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The Topic of the Day is: Saturday, March 01, 2008 | |
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REUs I've been rejected from this year: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory REUs I've been accepted to this year: Wyoming Infrared Observatory National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAWAII! PUERTO RICO!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!) REUs I haven't heard from yet: NASA's Undergraduate Student Researach Program Southern Association for Research in Astronomy Northern Arizona University Kitt Peak National Observatory Wisconsin Space Grant Elijah Project Cornell University McDonald Observatory Any of the four scholarships or three research grants So, here's my dilemma. What I want: 1) A cool project 2) A cool place to do it in Things which best meet 1: NRAO at Green Bank, Arecibo, and Hawaii (alright, I admit, I haven't heard about my project from Wyoming yet. or ANY of the other places' projects) Things which best meet 2: Arecibo Hawaii NRAO at Green Bank To be frank, here it is. I want to go to all of these places and I'm scared to go to the exciting places. Hawaii and Arecibo would be, I think, the two hardest REUs to get into EVER. And they both took me. Which is fantastic, but where do I want to go? Hawaii's offer sounds so ATTRACTIVE!: "You will be paid a weekly stipend of xxx from which a deduction of about xxx will be made for housing in a convenient and pleasant private house (all inclusive). You will have your own room and share kitchen and bathroom facilities with other REU students. The total stipend for the program after the housing deduction will be about xxx. We will also pay for an economy class airfare to and from Hilo to attend the program. In addition, you will be taken on an observing run on Mauna Kea. Contingent upon good progress in your work, you will be invited to attend an astronomical meeting, such as the January 2009 AAS meeting in Long Beach, CA to present the results of your research. This year, the Hawaii REU program will operate on three islands, Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii (also known as the Big Island). You will be located in Hilo, on the Big Island, with 3 other students. Hilo is a smaller town than Honolulu but with many other attractions nearby including Kilauea volcano, scenic beaches, valleys, waterfalls, and, of course, Mauna Kea. You will be able to participate in the summer REU seminar series and other lectures at the Honolulu campus via polycom. All Hilo students will be flown over to Oahu for the end-of-summer REU symposium." I mean, it's HAWAII! it sounds GORGEOUS and EVERYTHING like Hawaii's supposed to sound like. Then there's Arecibo. No descriptions of the location yet, but it's in Puerto Rico. I would essentially be traveling to (almost) another country... or rather to an in between state which is neither "America" as I am used to it or "Other Country" as I am afraid of. It's still as exciting, but perhaps more tolerant in terms of my own ignorance. (by the by, when I say, "afraid", I more mean, "feel inexperienced and naive and thus worried that I'll fsck up some how, or won't be able to handle it") But the project at Hawaii is building a NIR camera (and testing it, and getting it ready to go). I don't really know a lot about IR and it's not really of interest to me (although of course it's the science that one would be doing with the camera that's more of an indicator of interest to me. NIR means stars and dust :P) The project at Arecibo is radio astronomy, specifically building a receiver to study radio interference. It sounds cooler. But it was described in more detail so it sounds harder. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to do the project (I had my choice of two but the other one is software :P yuck). I don't have EE experience, I don't know fantastic quantities about circuits. BUT it is much closer to what I might do some day. (and, now that I talk about it, I remember that this is just a summer project and I don't have to be perfect at it. Who takes a student job which is precisely what they know they can do? Nobody. I'm pretty sure I thought I couldn't do a damned thing of Peter's project when I first applied for it. And it turns out that he was willing to explain it to me. So, good.) ((so does this mean I should look more into the PI of each project as opposed to each project itself? Assuming that they are both quite hard and that I should be depending on a professor to help me through it? probably!)) (((and, by the by, what do I do about NRAO? I built up a little bit of a relationship via phone and email with the PI who offered me that job... but it doesn't meet need 2 nearly as well as Arecibo and Hawaii do))) ... I wish it were Monday so I could talk these things out with people in the lab who have more background into these situations. I suppose I shall send both Hawaii and Arecibo the same email that I sent Wyoming and NRAO, so I can wait until Monday and have a chance to think about it. |
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My Other Writing Sites | |
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Webcomics | |
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Stories I'm currently working on. | |
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***Tbook1 (Time and Chaos, needs a new name, needs to be edited) ***Book of Sun (Just needs to be edited. Tis a Nano novel) ***Book of Whispers part 1 (Does not jive at all with part 2; needs to be rewritten to fit and to have less suckage) ***Book of Whispers part 2 (Needs some rehaul editing, needs some loose ends tied up, needs to fit) ***Book of Whispers part 3 (Needs to be finished... then needs to die o.o Not sure if I need a third part in the series) ***Dium's Story (Needs a point, progress, anything... needs to be integrated into Tbook1, since that is what it is a part of, mainly) ***Trio Story with Jackie and Louise (Maybe we should get together and work on this, guys) ***Demon Story (This is working out pretty good so far. I like the plot, it's a bit convoluted, and the characters are interesting) ***New Witch Story (It's only 30 pages long, dang) ***Dragon's Voices (This has SO much potential! wee!) | |
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