Senior Practicum
Spring 2004

TIME AND PLACE: Tu,Th 2:00-3:15  SBO S125  (Observatory)
INSTRUCTOR: Webster Cash
E-MAIL: cash@casa.colorado.edu
OFFICE: Duane C333A (303-735-3002) or ARL (Research Park, 303-492-4056)
OFFICE HOURS: by appointment -- send me an e-mail!
            I will usually be in my Duane office 1-1:45 TR before class.  I can stay late at SBO after class.
            I am also available at ARL much of the time.
TEXTS:  Data Reduction and Error Analysis,  Bevington and Robinson, McGraw Hill, 2003
                Practical IDL Programming, Gumley, ISBN 1-55860-700-5
              

GOALS OF THIS COURSE: To introduce seniors with a serious interest in astronomy to the practicalities of modern professional astronomy.

PREPARATION: It is assumed that students in this course are seniors with a major in astronomy.

EXAMS: There will be no in-class exams.

MATERIAL: This class attempts to bring together three important and useful aspects of the astrophysics profession.
A) Programming:   We will learn applications programming in the IDL language.
B) Statistics: Learning to analyze data sets in a quantitative way and set error bars.
C) Journals:  Learning to read and understand the context of a recently published research paper.

HOMEWORK: There will be quantitative homework projects assigned. About half the class time will be devoted to working on the computers and solving your difficulties with the assignments.

PROJECT:  There will be a major assignment to perform some data analysis and write it up as a mock paper at the end of the semester.

COURSE GRADE: The curve in the class will be very high -- mostly A's.  Your grade will be based on reports, problem sets and projects..

WEB SITE:
Information about the course can be found at http://casa.colorado.edu/~wcash/APS4010/aps4010.htm
We will use the site extensively as the source of most of the information, including problem sets  and notes.