January 14, 2013

Hi everyone!

Hope all those that went to the AAS last week in Long Beach, CA had a great time!  While we do not have classes on Monday, January 21, consider volunteering as part of the UW Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.  There are lots of volunteer opportunities still available: http://depts.washington.edu/leader/mlkday/

Academic Satisfactory Progress: Effective this winter quarter, the University will enforce academic satisfactory progress rules.  (See the student guide for official wording: http://www.washington.edu/students/reg/regpol.html).  What does this mean for you?  Make sure to sit down and plan out your remaining quarters.  You will need to finish your degree requirements within 210 credits or 12 quarters (whichever is more); note your unofficial transcripts now display a quarter count to assist with planning.  If you find you will go beyond these limits (for most of you, use the credit limit), please speak with me.  For many of you we can submit successful petitions since the rule is just now being enforced.  Those of you that are recent transfers to UW, freshmen or sophomores will want to be sure you are doing careful course planning since it will be less likely that petitions a few years from now will be approved.  Please see me if you have any questions.

Building Use Permits: Don't forget to pick up your building use permit!  I will leave them in the Astronomy main office, C319 for pickup.  You need to have a permit with you when you are in the building after hours.

League of Astronomers: Join the League of Astronomers!  The undergrad astronomy club, LoA has a facebook page with all the details of their meetings and events: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-League-of-Astronomers/171798242932673

Summer Research Opportunities: Looking for research this summer?  Check out this listing of possible opportunities both here at UW and across the country!  https://catalyst.uw.edu/workspace/sterrs/23482/146967  Deadlines are approaching so be sure to take a look at the listing soon.  Let me know if you have questions about applying to any of these.

Mary Gates Research Scholarship: The Mary Gates Endowment for Students is currently accepting scholarship applications.  Mary Gates scholarships provide $4,000 ($2,000 per quarter for two quarters) for students to pursue leadership or research projects.  These scholarships benefit students in the current academic year, and are open to all UW undergraduate students regardless of class year, major or residency status.  Deadlines are coming up soon, so begin the application process and attend an information session and application workshop.  More information here: http://www.washington.edu/uaa/mge/apply/research/

RESEARCH INFORMATION SESSIONS
Monday, 1/14, 4:30pm, MGH 171
Tuesday, 1/15, 12:30pm, MGH 171
Wednesday, 1/16, 11:30am, MGH 171

APPLICATION WORKSHOP: Research Application Workshop – Tuesday, 1/29, 4:00-5:30pm, MGH 206

DEADLINES: Research Applications DUE – Monday, 2/4, 5:00pm

This is the final round of applications that will be accepted in 2012-13 – applications will not be accepted again until next Autumn, so apply now!

SPS Lunchbox Discussion: Mark your calendars for Wed, Jan. 23 at 12:30 for a special Society of Physics Students (SPS) Lunchbox with Professor Paul Steinhardt. Professor Steinhardt is the Albert Einstein Professor of Science at Princeton University with research in cosmology and condensed matter physics.  SPS invites all the Astronomy students to attend this discussion!  Pizza is $1.50/slice and the discussion will take place in PAB 135.

Astro Lunch: We have two Astro Lunch talks this week.  Today (Monday) at Noon in B356A, Phill Cargile (Vanderbilt) will give a talk on "Determining the Age of Blanco 1 using its Lithium Depletion Boundary and Investigating the Influence of Stellar Activity".  Tomorrow (Tuesday) at noon in B356A, Elaina Hyde (Macquarie Univ) will give a talk on "Galactic Archaeology and the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy".

Colloquium: This Thursday at 4pm in PAA A102, Tony Piro (CalTech) will give a talk called "Faint, Fast and Few", a talk on wide-field, high-cadence surveys.  Please join us at 3:45pm in the foyer for coffee, tea and cookies.

Page O'Announcements: http://pageoannouncements.blogspot.com/ Don't forget to check out the blog for campus announcements, classes and much more!  I also post the weekly AAS Committee on the Status of Women email which has some great articles for reading if you're interested.

Have a great week!

Thanks,
Sarah

--
Sarah Garner, M.Ed.
Department of Astronomy
University of Washington
Physics/Astronomy C-304
Box 351580
Seattle, WA 98195

Phone: 206-543-9590
Fax: 206-685-0403