Sunday, November 20, 2011

Becoming an Astronomer: The Academic Journey Thus Far

I've written a lot in previous blogs about what initially inspired me to pursue astronomy, but I haven't blogged about what I have actually experienced thus far in the academic process.  How have my views changed in the first year of my undergraduate career and how do I view the road ahead?

The Academic Process Thus Far:
One of my main findings from the first four terms at Caltech was the sheer difficulty of the academics. The classes I have taken thus far (physics classes and non-physics classes)  have definitely pushed me to the limit.  I have certainly realized that becoming a professional astrophysicist, at least at Caltech, is not an easy process.  At the same time, however, I have immersed myself in an environment of brilliant minds and countless resources.  Challenging myself now will prepare me for what lies ahead in an astronomy graduate program, and as a budding astronomer, now is the time to make the vital connections with the professionals around me.

My first four terms as an undergraduate have also presented me with a number of potential alternatives to astronomy.  Entering Caltech, I was absolutely certain that I wanted to pursue cutting edge astrophysics.  I had no real grasp of what such a career would require of me, and I had not considered other career paths.  During the second and third terms of freshman year, however, I took two geology classes which I found really interesting.  Perhaps, I thought, doing a geophysics or planetary science program would be just as interesting as astrophysics, and maybe the classes would be less stressful than some of the intense physics courses in the Ph and Ay options.

Ultimately, I have decided to stick with astrophysics, but examining the alternative options has opened my mind and widened my understanding of what I would have to do in the future to become a professional astronomer.  In addition, my experience as SURF student over the summer has given me a taste of real scientific research.


The Summer - SURF:
Over the summer, I got the opportunity to work in the Cahill Radio Astronomy Laboratory with a number of astronomy postdocs.  One of these postdocs, Kieran Cleary, has offered to answer a number of career questions compiled by Monica, Eric, Daniel, and myself.  His responses will be posted in a blog at some point later this week.

The SURF had been my first opportunity to work in a research laboratory, and I was really excited.  The project I worked on in particular involved creating low noise amplifiers for QUIET, an experiment under development to detect the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background.  Over the three or so months I spent working in the lab, I characterized the gain and noise of twenty or so of these amplifiers.  During the process, I was introduced to the methods of scientific research and to the equipment that I may very well be using as a professional in the future.  The experience was very interesting, and certainly eye-opening.  For the first time, I felt like an actual astrophysicist as opposed to just a student, which secured my decision to go for the astronomy option as opposed to geophysics or planetary science.


The Road Ahead:
My experiences in the past year have lead me to the realization that becoming an astronomer is a long, and definitely difficult, process.  Nevertheless, I am eager to move forward and to gain even more knowledge and experience as a graduate student, a post-doc, and hopefully as an educator.  Ultimately, I am confident that a career as an astronomer is exciting and rewarding, and I am more than willing to put in the work to get to where I want to be.


1 comment:

  1. This is a really interesting and well-written post! I enjoyed reading about your experiences here so far as an undergraduate - us grad students don't often get to hear the undergraduate perspective.

    You can definitely blend planetary science and astronomy/astrophysics. The lines between them are not so sharp, even though they're in different divisions. If you like rocks, maybe you would be interested in the problem of planet formation, both in our solar system and in other stellar systems.

    PS - Do you see the awesome colors in those star tracks! You can really see blue stars and red stars!

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