Pre-MAP 2017

Welcome to Pre-MAP 2017, Cohort 13! 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 Diana Windemuth, the instructor for Pre-MAP 2017. You can learn more about my research here on my website.

My office hours this quarter: M 2:30-3:30 F 12:30-1:30

Academic Mentor

The course Academic Mentor is Margaret Lazzarini. 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). Margaret 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!

Office hours with Margaret: M/W 12:30-1:30

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 in small groups 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.

Here is the 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).

Course Work

There are coding and writing assignments, designed to hone your coding and science communication skills, respectively. Coding assignments are byte-sized and meant to reinforce what you’ve learned in class. Writing assignments vary in length, but you’ll be given all the right tools and resources to complete them!

Schedule

Lab tours
1) Riffel Lab: Monday, October 23 at 2:30pm
2) Atmospheric Sciences Lab: Monday 11/13 at 2:30pm
3) CENPA, Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics: Friday 11/17 at 3:30pm
4) Astro Machine Shop: Monday 11/27 at 3:30pm