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Summer "Visit" - 2020 - OIRMA

Our regular summer visit to Caltech was hijacked by COVID-19. So we did an online work week instead -- 4 days when all the participants on the team come together to work intensively on the data. Reload to see a different set of quotes.

OIRMA worked July 5-9, 2020. The 5 core team educators attended, plus 6 students.

Quotes

  • [student:] what the group provided was a system of rapid feedback which I could assist with my own insights and receive help from in times of confusion. At parts in the workflow where I might be banging my head against the wall, I could work through the issue with someone else, which was helped greatly by screen sharing. By the end of the week, the group felt like more than a formal convocation of academics to conduct research, and more of a group of enthusiasts who could also joke and engage in tangent discussion, not just work.
  • [student:] “Real astronomy” is being curious, and wanting to turn that curiosity into answers. This means articulating your problem, then coming up with a way to solve that problem, even if it means taking a detour from what you originally thought you would have to do to reach your solution. I loved that things weren’t set in stone, and that we often adapted our methods on the spot in order to suit our needs. This entire experience taught me that, as I had expected, not everything is sunshine and roses, and that sometimes, you have to do a bit of unexpected grunt work in order to achieve a goal.
  • Working together was super powerful because with many eyes on the same problem it takes less time to find new avenues and catch missteps.
  • Real astronomy is DATA. It is having to think outside the box to turn the invisible visible by using multiple sets of information from potentially multiple sources. I expected this would be part of the research project but was surprised by the ability to successfully change methods for data collection during the project.
  • I was most surprised by the students’ ability to keep up (no offense to them). I really felt that students, instructors, and astronomer were all on the same footing and able to contribute and ask questions freely. I had worried about power dynamics in the group, since only one of us does astronomy research professionally, but I was pleasantly surprised at our ability to form a cohesive team so quickly.

Related Teams

Summer "Visit" - 2020 - OIRMA