor is Guadalupe (Lupita) Tovar Mendoza. Lupita is a fourth year PhD student in astronomy and astrobiology. Lupita’s research lies at the intersection of observational astrophysics and astrobiology. She uses data from space-based telescopes to study how stars vary over time to understand how stellar variability affects exoplanet detection and habitability.
The Academic Mentor is an additional resource for you throughout this entire academic year (including the winter and spring quarters, after the Pre-MAP class is over). Lupita will also have office hours available each quarter to help you with homework, research, selecting courses, and in-class assignments. She will be present at many of the virtual in-class sessions as well. 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!
Lupita’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. (Prior to September 30, 2020, this GitHub page will direct you to last year’s repository.) 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
[Under construction]
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: Personal statement (Google doc), Part B: Python loops + functions (Jupyter notebook, HW4B)
Homework 5 – Part A: last article reading + questions (Google doc, HW5A), Part B: Python plotting (Jupyter notebook, HW5B)
Homework 6 – Cover slides + 1-2 background slides for final presentation (Google slides, complete in final_presentation_lastname)
Homework 7 – 1-2 methodology slides for final presentation (Google slides)
Homework 8 – 1-2 data/results slides for final presentation (Google slides)
Homework 9 – 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.
To log into our assignments, all you will need is a web browser. Our class will use a JupyterHUB server to work through all of the classwork and assignments. Go to https://premap.dirac.institute to access your workspace. (This link won’t work prior to the first day of class.)
To complete an assignment, please open the Jupyter notebook for a given homework assignment. These can be found at ~/PreMAP2020/homework/ when you are logged into your individual JupyterHUBs. 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:
Due to necessary restrictions affecting health and safety concerns, we will not be scheduling any in-person Lab Tours for the Fall Quarter. Our hope is that we may be able to reschedule these tours for later in the year, depending on CDC guidelines. We are hoping to work with some of the labs we usually visit to set up some virtual tours. Dates and times TBA.
| WEEK | MONDAY | WEDNESDAY | FRIDAY |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No class | Sep 30 Introduction to Pre-MAP Assigned: HW1 | Oct 2 Guest Speaker: Elisa Quintana – Astronomy Major, Computer Set-Up Due: HW1 |
| 2 | Oct 5 Intro to Unix Assigned: HW2 | Oct 7 Python Intro | Oct 9 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 12 Python: numpy part 1 | Oct 14 Python: numpy part 2 | Oct 16 Python: loops Due: HW3 (writing part A and coding part B) Assigned: HW4 (personal statement part A and coding part B) |
| 4 | Oct 19 Python: Functions | Oct 21 Python: Plotting part 1 | Oct 23 Guest talk: Applying for Internships/REUs Assigned: HW5 (writing part A) |
| 5 | Oct 26 Python: Plotting part 2 Due: HW4 | Oct 28 Guest talk: Career Paths in Astro | Oct 30 Recap: Personal Statement Python: Fitting Assigned: HW5 (coding part B) |
| 6 | Nov 2 Academic Mentor Workshop Due: HW5A | Nov 4 No Class | Nov 6 Start research with mentors! Mentor Grading Rubric Assigned: HW6 (cover and 1-2 background slides) |
| 7 | Nov 9 Research Due: HW5B | Nov 11 (Veteran’s Day) | Nov 13 Research Due: HW6 Assigned: HW7 (1-2 methodology slides) |
| 8 | Nov 16 Research | Nov 18 Research | Nov 20 Guest talk: Presentations/ Public Speaking Due: HW7 Assigned: HW8 (1-2 data/results slides) |
| 9 | Nov 23 Research | Nov 25 Research | Nov 27 No Class (Thanksgiving) |
| 10 | Nov 30 Research Assigned: HW9 (elevator pitch) | Dec 2 Research | Dec 4 Research Due: HW8 |
| 11 | Dec 7 Prepare Presentations Due: HW9 Assigned: End-of-Class Survey | Dec 9 Practice Presentations Presentation Rubric | Dec 11 Last day of class / Research Presentations |
| 12 | Dec 14 No class (finals week) | Dec 16 No class (finals week) | Dec 18 No class (finals week) |