Becoming a professional astronomer, the final post

So, before I explain how my opinion has changed since the start of this project (affected by the interviews my group and I did – see Iryna and Tommy's blogs for our other posts – as well as the various conversations I have had with post-docs throughout the term), I wanted to post some interesting posts I found while perusing resources online, along with just a couple thoughts I had on each one. Most of the most interesting things online are blog posts. I have never read so many blogs before this class, but they are fun and useful!

http://science-professor.blogspot.com/2011/09/dealing-with-it.html - Just what is the relationship between an advisor and a grad student? If you’ve ever seen the PhD comics, then it appears that grad students are like slaves to uncaring, busy advisors. From my SURF, I thought that grad students and professors were more like friends (both of whom too busy for an undergrad like me!). This article implies that the relationship doesn’t have to be chummy, but merely professional.

http://www.astrobetter.com/valuing-all-kinds-of-astronomy-smarts/ - This is interesting because it discusses the idea of the gap between school skills and practical skills. The people who can do problem sets really well might not be the best scientists…

http://astrobites.com/2011/11/16/for-your-perusing-pleasure-some-preliminary-results-from-the-social-perceptions-of-astronomy-survey/ - on a side note, I tried out Professor Johnson’s idea that telling people on a plane you were an astronomer, as opposed to an astrophysicist, is more conducive to conversation. I had a two-hour conversation with a telephone tech about astronomy on the way home for Thanksgiving… maybe I’ll write one last blog post on this! It was actually pretty cool.

http://astrobites.com/2011/10/02/applying-for-the-nsf-our-own-experiences/ - Oh gosh! I don’t even want to think about this. One of my cross country teammates, a senior, just applied for NSF, and it sounds nerve-wracking.

Now – my own thoughts. I have realized over the course of the semester, after talking to various grad students, that for astronomy there are many different directions you can go. You can be more instrumentation, or theory, but each discipline is different. Also, I have gotten over my hesitation to say the word “astronomy”. I was always worried that “astronomy” was not a real career path. This is what my parents and high school teachers led me to believe; there was always the joke about the student going off to college to pursue something useless like philosophy or astronomy. For that reason, I always answered “astrophysics” when people asked my major.

This term, I have realized that many of the actually parts of astronomy are exciting. Actually observing data is exciting, because of the years of work that lie behind every single observation. It’s not as easy as just looking at the sky; adaptive optics and other modern aspects of telescopes show the field is not static and involves far more than simply looking at stars.

One other contrast that this term has brought to my mind is the difference between astronomy and other fields of science. The research process of biology or chemistry has always seemed a little scary to me; you could spend years working on a project only to see it fail or another group scoop you before you publish. In astronomy, there seem to be far more data than astronomers. I like that idea that even someone like me could comb through public data and find something publishable that simply hasn’t been studied by anyone yet.

The process for becoming a professional astronomer seems less daunting. I have also realized, because of what Jackie said last week, that there is nothing wrong with verbalizing my goal of being a professor, even if I think it might be presumptuous of me to suppose that I “deserve” to have this as a goal. There is no reason to pretend to pursue a career in industry when I know my dream job is to be a professor.

Pursuing this goal, I have learned from this project and the rest of term, will involve facing rejection many times. Not only do I have to apply to grad school and perhaps fellowships, but I will eventually apply to postdocs and eventually faculty positions. I have also realized how important other people are. I would never have learned any of the things I learned this term if I had been in a regular class, because I would have spent my time doing problem sets instead of meeting interesting people and going interesting places (Palomar, the Solar laboratory here, seeing the adaptive optics in the basement). There is nothing wrong with asking questions and there is nothing wrong with having fun.

From the interview with Annelia Sargent, I learned that it is possible to have a family and pursue a career in astronomy simultaneously. She also spoke to us about all the different committees and projects she has been on. It was cool when I read an article of Science a few days later and saw her mention in concert with yet another project that she works on, but the fact that she considers all the extra things she does as “community service” made me realize that it is very difficult to put limits on what a professor does, as every position is different and a lot of what they do is what they choose to do.

Reading posts online, I am struck by the sheer volume of posts by older people in the field giving advice to younger ones seeking to attain their positions. Grad students advise undergrads with seeking guidance from postdocs, and professors offer advice to all. Everyone in the field seems to realize that it is a tough path, and they want to make it easier for those attempting the arduous journey. Astronomy seems, at least as seen through the eyes of the blogosphere, as a cooperative and friendly field. This certainly corroborates my experience this term here at Caltech.

There is also a lot of discussion online about the problems with the current system. Many people lament that the ‘problem set/test/grade’ status quo is alienating to some minds that would be great in astronomy, and theorists have an easier time than people who could be great coders or instrumentationists. I would agree with this – although here at Caltech, we have theory pounded into our brains until it is all we can think, qualities that make a great astronomer cannot necessarily be measured by checking someone’s ability to do a physics problem.

This semester has given me a lot to think about, and changed my habits forever. I really do enjoy talking to others in the field, and now I know how to approach them. One of the goals Professor Johnson gave at the beginning of term was to be able to talk to an astronomer, be it a professor or someone else. He wanted us to see someone that we think is way “above” us, and just be able to talk to them. The me of a year ago could not have done this, and the me of this summer didn’t know to try, but ever since the day I met up with Dr. Kirby on Professor Johnson’s suggestion, I have realized that approaching other people isn’t so scary as it seems. I look forward to continuing the habits of this class, and pursuing the career path of being a professional astronomer.