Training Camp 2020 for New Master Students at Institute of Astronomy, NCU (新生訓練營 2020)

Targets

Targets for this training camp are new master students entering to our institute in September 2020. A limited number of highly motivated undergraduate students are also welcome to join the camp.

Purpose

Participants are expected to learn:

about life at our institute,
how to survive in the institute,
about requisitory for mathematics, physics, astronomy, programming, and English,
how to find a supervisor,
how to choose a research topic for your master thesis,
how to graduate from our institute,
how to enjoy the time here,
etc.

Features

Introductory 30-min talks about our institute and astronomy in the morning.
Hands-on sessions in the afternoon.
Plenty of time to interact with faculty members of our institute.

Schedule

1st circular: 01 July 2020
2nd circular: 01 August 2020
Deadline of registration: 15 August 2020
final circular: 25 August 2020
Training camp: 8, 9, 10 September 2020

Venue

The venue of the camp: S4-1013

Programme

Note: PDF files can be downloaded only from the subnet of our Institute (140.115.34.0/24).

8 September 2020

Time	Activity	Instructor	Note
09:30-10:00	Registration	---	---
10:00-10:30	About our institute	Hwang, Chorng-Yuan	opening remarks and guidance from our director
10:40-11:10	About courses at IANCU	Ko, Chung-Ming	brief introduction to core courses and selective courses
11:20-11:50	How to find a supervisor?	Chen, Wen-Ping	suggestions for finding a supervisor and a thesis topic
12:00-13:30	Lunch break
13:30-15:30	Hands-on session 1: Using Unix-like operating system	Kinoshita, Daisuke	shell commands, terminal emulator, text editor, etc.
15:30-16:00	Tea time
16:00-18:00	Hands-on session 2: Basic Python Programming	Kinoshita, Daisuke	an introduction to Python programming for astronomers
18:00-19:00	Beer time

9 September 2020

Time	Activity	Instructor	Note
10:00-10:30	Study of planets and exoplanets	Ip, Wing-Huen	recent hot topics in planetary system study
10:40-11:10	Stellar astronomy	Ngeow, Chow-Choong	recent hot topics in stellar astronomy
11:20-11:50	Recent development in transient astronomy	Pan, Yen-Chen
12:00-13:30	Lunch break
13:30-15:30	Hands-on session 3: Plotting data using Python	Kinoshita, Daisuke	making various plots
15:30-16:00	Tea break
16:00-18:00	Hands-on session 4: Making and using database from Python	Kinoshita, Daisuke	constructing a table and trying some queries
18:00-20:00	Camp dinner		at faculty lounge

10 September 2020

Time	Activity	Instructor	Note
10:00-10:30	Math, Physics, and English needed for astronomical research	Chou, Yi	what should we know for doing astronomy? how to study math and physics?
10:40-11:10	How to make use of our access-able facilities (SMA, JCMT, Subaru, ALMA, CFHT, UKIRT) and their data	Urata, Yuji
11:20-11:50	Interactions with master and PhD students	current master and PhD students
12:00-13:30	Lunch break
13:30-15:30	Hands-on session 5: Using Astropy	Kinoshita, Daisuke	trying some useful functions of Astropy
15:30-16:00	Tea break
16:00-18:00	Hands-on session 6: Making a HR diagram of a star cluster	Kinoshita, Daisuke	downloading Gaia-DR2 data, and constructing a HR diagram
18:00	End of the camp

Some notes for participants

Be active!

Be active during the camp. Don't be shy.
Ask more questions in order to maximize your outputs.
If you have a difficulty, ask for a help and try to solve the problem.

Official language of the camp

English
Chinese can also be used for detailed discussion

Bring your notebook and pen

Important information for your upcoming life at IANCU is provided. Bring a notebook and a pen, and take a note when you listen to talks.

Bring your computer

You need a computer for hands-on sessions. Bring your computer to the camp.
If you do not have a computer, talk to Kinoshita Daisuke before the camp.

Suggested operating system for this camp

Most software for astronomical research are developed on Unix-like operating systems. Therefore, we use a Unix-like operating system to utilize useful astronomical software.
Here is a list of suggested operating systems.

Linux (e.g. Debian, Ubuntu)
BSD (e.g. NetBSD, FreeBSD)

Install one of suggested operating systems on your computer before the camp.
If you are using Microsoft Windows, you may consider to use a hypervisor to install Linux (or BSD). In this way, you do not need to destroy your Windows, and Linux (or BSD) can be installed on a virtual machine.
If you do not know how to install Linux (or BSD), please contact to Kinoshita Daisuke before the camp.

Programming language

The official programming language for the Training Camp 2020 is Python 3.
Please make sure to install Python 3 on your computer before joining the Camp.
Following external packages of Python 3 are needed.

External programs needed for the Training Camp 2020

SQLite
curl
Firefox or any other your favourite web browser
FEH image viewer
GNU gv

Touch typing

It will be extremely efficient if you can do touch typing.
If you cannot do touch typing for now, please have some practice for touch typing before joining the camp.

Mask

Bring masks to minimize the chance of infection by coronavirus.

Registration form

To join the training camp, visit the Google Form to fill in the form.

Registration form of the Training Camp 2020

Organizers (in alphabetical order)

Hwang, Chorng-Yuan
Jian, Amber
Kinoshita, Daisuke

HTML coded by Kinoshita Daisuke.