I am writing instructions specific for adding code to an exisiting repository such as this one: https://github.com/osu-particle-astrophysics/BinnedAnalysis

From your terminal, get the repo:

git clone https://oindree@github.com/osu-particle-astrophysics/BinnedAnalysis.git

To add a file to /anita3code/Diffuse/ type:

To get the newest root on a mac: this is what Carl and I went through today 

Note that root was installed on my mac by IT earlier

First we tried:

brew update

That gave:

==> Migrating root6 to root

==> Unlinking root6

Error: Error occurred while migrating.

Permission denied @ unlink_internal - /usr/local/etc/root/HistFactorySchema.dtd

Backing up...

Error: Could not link:

/usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions/_brew

Please delete these paths and run `brew update`.

Error: Could not link:

/usr/local/share/doc/homebrew

Please delete these paths and run `brew update`.

Then we tried:

brew upgrade

this actually did work to download some things so that was good but did not really solve the problem 

Then: 

brew install root6

Same problem: 

==> Migrating root6 to root

==> Unlinking root6

Error: Error occurred while migrating.

Permission denied @ unlink_internal - /usr/local/etc/root/HistFactorySchema.dtd

What is a symlink? 

symlink is a file pointer 

points to another location

So, if you had a root on your computer (installed by IT in my case) you might have stuff on there that is conflicting with the new stuff

for me, brew suggested I do this: 

brew link --overwrite root

this gave lots of errors as I did not have permissions to write to lots of directories (as set up by IT) 

so then did

sudo chmod 775 /usr/local/etc/root/*

sudo chmod 775 /usr/local/etc/root/*/*

sudo chmod 775 /usr/local/etc/root/*/*/*

sudo chmod 775 /usr/local/etc/root/*/*/*/*

And then: 

brew link --overwrite root

Hopefully then you get 

Linking /usr/local/Cellar/root/6.10.08... 9717 symlinks created

After this, I had the latest root and it worked

Don't start a sentence with a number.

For numbers less than or equal to ten, spell out the word.

Put a space between a number and the unit?

Kaeli's Advice:

Writing the poster:

1. I generally start off my posters by using a template found at this website: https://brand.osu.edu/presentations/ They are easy to use and this way you don't have to worry about making it the right size.
2. Before writing your poster, think of the topics you want to cover. Some good ones are: introduction to neutrinos, ANITA/ARA, your specific project, results, next steps. 
3. Gather some plots and diagrams that would be good. Try to have at least one that you created that shows your results somehow! I usually have 2-3 pictures per panel.
4. After you arrange the plots and diagrams, write information around them. 
5. Last steps: format title sections, caption pictures, read everything out loud to find any typos, and ask someone else to proofread it!

Presenting a poster:

1. For things like the Denman, I always ask the judge what their background is. That gives me an idea of how specific I need to be with the background information. For example, this year one of my judges was a high energy particle physicist, so I knew he would be interested in the particle side of things, so I catered my presentation in that way.
2. Don't mention things you don't know well! Don't say things like "neutrino events in the ice are rare" unless you can give them a number to go with that. 
3. Practice your presentation out loud, especially the first part. Having a strong opener helps to get the listener on your side.
4. Many times the judge will interrupt you and ask questions. Follow their lead here; they might want to spend more time on one section, so be patient and don't just barrell through until you're sure they understand.
5. You will be graded on the following categories: why you're doing the research, how you're doing the research, what the next steps are, logical flow, preparedness/professionalism, and verbal skills.
6. Make sure you also know the limitations of your project. It is much better if you point out the things that are not "done" yet, rather than them. 
7. Finally, have fun! Don't focus too much on the judging aspect, just think about it as an opportunity to share your work with other scientists. This year I tried to just be excited and not worried, and it's the year that I did the best!

Oindree's contribution:

I am attaching one of my undergrad research proposals as an example. I got this research award for the year 2012-2013. --Oindree

Pay close attention to the wording of your stated level of support in the first sentence, and in the last paragraph.  Make sure it is as strong as you mean it to be.

Is the person you are writing for already working at the level of the position they are applying for?  If so, state that and give examples.

A few basic principles for writing a proposal, many of which I got from Scott Gaudi in Astronomy:

1. Make sure that the first sentence of every paragraph summarizes the entire paragraph, and that 

2. All of the important points are covered in the first sentence of some paragraph.  That way a busy "skimmer" gets all of the important points.  Use italics to make the most important points jump off the page.

