Pre-MAP 2021

Welcome to Pre-MAP 2021, Cohort 17! We will be meeting in-person in PAB B360 (the Undergraduate Computing Lab in the Physics and Astronomy building) on Monday/Wednesday/Friday from 11-12:20pm.

While we will plan on being in-person we want to make sure that class is easy to attend if people are feeling sick or in any way can’t make it to class. To that end, we will be recording the lecture aspect of class and making those available, as well as setting up a zoom room for conversation parts of class.

Instructor

I’m Rodolfo Garcia, the instructor for Pre-MAP 2021. I am a fourth year PhD student in the astronomy department. My research involves simulating the evolution of exoplanets. I look at how a planet’s mantle heats up or cools down over time, and how that heat fuels volcanic eruptions, which in turn spit out gases into the atmosphere. I like to play video games and read books, especially sci-fi stuff! I have not taught Pre-MAP before and am really excited to work with all of y’all to learn about research!

Rudy’s office hours this quarter are 2:00pm-3:00pm Fridays in PAB B360 or on Zoom at: (check canvas).

Academic Mentor

The Academic Mentor is Samantha Gilbert. Samantha is a 3rd year PhD student in astronomy and astrobiology. Samantha studies how we will look for and interpret potential signs of life in the atmospheres of Earth-like exoplanets with future telescope architectures.

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). Samantha 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!

Samantha’s office hours this quarter are 1:30pm-2:30pm on Wednesdays in PAB B337

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!), and A Byte of Python.

Homework Assignments

See calendar below

How to turn in Assignments

Writing Assignments, Final Presentation Slides

For Writing Assignments, I will send an e-mail to the class with a link to make a copy of the homework. When you are finished typing the homework into your copy, please reply to the e-mail I sent to the class with the link to your copy.

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 complete an assignment, please open the Jupyter notebook for a given homework assignment. These can be found at ~/PreMAP2021/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:

[under construction!]

WEEK	MONDAY	WEDNESDAY	FRIDAY
1	No class	Sep 29 Introductions Syllabus Class discussion on aspects of research Assigned: HW1	Oct 2 Guest Speaker: Elisa Quintana – Astronomy Major, Computer Set-Up Due: HW1 Assigned: HW2
2	Oct 4 Why do we use computers in research? Intro to Unix Assigned: HW3	Oct 6 Class discussion about HW2 article Python Intro Due: HW2	Oct 8 Research mentor project pitches Due: HW3 (or on Oct 11 if you need more time) Assigned:  1. Project Ranking (Due Sun, Oct 10 @5pm) 2. HW4
3	Oct 11 Python: numpy part 1	Oct 13 Class discussion about HW4 article Python: numpy part 2	Oct 15 Python: loops Due: HW4 Assigned: HW5
4	Oct 18 Python: Functions	Oct 20 Class discussion about HW5 articles Python: Plotting part 1	Oct 22 Guest talk: Applying for Internships/REUs Assigned: HW6
5	Oct 25 Python: Plotting part 2 Due: HW4	Oct 27 Class discussion about HW6 article Python: Fitting	Oct 29 Guest talk: Career Paths in Astro Due: HW6 Assigned: HW7
6	Nov 1 Academic Mentor Workshop	Nov 3 Start Research with Mentors	Nov 5 Research Due: HW7 Assigned: HW8
7	Nov 8 Research	Nov 10 Research	Nov 12 Research Due: HW7 Assigned: HW8
8	Nov 15 Research	Nov 17 Research	Nov 19 Public Speaking Workshop Due: HW8 Assigned: HW9
9	Nov 22 Research	Nov 24 Research	Nov 26 No Class (Thanksgiving)
10	Nov 29 Research Assigned: HW10	Dec 1 Research	Dec 3 Research Due: HW9
11	Dec 6 Presentations Workshop Due: HW10 Assigned: End-of-Class Survey	Dec 8 Practice Presentations Presentation Rubric	Dec 10 Last day of class / Research Presentations
12	Dec 13 No class (finals week)	Dec 15 No class (finals week)	Dec 17 No class (finals week)