Other Recommendations

There are numerous heretofore undocumented responsibilities, privileges, and nuggets of truth which have been passed down from grad student to grad student over the years. Unfortunately, some of it gets lost over time, sometimes with unpleasant consequences. This section is primarily a list of these things, in random order.

• It's a good idea to apply for outside funding. Even if your adviser has lots of grant money, it gives you some independence and looks great on your résumé if you've won grants of your own. Some examples of these are NSF fellowships (primarily for first- or second-year grads, minorities or women), Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research (deadlines March 15 and October 15), NASA Graduate Student Research Program fellowships, and Virginia Space Grant Consortium grants. The grad rep should remind people of the deadlines for these.

• All grad students should have some practice giving talks beyond the safety of ASTR 8500. TUNA talks and the UVa Astro Symposium talks are good venues since they're still relatively small and familiar crowds and aren't full 1-hour colloquia. The UVa Astro Symposium is held at some time in February, while TUNA talks are held weekly.

• The first- and second-year students are responsible for organizing the spring and fall Fan Mountain picnics. They're usually held around the time of Fan Public Night, but the timing may vary based on weather. Organization of these should start in mid September for the fall picnic and in mid March for the spring picnic. The Head TA should be in charge, so talk to last year's Head TA about what needs to be done (beer, food, invitations, money, sports equipment, etc).

• We (the grad students) run a part of the web site called AQuA, for Astronomy Question and Answer. People can email questions about astronomy to us. It's run on a rotating basis, so it typically results in about 1 question per person every couple weeks. Of course, the more people who sign up, the less frequent the questions are for each person. We don't do people's homework for them, and submitters are warned that it may take a week or two to get an answer, so the pressure on you is somewhat lessened. AQuA service is not mandatory, but certainly appreciated. If you're willing to help out, contact the webmaster (currently ????).

• Summer funding is not guaranteed. Your adviser may be able to pay you, but it's also not a bad idea to teach at some point, particularly since most TAs don't get a chance to teach in a classroom setting. In March or April, Tolbert will distribute forms asking for volunteers to teach the summer classes. The classes taught are ASTR 1210, 1220, 3340, and 3480. If you're not going to teach, you should talk to your advisor at that point about your funding situation.

• Once the faculty have graded the qualifier exams, they have a big meeting to discuss the progress of every graduate student. Exam scores are discussed as well as performance in TA responsibilities, course work, and research. Because we've never been to one of these (obviously closed) meetings, it's not clear whether anything else is discussed. However, the prevailing feeling among many grads over the years has been that this is the critical meeting during which you want the faculty to think fondly about you. Basically, whether or not they are impressed with your work, it's going to be harder for them to dismiss you from the grad program if they have interacted with you on a personal level. It is therefore the advice of the authors that you make an attempt to participate in at least a few departmental social events. Most people really enjoy these events, so it's not at all a hardship to go. Still, even if you're not into the Astronomy social scene, consider attending some or all of the following events where you will be able to interact with the faculty informally:

• Department Social Events
  1. Halloween party: There is a Halloween party at the end of October each year. The last couple of years, it's been held at the McCormick Observatory.

  2. Holiday party: There is a holiday party at the end of the Fall semester each year. The last few years, the location has alternated between one of the Pavilions on the Lawn and the Boar's Head Inn, depending on whether NRAO or UVa is hosting.

  3. Kovalenko dinner: This is a semi-formal dinner held each February in the Rotunda, paid for by the department.

  4. Department picnics: Each Fall and Spring, we have a department picnic at Fan Mountain. People usually play softball, volleyball or throw a frisbee, and the weather is typically pretty nice. A designated grad student, affectionately known as the ``picnic goat'' gets to plan the event.