3. Say up front, right away what you want.  Don't take several pages to build up to it like you would in a paper.

4. Make the case that you (or your group, or collaboration) are uniquely qualified to carry out the proposed plan.

5. Make the case that the proposal is timely

6. Make the case that if they do not fund you to do this now, then the world will fall apart.

7. Identify the strongest weaknesses of your proposal and address them up front.  You can even turn a weakness around and make a major objective of your proposal to fix it.

8. Demonstrate that you are already doing what you are proposing to do.

9. Include a table showing what you will do each year, including what you will publish and when.

10. Leave no ambiguity in what you say you will do (even if in reality you might change it later).

Acknowledge federal funding.

Writing:

Check paragraph structure.  Make sure that the first sentence of each paragraph summarizes the entire paragraph, and every later sentence is there to support the first sentence.

Do not start a sentence with a variable.

Look up the difference between "which" and "that" and check their usage throughout.

Make sure every figure or table is referred to in the text.

Provide enough details that a later student can reproduce what you did, included function names, etc.  Use appendix if needed.

Avoid colloqial language, such as instead of "we got," write "we measured."

Different ways on which TProfile can estimate and plot errors.

This is a list of things that should be expected when trying to make and run icemc.

1. The directory includes a Makefile.arch, but seems to have lost it’s
StandardDefinitions.mk, which was necessary in previous versions. Is it no
longer necessary?

2. When you try to execute “./icemc” it tries to make an
“outputs/coherent_sum_data_file.root” object. But “outputs” is not a default
directory, so it will fail: “SysError in <TFile::TFile>: file
outputs/coherent_sum_data_file.root can not be opened (No such
file or directory)”.

3. The default settings for inputs.conf have the “Apply impulse response to
digitizer path: 1” enabled. However, this can only be done if the Anita tools are
sourced: “Signal chain impulse response can only be applied when
the Anita tools are sourced”. So “icemc” will not run out of the box for a more
“casual” user without anitaBuildTool. See anitaBuildTools for installation. \

4. When we source the anita3 input file “./icemc -i inputs.anita3.conf” it has
both the apply impulse response digitizer and apply impulse response trigger enabled
by default. This is in direct contradiction to the GitHub documentation where its says
these are not enabled. Because of this it does not run (since these require the anitaBuildTools). The default should not be
enabled. 

5. If the user forgets to set the environment variables “ICEMC_SRC_DIR”,
“ICEMC_BUILD_DIR”, and to update the LD_LIBRARY_PATH as instructed on the
GitHub, the code will proceed as if everything is fine by printing the following message:
“Warning! Could not find environment variable ICEMC_SRC_DIR.
Will guess icemc source directory is present working directory”.
However, the code will segfault. When one sets up the
environment variables correctly first, icemc will execute and produce the correct
output files. If icemc cannot actually run without the environment variables set
correctly (which is fine if that's the intentional design decision), then the error
messages are misleading, and should be removed and icemc should return 0 for the
user and tell them to set the variables.

Oindree

I am terrible at ROOT, so I have started to read the Users Guide on ROOT (attached). It's 700 pages.. so it's like a Harry Potter book, no big deal. 

Also I just learned about TChain::Draw (also in the Users Guide). Here is an example:

TChain c("adu5PatTree");   

for (int run_number = start_run; run_number <=end_run; run_number++) { c.Add(TString::Format("/Users/oindreebanerjee/OneDrive/flight1617/gps/gpsFile%d.root",run_number)); }   

c.Draw("latitude:realTime","attFlag==0", "");

This draws, for all my runs together, latitude vs realTime, cutting on attFlag. That is, only when attFlag==0 (0 is good, 1 is bad) 

f.Draw("threshold:realTime >> hthreshold","(threshold>0 && threshold<4096)","colz"); is another example. Here I have specified the draw option as colz for a 2d histogram

Sam

see attached .txt file

Brian

I wrote down some advice on how to actually get ROOT's time axis to work. It's in the attached "ROOT's Time Axis Feature.docx" file.

Congratulations, you've been selected to deploy to Antartica in support of ARA or ANITA. This mostly covers my experience in preparing to go to the South Pole for ARA.

