Kelle

Citation Etiquette

by Kelle December 15, 2011

In a forum hosted by another site, there was an extremely lively and interesting discussion about the etiquette of citation in the astronomical literature. The discussion is valuable enough for me to re-hash the highlights here where it can be archived, permalinked, and continued amongst a wider group. Below, I’ve included slightly edited bits of [...]

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Category: astro community Tags: ,

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To Post or Not to Post: Publishing to the ArXiv Before Acceptance

by Kelle December 12, 2011

Inspired by a discussion elsewhere, I’d like start an open thread about the pros and cons of posting a paper to the arXiv before it’s accepted by a refereed journal. To get the convo going, here’s my summary of what came out of the previous discussion: Pros to posting before acceptance: Problems and omissions get [...]

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Category: astro community Tags: , , , ,

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Minimize Unconscious Bias in Recommendation Letters

by Kelle December 7, 2011

‘Tis the season for recommendation letter writing and a friendly reminder of an important issue that letter writers, readers, and requestors should all be aware of. (Also see last year’s Recommendation Letter Writing Round Up.) While writing letters is a task that is generally taken with great care for all mentees, there are some things [...]

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Category: Career, Links Tags: , , ,

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Help Shape the Future of Ground-Based Optical and Infrared Astronomy

by Kelle November 30, 2011

I am a member of the new System Roadmap Committee formed by NOAO to assess the state of the ground-based optical and infrared system of observing facilities, including both private (e.g., Keck, Magellan) and public (e.g., NOAO) observatories. We are a successor to the past ALTAIR and ReSTAR Committees that performed valuable one-time assessments of [...]

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Category: policy Tags: , , , , ,

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Valuing all Kinds of Astronomy Smarts

by Kelle November 21, 2011

A couple weeks ago, Sean over at Cosmic Variance brought up the topic of “smart” with respect to Steve Jobs and I want to use that post to springboard to a slightly different opinion piece: Astronomy (and Physics) will not be as scientifically productive as it could be and will not make meaningful progress towards [...]

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Category: astro community, Links

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Stargazing Apps Giveaway

by Kelle October 28, 2011

Well, this is a milestone for AstroBetter: we’ve been given some promo codes to give away to our readers! They are for the Vito Technology iOS apps Star Walk and Solar Walk! StarWalk is one those apps that you can hold up to the sky and it’ll show you what you’re seeing. It even uses [...]

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Category: applications Tags: , , , ,

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Quicksilver Lives

by Kelle October 27, 2011

The wait is over: Quicksilver has been updated for 10.7 Lion and now, I don’t think there’s any reason for me not to upgrade from 10.6. Quicksilver is a launcher, like Spotlight, but, oh. so. much more. It can do pretty much anything except reduce the data and write the paper, and all without leaving [...]

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US Ground-Based Astronomy Threatened

by Kelle October 25, 2011

The latest NOAO Currents: October 2011 lays out the current dire landscape for ground-based facilities in the US. They have set up an online forum (just a blog post with a comments section) to facilitate a discussion amongst the community (that means us). The signals from National Science Foundation Astronomy division (NSF AST)  imply that [...]

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Category: policy Tags: , , ,

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Drinking with Colleagues [Links]

by Kelle October 17, 2011

For better or worse, Astronomy has a strong drinking culture. Whether it’s the Friday beer/wine/scotch departmental event, nights out at conferences, or the AAS Party, we drink together a lot. Here’s a nice article on maintaining a balance between having a good time and maintaining a professional demeanor. I especially like the advice to be [...]

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Category: Links Tags: ,

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Professional Development at AAS 219 in Austin

by Kelle September 15, 2011

Updated Oct 10, 2011 with additional workshops and more details. The 219th AAS Meeting in Austin, TX from January 8-12, 2012 is coming up, and as a continued tradition, thanks to growing community involvement and NSF funding, professional development workshops, seminars, and special sessions will once again be offered. This year, more than ever! The [...]

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Category: astro community, Career, productivity, scientific talks Tags: ,

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