Hello all! Been so busy I've not had time to post for quite a while. Here are my highlights of the last academic year from September 2013 - December 2013.
My presentation at EPSC was the first one in the cometary session at 9am on the morning of Friday 13th. I’d prepared my talk beforehand and with all the running about I didn’t have much time to get nervous until just before it was my turn. So before I know it there I am - standing on stage at the Bloomsbury theatre presenting my work to people that had been working in my field for longer than I’ve been alive. Luckily I’d met some nice people in my audience at my supervisor’s Royal Society Exhibit and they made it seem less daunting. This is usually my boyfriend’s job but he was away at a workshop. I'm pretty sure my talk went well because I got good feedback afterwards. One guy (who wrote or been involved in most of the papers I’d been reading) came to talk to me afterwards and told me I was using the right number in my simulation – I’m definitely taking that as a good sign. Great first taste of a real scientific conference!
Astronomy Course at Mill Hill Observatory, North London
By this time term had started at UCL, and I’d decided my knowledge of astronomy was wholly insufficient if I was going to have to successfully interpret astronomical data from ground and space based telescopes for my PhD project – I didn’t even know how a telescope worked as I’d never done any astronomy as an undergraduate. The best way for me to increase my knowledge as quickly as possible was simply to attend UCL’s undergraduate Astronomy course run at the Mill Hill Observatory, which meant that every Tuesday night until Christmas I learnt astronomy from the very kind, patient staff and students at the observatory and took my own observations of some stars, galaxies and nebulae.
PhD Transfer Report
At the same time I had to write my transfer report. When you start a PhD you are actually registered on an MPhil until your university decided you’re good enough to keep around and they transfer you to the PhD – that’s what the transfer report is for. Unfortunately UCL had recently decided to change their transfer procedure so instead of my report being due at 18 months it was now due at 13 months (only 4 months after I’d finished my probation report!). I was very unhappy about this change (moving the goal-posts half way through the game is not allowed!) but there wasn’t anything I could do about it so I had to shove my half finished work into the framework of a transfer report. They hadn’t really changed the requirements for the transfer either - simply telling us that as our report was due earlier they wouldn’t expect it to be as good as usual. So you want me to hand in rubbish?! Very stressful!
Attended AGU Fall Meeting 2013
I was lucky enough to be given funding to go to to San Francisco to attend the American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting (AGU) by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The conference took place over 5 days but there were so many people there and so many sessions running at the same time that you couldn’t possible see everything you wanted. I learnt a lot about comets, the Rosetta mission and lots of other topics (like the recent discovery of a plume of material coming out the south pole of one of Jupiter’s moons called Europa). I also presented a poster on my research. This is supposed to be the easier option for new student (rather than making them do a scary oral presentation in front of a big crowd), and is also supposed to be more effective at AGU as the conference is so large with so many other sessions running in parallel that this is best way to actually engage people with your work. Well that was the theory. In reality the comet ISON group decided to tour the posters they were interested in together. I therefore ended up spending 2 hours standing in front of the poster talking to anyone that wanted in addition to giving a ten minute (made up on the spot!) talk to the comet ISON group (about 20 people) – so I guess I did a poster and talk! It must have gone well (didn’t seem like it to me at the time) because I won a prize in the Outstanding Student Poster Award competition (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/mssl/planetary-science/news/planetary-news/birkett-ospa)!
Whilst I was in San Francisco I also had a bit of time to myself to do a bit of Christmas shopping and sight seeing (sunrise from Twin Peaks and a boat trip to Alcatraz). Did you know there are actually puppies and kittens in the window of Macy’s in the day time in San Francisco running up to Christmas? I couldn’t quite believe it but they were very cute. First international conference abroad - a great experience!
Runner Up in UCL Research Images competition
While I was away at AGU I also discovered that my entry into UCL’s research images competition had won a prize. I’d actually entered a picture of my model that my supervisor thinks is a bit daft because the colours are crazy but it helps me to understand what’s going on. I’d been bugged into entering by some of the guys in my office and had done it just to shut them up. I never expected to win anything. Apparently my work was also exhibited at the main campus at UCL for that week – shame I didn’t get to see it. You can see it below.
PhD Upgrade Panel
As soon as I came back from AGU I had to present my case for continuing with my studies and being upgraded from the MPhil to PhD. My brain was still pretty fuzzy from the jet lag but I managed to stumble my way through the presentation I’d written while at AGU and cover the rough edges with my particular brand of enthusiasm. It must have won them over because they wholeheartedly recommended me for upgrade - so now I am officially a PhD student! Good end to 2013!
Stay tuned - more to come soon!
September 2013
Presentation at EPSC - on stage at Bloomsbury Theatre!
EPSC 2013 (the European Planetary Science Congress), was held at UCL’s main campus in central London. In order to qualify for free registration for the conference I had to become a conference assistant for the week. This involved loading presentations onto a central computer, making sure presenters kept to time by working a very off-putting flashing countdown clock and generally running errands to make sure things ran smoothly. I was very grateful to UCL for waiving my registration fee in return for my help. My presentation at EPSC was the first one in the cometary session at 9am on the morning of Friday 13th. I’d prepared my talk beforehand and with all the running about I didn’t have much time to get nervous until just before it was my turn. So before I know it there I am - standing on stage at the Bloomsbury theatre presenting my work to people that had been working in my field for longer than I’ve been alive. Luckily I’d met some nice people in my audience at my supervisor’s Royal Society Exhibit and they made it seem less daunting. This is usually my boyfriend’s job but he was away at a workshop. I'm pretty sure my talk went well because I got good feedback afterwards. One guy (who wrote or been involved in most of the papers I’d been reading) came to talk to me afterwards and told me I was using the right number in my simulation – I’m definitely taking that as a good sign. Great first taste of a real scientific conference!