1. First, you wil be notified that you are either a primary or back-up for deployment to the ice.
   • Your experiment's contact person will send you an email request for basic info below. This will all be enterd into a Support Information Package (SIP) which will generate a document for you to Physicall Qualtify (PQ).
     • Name exactly as it is listed in your passport.
     • Address where things can be sent to you,
     • Best email address for getting important information,
     • Phone number - work and mobile if possible,
     • Institution name,
     • Your airport of departure if you do deploy,
     • Nationality on your passport,
     • Expiration date of passport,
     • Your birthdate
   • For me, this happened on March 23 2017, with my deployment scheduled for January 2018 (the earliest people in my "grouping" to go to pole started heading to pole in early November though).
2. Then, you must complete the PQ process.
   • See my other elog here (http://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/Advice/21) for advice on doing that.
   • My PQ packet arrived on May 17 2017. I sumbited my completed medical PQ on July 31, and my completed dental on August 17 (my dental was complete later because they made me report a filled cavity; I mailed the "first round" of dental stuff in one packet with the my initial medical PQ stuff on July 31).
   • We went back and forth about a few things, and I sumbited final information on October 3, and got my PQ on October 5.
3. While PQ paperwork is being processed, you shoud fill out travel paperwork, which will be in a packet labeled "Antarctica Deployment Packet for Grantee and Technical Events".
   • You do not have to wait for your PQ to submit travel paperwork. They will make you agree to appropriate use of technology in Antarctica, will collect information about your travel, your passport, and your clothing sizes. On the "Trip Details" page....
     1. If you are going to Pole, the travel proceeds like this. You start in your home city (Columbus for me). Then on to Christchurch New Zealand (CHC), then to McMurdo, then on to South Pole. You will have two nights of layover (minimum) in CHC, and one night of layover (minimum) at McMurdo. If your final destination is McMurdo (ANITA) obviously you stop there. You should plan on arriving in Christ Church (CHC) two days in advance of your CHC -> McMurdo flihgt. It takes between 2 and 3 days of commerical travel to fly to CHC (the flight is 15 hours from Columbus and you lose a day crossing the international date line). The advice Jim Haugen gave me is to budget five days of travel before your first pole on-ice date. So, my first on-ice date at pole was Jan 4, so I would need to be in McMurdo on Jan 3, Christ Church by Jan 2, and therefore requested to leave Columbus on Dec 30.
     2. For the return to the states, you should just reverse the procedure above.
     3. If you want to take personal travel on the front end of your deployment, then you should list that on the form and make a note.
     4. If you want to take personal travel on the back end of your deployment, then you should fill out the form as if you were taking no personal travel. The return ticket from Antarctica is actually booked a few days before you are scheduled to leave the pole. They buy a fancy provisional ticket with a flexible date. So you should not worry about telling them about personal travel at this phase.
4. Buy supplies.
   • Oindree and others have already written down some great advice (here: http://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/Advice/13 ) concerning what to pack.
   • The Antarctic program will provide you with the following: a parka, a light outer coat, overalls, boots, hat, scarf, gloves, goggles. You are responsible for four critical items. All of which you can obtain at Cabelas / Bass Pro Shop / REI or online.
     1. Thick socks and sock liners (I bought these sock liners and  these socks, both from Cabelas)
     2. Light-weight baselayers. Yes, they really are called "baselayers" (you can go into a store or google this term and people will know what you mean). My recommendation is Merino Wool. (I bought these tops and these bottoms).  The cost roughly as much as polyester which you could buy at Cabelas (eg, these ), but the Merino wool is better in my opinion. Some people find wool scratchy, but I tolerate it well, so there's that to consider.
     3. Mid-weight baselayers. (I bought these tops and these bottoms).
     4. Sunglasses. Buy a nice pair (I bought a ~$100 pair of sports sunglasses from Native at Cabelas) and a cheap backup pair (~$15 from Foster Grant at Walmart). They need to be polarized and 100% UV light blocking, so make sure to check carefully for that. A shocking number of expensive (>$100) sunglasses (both sport types like Oakley and Native and fashion types like Ray Ban and Vera Wang) are not polarized. They need to have plastic frames (metal frames get cold from the air and can hurt you).
5. About a month ahead of your travel date, you will receive a phone call from the ASC travel office to confirm your travel dates. About week after that, you will be issued your tickets. My tickets came Dec 5 2017.

R

Python

Various machine learning tools such as TensorFlow (this is on OSC)

Advice about physics from Marjorie:

• Always start with the physics!
• Triggering is where the physics is

Yay, it's April Meeting time! This is the biggest conference for the high-energy physics community in the US.

Resources and Lingo

• A high level summary of the meeting can be found here: https://www.aps.org/meetings/april/upload/AP18Program.pdf
• You can download an app from the app store to make a schedule, etc.: https://www.aps.org/meetings/mobileapp.cfm
• Plenaries
  • The "plenaries" happen in the morning
  • they are usually in the big conference hall, and are meant for everyone
• Scientific Sessions
  • The scientific sessions happen in the later morning and throughout the afternoon.
  • You pick and choose what session you attend, or even what talks you attend within a session.
  • It's completely normal to change rooms after each session concludes, and you are even welcome to jump between sessions to catch specific talks.

