Program Information

Institution: Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai'i at Manoa

Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

How to Apply: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/reu/

Length of Program: 10 weeks

Funding:

• Pay: $3500 with housing and travel covered. Food was not covered and is quite expensive in Hawaii.

• Other Perks: Travel, Housing
• Conference Funding: Yes

Program Experience

Project Name / Description: "A Comparison of Bulge + Disk Decomposition between Pan-STARRS and SDSS": I fit model light profiles to images of galaxies in two leading all-sky surveys. This produces parameters for the size and brightness of a galaxy's bulge and disk components. I compared the reliability of these parameters between the two surveys. The project involved a mixture of coding in Python and visually examining galaxy images. I also got to do an observing run on Subaru Telescope, an optical telescope on the volcano Mauna Kea.

Advisor/Supervisor: Professor David Sanders

Program Description:

There were 6 students on O'ahu and 4 others on the Big Island (Hawai'i Island). I became really close with most of the students on my island, and pretty close with the others as well when we visited them. There was 1 trip to Big Island included in the program, which included a visit to the telescopes on Mauna Kea. The REU director is native Hawaiian so he taught us a lot about native culture too. My observing run was separately organized with my adviser, and the cost for that was also covered. It is also pretty cheap to travel inter-island, so my friends and I visited Kauai on our own. So, travelling and doing outdoorsy stuff (snorkeling, surfing, skydiving, lots of hiking, camping) were the biggest perks. The research was fun most of the time (had some organization issues at the beginning) and the IfA is really friendly. They have coffee and snacks every morning, so you get to meet most of the faculty and hear about all sorts of research. There are also plenty of talks, and we visited the computing center as well. Learned a lot, and spent pretty much all of my free time outside, so it was an amazing program and I highly recommend!

What the Work Was Like:

You are expected to work the usual 8 hrs/day, which includes a lunch break and coffee break if you like. They're very chill about how much time you spend there; it's more about getting stuff done than putting in hours. Overall, it's a very chill work environment. The building itself is partially open to the outdoors, and there's a courtyard, so you can work outside if you want. I would absolutely want to return there.

Program Activities:

A few days of orientation at the beginning with lunch included, banquet at the end of the summer during the day of the final talks. Other than that, free snacks and coffee during the day, but you always get your own food. 1 trip to Big Island. The REU director often chooses some other little activities, like trips to sites on Oahu that have native cultural significance.

Presentations/Publications:

Talk at program institution, Poster at conference, Unpublished Paper (e.g. a project summary/an internal document for the program)