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A compilation of stories, telescopes, internship resources, and other things radio astronomy.

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Graduate School: Applying, Living, Thesising

The Professional Student is a blog about everything grad school from the application process to my experiences living as a grad student, being a parent in grad school, and researching the role of chemistry in the evolution of our universe.

Filtering by Category: Research

Emailing Potential (Fellowship) Advisors

Olivia Wilkins

Emailing potential advisors for a fellowship opportunity is super intimidating. When I was writing my first fellowship application, I spent a lot of time searching for how to even write that first email. I had a difficult time finding something useful, so here is an overview of things to think about and what to write so you don’t have to wonder how to write that first email anymore!

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categories Fellowships, Applying to grad school, Research
tags Email, Networking, Careers, Summer research, Application materials

Astrochemistry: The Study of Molecules in Space

Olivia Wilkins

Astrochemistry is the joining of astronomy and chemistry, but what types of questions do astrochemists study, and why do they study these questions at all? Here, astrochemistry is defined as the study of molecules in space, and we take a look at where they are, how they got there, and what they are doing before considering some of the many ways in which chemistry can help us understand our wider universe.

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categories Research
tags Astrochemistry, Astronomy, Cosmochemistry, Interdisciplinary science

How Astronomers Get Observing Time on Telescopes

Olivia Wilkins

Obtaining astronomical data with a telescope takes much longer than several hours actually using the instrument. Rather, the process takes months starting with a telescope proposal that provides both scientific justification for the project and technical justification for the instruments requested. Here’s a look into what this process looks like, from writing the proposal itself to the review process, using my recent Green Bank Telescope observations to provide some examples.

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categories Research
tags Astronomy, Radio Astronomy, Writing, Observing, Travel, Proposals, Proposal Writing

Applying to the NSF GRFP: The Research Statement

Olivia Wilkins

The application for the NSF GRFP includes a two-page research statement. In these two pages, you have to provide a brief plan of what research you plan to carry out in grad school, address your intellectual merits and broader impacts, and provide enough background information so that a scientist in the same discipline (but likely a completely different area of research) can easily understand the ideas you are trying to convey. How can you possibly fit all of that into two pages?

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categories Applying to grad school, Fellowships, Research
tags NSF GRFP, Research statements

Applying to the NSF GRFP: The personal statement

Olivia Wilkins

Personal statements are often limited to one or two pages, but when applying for the NSF GRFP, you have up to three pages to tell your story. How do you use all of that space? How can you incorporate your past experiences with your future goals (especially if you don't know them yet)? No matter how you tackle these questions, it is important to tell your story.

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categories Applying to grad school, Fellowships, Research
tags NSF GRFP, Personal statements