Sessions of Interest

• What sessions should I attend?
  • If you're totally clueless as to what would be interesting for our science, I'd recommend anything pertaining to "neutrinos", "cosmic rays", or "dark matter".
  • Some I'd recommend in particular:
    • Saturday 3:30: High energy particle astrophysics: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/D07
    • Monday 10:40: Detection and origin of high energy astrophysical neutrinos: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/R17
    • Monday 1:30: Neutrinos, Gamma rays, and cosmic rays oh my!: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/S17
    • Monday 3:30 (our session!): Ultra-high energy neutrinos: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/U17
• Go to activities and socials in the evening or during lunch. Some ones of note:
  • For everyone:
    • Sunday 6:30-7:30PM: Improving the climate for LGBT physicists roundtable: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/N21.1
    • Sunday 6:30-7PM: National Society for Black and Hispanic Physicicst (NSBP, NSHP) Reception: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/N20
    • Sunday 7-8:30PM: Education and Diversity Reception: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/N22
  • For the undergrads specficially:
    • Saturday 12-1:30, round table with grad students: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/B20
    • Sunday: 10-2: career workshop and preparing for work outside the academy: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/G20, http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/J20
• Go to talks which are more than typical "science" talks. For example:
  • Monday: History of Women Pioneers in Astronomy: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/U07
  • Monday: Physicsts and Human Rights: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/R07
• You might avoid some of the more "eclectic" sessions:
  • Tuesday: "New Directions in Gravitation I and II " : http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/X13  , http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/Y13

Making the Most of the Conference

• Taking Care of Yourself
  • No one can actually stay focused from 8AM-6PM listening to science talks. It is is expected that you'll skip a session here, or miss a talk there.
  • Break the monotony. Get coffee, walk a lap of the convention hall, talk to people at exhibition booths instead of going to science talks.
• Networking
  • It really means just meet new people. That's it. Here's the easiet, foolproof way to do it: "Hi, I'm Brian Clark from OSU. I really liked your talk. Can I ask you a quick question about xxxx..." and go from there.
  • It's very easy to meet new people at receptions. I found dinner buddies, for example, at the LGBT roundtable and the Education and Diversity reception. Then you can chat with them for the coming days, add them on linked in, etc.
  • Also, OSU will have a large contingent. If you're hanging out in this large OSU group (grabbing dinner or coffee or lunch), and see someone you've chatted with before who you know could use a buddy, invite them to join.
• Courtesy
  • Do not ask questions during a talk; wait till the end. The speaker has 10 minutes to speak with 2 minutes reserved at the end for questions. Wait till the end to ask questions.
  • Don't heckle a speaker, even if you disagree with them a lot or they insult your experiment/paper/idea. It's unprofessional and makes you look bad.
  • Try to actually listen to talks; minimize laptop use. You'll see lots of people with their laptops open, working during talks. This is normal, and there's nothing really wrong with it. But try, as best you can, to actually pay attention to the talks. If you're going to spend the whole session not listening to the speaker at all, then go grab a table in the convention hall lobby instead. You'll be more productive and the speaker will have a more engaged audience.
• Professional Behavior
  • Read and abide by the code of conduct: https://www.aps.org/meetings/policies/code-conduct.cfm. 
    • We should always strive to be collegial: no crude jokes, no behaviors that make the meeting unsafe or unwelcoming for anyone (based on nationality, disability, gender, sexuality, etc.).
    • Anything we do reflects badly on ourselves, the Connolly Group, OSU, Columbus, and the US (this is an international conference). And physicists have very long memories.
  • For those old enough to drink, drink responsibly.
    • There will be alcohol available at some receptions, and networking after the conference can often happen at bars.
    • We never have an excuse to be excessively intoxicated and do something which makes the meeting unsafe or unwelcoming for ourselves or others.
    • Remember, as a representative of OSU at this conference, we are still held to the OSU Code of Conduct even though the event is off campus.

Hi All,

I applied to a few REUs last semester and am applying to around 7 this semester, so I decided to put some of what I have learned and the link for the NSF site here for reference to other undergraduates.