Astronomy Course at Mill Hill Observatory, North London
By this time term had started at UCL, and I’d decided my knowledge of astronomy was wholly insufficient if I was going to have to successfully interpret astronomical data from ground and space based telescopes for my PhD project – I didn’t even know how a telescope worked as I’d never done any astronomy as an undergraduate. The best way for me to increase my knowledge as quickly as possible was simply to attend UCL’s undergraduate Astronomy course run at the Mill Hill Observatory, which meant that every Tuesday night until Christmas I learnt astronomy from the very kind, patient staff and students at the observatory and took my own observations of some stars, galaxies and nebulae.
PhD Transfer Report
At the same time I had to write my transfer report. When you start a PhD you are actually registered on an MPhil until your university decided you’re good enough to keep around and they transfer you to the PhD – that’s what the transfer report is for. Unfortunately UCL had recently decided to change their transfer procedure so instead of my report being due at 18 months it was now due at 13 months (only 4 months after I’d finished my probation report!). I was very unhappy about this change (moving the goal-posts half way through the game is not allowed!) but there wasn’t anything I could do about it so I had to shove my half finished work into the framework of a transfer report. They hadn’t really changed the requirements for the transfer either - simply telling us that as our report was due earlier they wouldn’t expect it to be as good as usual. So you want me to hand in rubbish?! Very stressful!
November 2013
The comet I was modelling broke up!
Having made it through that it was then time to prepare for comet ISON, with it’s closest approach to the sun on the 28 November. My model really needed to be ready by this time (you can’t really predict something after the event!) but I’d hit a few problems. Unfortunately so did comet ISON and as it approached the sun it broke up forming a bright, sharp spike at the head of the comet and a very extended dust tail (see the movie below). The comet didn’t survive its very close approach to the Sun and no new dust was produced as it moved away. This was very disappointing to us personally as my supervisor’s other PhD student had managed to secure some observing time at the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) in January to study comet ISON – but now we had no comet ISON to study.
Comets and Curry Outreach Talk
Once that was over I had some free time that I managed fill volunteering to give outreach talk at the Observatory Science Centre in Herstmonceux. The evening was titled ‘Comets and Curry’ and involved me giving a talk about cometary science in general and a little bit about what I was doing for my PhD (including comet ISON and the Rosetta mission), followed by a tour of the telescopes on sight. The optical telescopes are no longer used for scientific research but they are definitely earning their keep educating and entertaining the general public. Although it was to cloudy to do any proper observing (astronomers call it ‘bad seeing’ – seriously).
Comets and Curry Outreach Talk
Once that was over I had some free time that I managed fill volunteering to give outreach talk at the Observatory Science Centre in Herstmonceux. The evening was titled ‘Comets and Curry’ and involved me giving a talk about cometary science in general and a little bit about what I was doing for my PhD (including comet ISON and the Rosetta mission), followed by a tour of the telescopes on sight. The optical telescopes are no longer used for scientific research but they are definitely earning their keep educating and entertaining the general public. Although it was to cloudy to do any proper observing (astronomers call it ‘bad seeing’ – seriously).
December 2013
Attended AGU Fall Meeting 2013
I was lucky enough to be given funding to go to to San Francisco to attend the American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting (AGU) by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The conference took place over 5 days but there were so many people there and so many sessions running at the same time that you couldn’t possible see everything you wanted. I learnt a lot about comets, the Rosetta mission and lots of other topics (like the recent discovery of a plume of material coming out the south pole of one of Jupiter’s moons called Europa). I also presented a poster on my research. This is supposed to be the easier option for new student (rather than making them do a scary oral presentation in front of a big crowd), and is also supposed to be more effective at AGU as the conference is so large with so many other sessions running in parallel that this is best way to actually engage people with your work. Well that was the theory. In reality the comet ISON group decided to tour the posters they were interested in together. I therefore ended up spending 2 hours standing in front of the poster talking to anyone that wanted in addition to giving a ten minute (made up on the spot!) talk to the comet ISON group (about 20 people) – so I guess I did a poster and talk! It must have gone well (didn’t seem like it to me at the time) because I won a prize in the Outstanding Student Poster Award competition (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/mssl/planetary-science/news/planetary-news/birkett-ospa)!
Whilst I was in San Francisco I also had a bit of time to myself to do a bit of Christmas shopping and sight seeing (sunrise from Twin Peaks and a boat trip to Alcatraz). Did you know there are actually puppies and kittens in the window of Macy’s in the day time in San Francisco running up to Christmas? I couldn’t quite believe it but they were very cute. First international conference abroad - a great experience!
 |
| Left: Presenting my poster at the conference. Right: Seeing San Francisco, the view from Twin Peaks just after dawn. |
Runner Up in UCL Research Images competition
While I was away at AGU I also discovered that my entry into UCL’s research images competition had won a prize. I’d actually entered a picture of my model that my supervisor thinks is a bit daft because the colours are crazy but it helps me to understand what’s going on. I’d been bugged into entering by some of the guys in my office and had done it just to shut them up. I never expected to win anything. Apparently my work was also exhibited at the main campus at UCL for that week – shame I didn’t get to see it. You can see it below.
 |
| My entry into the research images as art competition, see https://www.flickr.com/photos/uclnews/11353828555/in/photostream/ for more info. |
PhD Upgrade Panel
As soon as I came back from AGU I had to present my case for continuing with my studies and being upgraded from the MPhil to PhD. My brain was still pretty fuzzy from the jet lag but I managed to stumble my way through the presentation I’d written while at AGU and cover the rough edges with my particular brand of enthusiasm. It must have won them over because they wholeheartedly recommended me for upgrade - so now I am officially a PhD student! Good end to 2013!
Stay tuned - more to come soon!
