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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
- 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.
- 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.
- Kovalenko dinner: This is a semi-formal dinner held each February in
the Rotunda, paid for by the department.
- 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.
Next: The Graduate Representative (Grad
Up: The Grad Student Handbook
Previous: Miscellaneous
Paul Ries
2009-08-24