Video: Making connections between projects

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New episode of the Astro Vlog for the week, thinking about the connections between projects and people. One of the most important things for scientists to do is just talk to each other! This is how we learn about data/missions/ideas/skills that might compliment things we're doing.

In my case, at least 6 times in recent memory I've found myself telling people about the WISE mission, and some of the amazing data that is available. I'm not paid to do it, or even officially involved with WISE, but it's data I've been interested in for years. My friend Ethan and I are even toying with ideas on how to find planets with WISE (GitHub repo here), even though the current WISE mission is looking for Near Earth Asteroids!

Video: Tea and Procrastination

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I've posted a new Astro Vlog, this time introducing a new segment: Coffee Time! (we're drinking tea today... but that's OK, we're beverage agnostic here!)

These are intended to be short conversations with interesting people I get to visit with.


Today I'm chatting with my colleague, fellow DIRAC Fellow, Daniela Huppenkothen. We're talking about tea, workflow, and procrastination. This is a serious topic for "knowledge workers", who have to be self-motivated to write or produce their content.

In astronomy, especially in the early years of our careers, daily schedules can be very unstructured. I typically don't teach, and I try to keep very few weekly meetings or phone-cons scheduled. Also I travel a lot, which makes me an unreliable officemate at times.

At the same time, many projects take several years to complete! (Though I've been convinced for many years this doesn't need to be our normal workflow - thus my involvement in HackDays/Weeks, etc) Procrastination naturally arises from this environment of slow, complex work with little structure. AND THAT IS OK! Junior people, listen to the wisdom of Daniela: you do not need to be a productivity machine!

Video: Talking about SETI

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Last week I gave a talk (slides here) about SETI with ZTF and LSST at the "VASCO Workshop".

Here's a video with a short story about how I originally had this idea over 10 years ago, and how it shaped the scientist that I am today.



For those who are interested, here's the April Fools paper I mention, and the writeup I did on THIS blog at the time. Oh, and a little media coverage it received a couple years later!