Summer "Visit" - 2020 - OIRMA

Quotes

• [student:] The best thing about this week was the sensation of work and progress. Learning about the relevant astronomy was definitely fun and valuable, but when we analyzed light curves, pored through databases, and created spreadsheets of candidates, I felt that I had taken tangible steps towards my goal. At that point, I had actually done astronomy, not just learned about it.
• Best thing was the collaboration with all involved and the students being more like peers.
• [It's important for astronomers to have:] Curiosity. Patience. Tenacity. Ability to collaborate fruitfully. Willingness to ask for help. Willingness to work hard on something that may not turn out.
• [student:] what I will never forget is my temporary lack of comprehension and occasional struggles to keep up with the rest of the group. In those situations, I was forced to accept my own shortcomings and ask others to clarify or slow down. This last week has taught me to rely on others and be honest with my own skills.
• Working with a highly expert mentor astronomer is crucial. (this is not a surprise, but just got reinforced!) On day 3 it turned out that we had WAY fewer AGN to work with than expected. I was scared that our science was in trouble. Varoujan came back morning of day 4 with an alternate approach to developing a catalog that opened things up again.

Related Teams

• OIRMA/Gorjian