Title: AAS Employment Committee Special Session What does it take to land a job anyway
1AAS Employment Committee Special Session What
does it take to land a job anyway??
2Charge of the AAS Employment Committee To
facilitate the professional development and
employment of astronomers at all career stages
and on all career paths, and to promote balance
and fairness in the job market.
3Current EC Members Stefi Baum Rochester Inst.
Of Technology David Bazell Eureka
Scientific Rolf Danner Northrup Grumman Anita
Krishnamurthi (Chair) UMd/NASA GSFC Travis
Metcalfe NCAR Fred Rasio Northwestern
University Anil Seth - CfA Barbara Whitney
Space Science Institute
4Graduate Student Networking Reception Thursday,
6.30-7.30pmHilton Austin Salon H
5The Production Rate and Employment of Ph.D.
Astronomers Travis S. Metcalfe High Altitude
Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric
Research
6Travis S. Metcalfe High Altitude Observatory,
National Center for Atmospheric Research
7Travis S. Metcalfe High Altitude Observatory,
National Center for Atmospheric Research
8Travis S. Metcalfe High Altitude Observatory,
National Center for Atmospheric Research
9The Production Rate and Employment of Ph.D.
Astronomers
Metcalfe, 2008, PASP, in press
arXiv0712.2820
Travis S. Metcalfe High Altitude Observatory,
National Center for Atmospheric Research
10Prize Fellowships
- Nancy Evans
- Chandra Fellowship Program, CfA
11Employment
- The Chandra Fellowship Program
12Chandra Fellowships
- Further the understanding of X-ray sources
- X-ray observations Chandra, XMM, Swift, Glast,
RXTE - Ground-based, other wavelength observations of
X-ray sources - Theory
13Post-docs
- Chandra, Hubble, Spitzer similar
- Within 3 years of PhD
- 3 year duration
14Aim
- Time for research
- Work with a new group, learn a new skill
15Requirements
- CV
- Summary of previous research
- 3 letters of reference
- Research proposal
- US institution
16Demographics
- Roughly half are new PhDs (no previous post-doc)
- Roughly half do some further post-doc work
17Benefit
18Mechanics
- New committee each year (except Chair)
- Cover all areas
- 2-body problem
19Aside Satellite positions
- Wide variety of specialized work
- Mission planning, software, data processing,
archive, user support, calibration - Variety of sizes, variety of lifetimes
20Aside IT specialists
- All the Chandra groups have IT specialists
- Typically recent college graduates
- Visit the Chandra booth
21Faculty positions and grant-funded postdoc
positionsNeal Evans, University of Texas
22Postdocs and Faculty at Big State U.
23Generalities
- Elements
- CV and Publications
- At least 3 pubs in grad school, 10 in postdoc
- Research Statement
- Teaching Statement (maybe)
- Keep it SIMPLE and SHORT
- Letters of Recommendation
- Most critical, but least immediate control
- Depends on actions long before
24Guidelines and Suggestions
- From committee evaluating postdoc applicants, but
mostly general - Committee will not be all in your field
- Tailor your application
- Do your homework know people and facilities
- Be specific with whom would you work?
- Avoid jargon, acronyms, details of your field
- Explain how your work fits into big picture
- Be brief we dont need to know
- All observing runs, programming or spoken
languages, hobbies, marital status,
25The Letters!
- Phrases from letters for top 3
- Very smart, works very hard
- Would make excellent use of your facilities
- Most gifted researcher
- Cannot think of a better match
- One of the most creative thinkers
- Gifted young scientist
- Original thinker
- Extremely dedicated
- Has my unqualified support
- Highly recommend
26The Letters!
- Phrases from letters for bottom 3
- Responsible person
- Good skills
- Best in a collaborative environment
- Diligent researcher
- Competent
- Friendly and direct
- Strengths in data analysis
- Easy to collaborate with
- Will soon be generating own ideas
- Enthusiastic and adaptable
27How to get good letters?
- Start early impressions built over time
- Work with several people
- Especially outside your institute
- Collaborate, but find a way to lead
- Demonstrate competence AND originality
- Dont be satisfied with good enough
- Choose your advisor and collaborators wisely
- Dont alienate your letter writers
- Marketing find a way to get noticed
28Jobs in Government
- Jonathan Gardner
- NASA GSFC
29Government JobsJonathan P. Gardner,
Observational Cosmology Lab, Goddard Space Flight
Center
- Best sources of information AAS Job Register,
Networking - Goddard, JPL, Ames, Postdocs http//nasa.orau.org
/postdoc/ - Goddard, Ames, Faculty Level
http//www.usajobs.gov/ - JPL https//careerlaunch.jpl.nasa.gov/
- DOE Labs http//wdrs.fnal.gov/employ/
http//jobs.lbl.gov/ - Policy jobs
- APS Congressional Fellowship http//www.aps.org/p
olicy/fellowships/congressional.cfm - AIP Congressional Fellowship http//physicists.or
g/gov/cf.html - AIP State Dept Fellowship http//www.aip.org/gov/
sdf.html - Presidential Management Fellows Program
https//www.pmf.opm.gov/ - AAS Bahcall Fellowship http//www.aas.org/policy/
John_Bahcall_Fellowhip.php - Contact your congressional representatives,
Senators, etc. - NSF, NASA HQ, DOE HQ, Other Government Agencies
http//www.usajobs.gov/
30Jobs in Industry
31Getting a JobAn Industry Perspective
- Gary Matthews
- JWST AIT Program Manager
- ITT Space Systems Division
32Background
- 1979 graduate of Penn State University in
Mechanical Engineering - 1988 graduate of the University of Rochester MBA
- 28 years experience in building large optical
systems - Notable achievements
- Chief Engineer on the High Resolution Mirror
Assembly for Chandra X-ray Observatory - Program Manager for the Advanced Mirror System
Demonstrator ultra-lightweight active glass
mirror for segmented optical systems - Program Manager for the JWST AIT Program at ITT
- Director of Space Science Programs at ITT
33The Difference Between Academia and Industry
- Academia
- Pursuit of knowledge
- To query the unknown
- Knowledge for knowledge sake
- To ask the hard questions that have no answers
- Industry
- To drive programmatics that compel revenue and
enhance shareholder value
34Scientists and Engineers
They are cut from the same cloth
- Scientists
- To figure out how to do something that has never
been thought of or done before
- Engineers
- To build something that has never been built
before
Scientists are the interpreters between science
and engineering through Systems Engineering
35The Secret is Systems Engineering
- Science insight into stellar ages
- It's difficult to garner ages from isochrone
fitting for mature solar-type stars. - Young stars with bright exodis will be
particularly interesting and should receive close
attention, including integral field spectroscopy.
- Engineering insight into how things work
- PVnRT
- FMa
- You cant push on a rope
- Not so sure about a cryo rope
36Systems Engineering
- Creating the link between mission needs and
system configuration - Understanding the advantages and limitations of
various configurations to drive trades - To flow down engineering requirements to various
aspects of a design to insure mission success - This allows industry and academia to succeed
- Academia gets an instrument to explore the
unknown - Scientists learn about the unknown
- Engineers build the impossible
- Industry makes money and pays taxes to build more
instruments while rewarding shareholders
In all cases you will be working side-by-side
with engineers and manufacturing people with
critical expertise and insight to allow the
creation of instruments to explore the unknown
37Fill out surveys!Graduate Student Networking
Reception Thursday, 6.30-7.30pmHilton Austin
Salon H