ATNF outreach

Summer Vacation program

Each summer the ATNF coordinates a summer vacation program for undergraduate students who have completed at least three years of their degrees. This year the program was held jointly with CSIRO Telecommunications and Industrial Physics (CTIP). We received over 300 applications for 19 positions, eight with the ATNF and 11 with CTIP. Six of the ATNF students were based at Marsfield with the other two at Narrabri.

The vacation program provides the students with a tremendous opportunity to experience working in a research team. Each of the students worked for about 12 weeks on a research project with supervision from a research scientist or engineer. Many of the students commented that they enjoyed the CSIRO work environment and that the program has attracted them to consider further study or research careers. At the end of the program, on 6 February 2003, the students held a one-day symposium, organized by Albert Teoh, and gave excellent presentations covering a diverse range of topics.

In mid-January the students took part in an Observatory Trip where they spent four days at either the Parkes or Narrabri Observatory and worked in small teams on observing projects. Each group was allocated approximately 8 - 12 hours for observations with the telescopes. The student observations were supported by Naomi McClure-Griffiths at Parkes, and DJ Pisano at Narrabri, with safety and telescope training provided by staff at the Observatories.

The Observing Trip was a big challenge for the vacation students but also extremely rewarding. Here, reprinted from the summer vacation students' newsletter, The Jubbly Decibel, are some comments on their experiences:

"We learnt that when you are at a telescope such as Parkes, using a watch is absolutely useless unless it shows UTC, sidereal times and AEST. Life literally revolves around the stars. Amidst our simple but irregular cycle of sleeping and observing, we managed also to climb the dish, play cricket under the dish, watch The Dish (apparently a requirement for any Parkes astronomer), play cards, listen to music, take some photos and explore the Visitors Centre."

"We set out knowing very little about what to expect; thrown (quite intentionally) straight into the deep end of observations, with only DJ Pisano for a floaty and the stars for a guide. Most of us were engineers or physicists with no idea about astronomy, observation or interferometry, let alone the truly vital skills of Rubics puzzle solving, mastering Miriad, and staying awake for 36 hours straight."

"The observation results were mixed, with the Pulsar group failing completely to get any useful pulsar data whatsoever. However, thanks to recently visible events in a black hole far, far away, a good measure of dignity (and some useful data) was recovered, and we thank the powers that be in far reaches of the universe for flaring just in time to save us."

Front row (from left): Ying Guo, Jessica Chapman, Natasha Maddox, Albert Teoh, Paul Connor, Mark Foreman, Naomi McClure-Griffiths
Middle row: Lok Sang Ho, Kirsty Rhook, Samantha Mickle, George Petrakis, Anne Barnett, Michael Laxen, Andrew Danson, Suzannah Molloy
Back row: Kingsley Allen, Steven Irrgang, Jurgen Fripp, Simon Nawrot, Dean Karantonis

Jessica Chapman
(Jessica.Chapman@csiro.au)