When I think of being a professional astronomer, I can’t help but keep thinking about how amazingly awesome it would be to go observing! After our class trip to Palomar, I want nothing more than to have a project where I can go observing. Which, of course, requires that I think up a project and get telescope time. But after that…… J
The process to become a professional astronomer, as far as I know, is basically constrained to academia. Professors and staff scientists of universities/ organizations such as CfA are the only people who can actually participate in this process, as it helps tremendously to be associated with a telescope-owning institution to study the sky. In this vein, to become a professional astronomer, one would need to follow the path of being an undergraduate -> grad student -> postdoc -> assistant professor -> professor. Each step of this transition needs something new. To become a grad student, I need to do research as an undergrad to learn research skills, and get good grades and test scores so I can get into a grad school. To become a postdoc, I would need to win a fellowship. I am unclear if this is the only way to become a postdoc. I’m also unsure how one goes about becoming a professor – I assume that if you are a really good postdoc, then you can apply for jobs and if you’re lucky, you’ll get one?
Also, your job can limit the science you can do. As a undergrad, I cannot apply for telescope time, unless someone qualified submits the proposal for me and I am listed only as a coauthor. Something I have learned in that last few months is how extremely important knowing people is. Who you know is almost more important than what you know. Working with people (or, in my case, learning from people) is one of the most important ways to grow as scientist. No matter how many papers on adaptive optics I read, I could never have gotten the same emotional fascination with them nor rough understanding of them that I did from listening to people explain it.
There also seems to be a lot of luck in becoming a professor – if the system you are studying happens to contain some crazy new structure, it could boost your career hugely. However, this also requires you have enough skill to recognize an opportunity when you see it. I have met a few postdocs who are doing such interesting projects, and being so successful with them, that I can’t believe they aren’t professors yet. This shows how high the standards are in the field. I think that rather than it always being the researcher who is the BEST who become a professor, there is an element of luck to it. There is not a definite measurement of being the “best” researcher, after all.
Like any field, I think the most important things to becoming a professional astronomer are connections and luck, with a necessary amount of skill to take advantage of the luck you have. More skill can offset a lack of luck, but luck cannot offset a lack of skill.
It's good you're talking to postdocs! They are a great resource. The path you outline to becoming a professional astronomer has some branching to it. From my perception, to do astronomy research throughout your life, you almost certainly want to go to grad school (although you can take off a year or two after undergrad and work as a research assistant). After that, it becomes sort of fuzzy to me. It seems like most people do postdocs but I don't know if it's required. NASA is a big employer for astronomers, in addition to the university system.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that there's multiple ways to get a postdoc: you can win a national fellowship such as Hubble or Jansky, or you can win an institutional fellowship that is specific to working at a certain institution. The other way I know of is to get hired by a professor who is working on a project that he or she would like your expertise for.