Brian York's Life

Ten Weeks

Written on June 19, 2008

Ok, so this is a little experiment. I’ve reached what’s essentially a crunch time in the course of my thesis, involving putting together a research proposal. Essentially, I need a proposal, preferably arising from one of my existing projects, which will serve as the “meat” of my thesis, and which has enough longevity to be my main research interest when starting a post-doctoral fellowship. Basically, I need something that will let me start making an independent mark in astronomy, and I need it by the end of June (which is ten weeks, hence the title). The reason I need to have a finished proposal by then is so that, after it’s finished, I will then have enough time to propose any necessary observations, to collect data from said observations, to reduce and analyse said data, and to write all of this up in my thesis, and at least a few papers.

Of course, the research plan isn’t the experiment. It’s just something I need if I’m planning to actually get a doctorate and start doing astronomy as a career. Writing about it is the experiment. Specifically, it’s my plan to produce at least ten posts (one per week, minimum) talking about how exactly one goes about producing such a proposal, blind alleys included. It’s my hope that having to write about my progress will keep me working on the thing, and that having a record of what I’ve been doing will help me to avoid becoming discouraged as time goes by with no direct progress towards the final goal. And, of course, I’m experimenting on whether I can actually post once a week or more without missing.

So, on with the experiment.

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Entry last updated April 22, 2007