Michigan Astronomy

Graduate ProgramGraduate Program

Guidlines for Research Projects For Early Students

Overview

At the beginning of each academic year, the first and second-year students will choose a year-long project, to last from September through August the following year, from a "research menu" compiled by the graduate Chair. Each student will have "regularly scheduled" meetings with advisor to ensure steady research progress. At the end of the first (Fall) and second (Winter) academic semesters, each student will give a "public" 10 minute talk (+5 minutes for questions) describing his/her research and this presentation will be formally evaluated by a separate research committee. However, students participating in the oral preliminary exams (at the end of the Winter semester) will be exempt from the 2nd talk and will instead be expected to give a research update (no powerpoint) and respond to questions from the exam committee as part of the normal oral exam. At the end of the summer, the student will produce a written document summarizing the year's work for the research committee. In addition, at the beginning of the each new Fall semester, the new 2nd and 3rd year student will give public 20-minute lectures on their previous year's research.

The evaluation of each oral and written presentation will be formal and be based primarily on the following four criteria: Lucid description of research goals and relevant scientific context, comprehension of technical details, achievement of progress toward final goals during recent work period, and quality of presentation. A written report by the Research Committee (see Best Practices for details of membership) and will be discussed with the student by his/her research advisor. The evaluation will be deposited in the student's academic file and, along with all information in the academic file, will be considered for awarding departmental research fellowships and during the department decision on advancement to candidacy.

Procedures

The graduate chair is responsible for organizing the "research menu." This includes soliciting research descriptions in April, with a deadline for submission by June 1. Each faculty member (including research scientists) will be asked to provide descriptions of two research projects. Each project is meant to last from September until August, roughly one year. Each project description should contain approximately 1 paragraph of scientific motivation and 1 paragraph explaining the nature of the work (observational, theoretical, data analysis, instrumentation, computer programming) including any desirable or required qualifications (e.g., experience with IDL or telescope observing).

2nd year students will be provided the menu by July 1, in advance of the 1st year students, and must arrange for research by August 1. The list of remaining research projects will be then offered to the 1st year students upon arrival in late August. After relevant discussions with faculty, the 1st year students should give the graduate chair a ranked list (top 4) of requested research projects by the end of the first academic school week. The graduate chair will attempt to match students with their most highly ranked project choices, subject to "Best Practices" (see below). All 1st and 2nd year students should be paired with a research advisor no later than 2 weeks into the academic Fall semester.

Best Practices

exceptions granted by graduate Chair, with appeal to department chair

  1. We expect that the 2nd year students will take one of two paths in obtaining a research project. They may choose from the menu, in which case they would have first choice (relative to the 1st year students). However, they may approach a faculty member in the Spring or Summer and arrange for a 2nd year project. This has the advantage that the project would be more tailored to the interests and skills of the student. This "personalized" research project also should be described in the same two-paragraph format as the "menu" projects and formally submitted to the Graduate Chair subject to the same time deadlines.
  2. 2nd year students should choose a different research advisor in a different research area - the department encourages breadth.
  3. Research advisors should be limited to 1 first-year student.
  4. Research advisors can be academic faculty as well as research scientists.
  5. Weekly meetings are recommended between student and advisor.
  6. All research faculty should be encouraged to come to the "public" talks in order to increase communication regarding the level and nature of graduate student research in the department.
  7. The formal written evaluations of the research presentations (both oral and written) will be done by a research committee. This committee will consist of the current "preliminary exam" committee plus the student's research advisor. Note that the same committee will evaluate all the students at a given time, lending uniformity of standards to the evaluation process.