You can find the list of REU topics here: https://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/reu_search.jsp

Just click on your topic of choice and a list will show you all of the offered REUs

Requirements:

All REUs that I have found require you to do four things:

Fill out the online form

Obtain 2-3 reccomendation letters

Write a personal statement

Sumbmit an unofficial copy of your transcript (easily downloaded via buckeyelink)

You might also get to submit a resume

Expectations:

Acceptance to REUs are rare, especially as a sophomore. I would suggest searching for research that fit well with your skillset and/or interests and not focus as much on the university hosting it.

Also, apply to a good number of them, especially since you just need to make a few tweaks on your personal statement between universities.

Note that most application deadlines are in February, but some are occasionally during late January so plan ahead, especially with your rec letters!

Best of luck!

Suren Gourapura

Hello fellow undergrads,

Another thing to check out is internships with NASA. It's ridiculously easy to apply for an internship at JPL (https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/intern/apply/summer-internship-program/), but for other sites the application looks more like what one would expect for an internship position (https://intern.nasa.gov/ossi/web/public/main/)

Good luck to all!

Lessons Learned from a Year in ARA Hardware

• Test samples, then build batches.

  • If building a new board, always build one to completion to verify functionality before building the rest.

  • We lost lots of time to the ARAFERFv5 for this reason.

• Building in batches is easier than building to order.

  • Maybe this should have been obvious, but it is easier to build 10 of something in an assembly line than to build 10 to completion individually.

• Strain relief is essential.

  • We ran into problems on both the APWR and the ARAFE RF boards with not properly strain relief-ing these systems. They will be jostled, and worse, handled by overzealous grad students. Strain relief the heck out of everything. Sacrifice board space if you have to.

• Lead times suck.

  • We use lots of proprietary technology that can have long lead times (LARK filters, IsoRate cables/adapters, SBC and SSDs…). Plan ahead, and order in at least 25% excess. If you need 12, order 16 to allow for failures.

• You always need spares.

  • Things break, or don’t work how you’d like them to, and sometimes the only solution is outright replacement. Order spares in the quantity ~20%.

  • If you run out, assume you need a spare, and order immediately. Waiting until you actually, desperately need the spare is a recipe for high cost and unnecessary stress.

• It’s not done until it has been thermal tested.

  • Solder joints crack, transistors aren’t wired right, amps don’t behave quite like you expect. It all happened this year. We must thermal test and validate the results before assuming something is ready for pole.

•  “Quick start” manuals are essential.

  • It is not enough to tell people to “read the code”. If you write a new piece of software, put a “1-minute guide" to its compilation and use in the header.

• Redundant, deep experience is necessary. Parallelized skill is better than cascaded.

  • Having only one person with deep knowledge of how a system is put together leads to bottlenecking.

  • Good counterexample: TUFF construction had two people, Oindree and Jacob, that could both fully build and characterize a TUFF without consulting the other person. Jacob and Oindree were “clones” of one another, so when something broke/got stuck, both could fully debug without needing the other.

  • “Extra hands”, e.g., untrained students, are not the solution. The solution is to bring on a long-term second person who can become trained. Interim visitors (~1 week) are not helpful, nor is mass help (lots of students) who don’t have the time (several weeks of only lab work) to dedicate to becoming skilled.

• Special cases are bad.

  • When at all possible, eliminate special cases in how station elements are constructed.

  • Wire connectors, boards, etc for maximum “swappability”. The power box for A4 should work for A6 with no changes, etc.

John Beacom: http://degreeofsatisfaction.blogspot.com/ A good site from a the view of a data scientist with a Ph.D. in physics about how industry is different than academia.

Ryan Hype: "While I was looking for an industry position I was able to get some pretty good advice from the OSU Career Counseling and Support Services office. They have an entire section dedicated to graduate students looking to go into industry. Here is the link to the relevant section of their website. http://ccss.osu.edu/graduate-professional-students/job-internship-search-strategies/jobs-outside-of-academia/ They also occasionally run workshops on how to convert CVs into resumes, how to search for jobs, etc. "

Carl: A link about transitioning into Data Science from Academic Physics. https://philadelphiaphysicist.wordpress.com/2016/11/11/transitioning-from-physics-in-academia-to-data-science-lessons-learned/

Brian D.:  A few things if you are looking into industry. 

               1) Learn SQL- Every interview I have had asked about SQL. There are various tutorials online to learn syntax. It is not complicated, but seems necessary to use

               2) Start looking into statistical programs/languages to familarize yourself-Companies use different packages than academics do. One common package I have seen is called 'R'.

            Apply for lots of jobs. There are many different website you can use to find listings (indeed.com, monster.com, linkdin). Even if you do not think you are qualified, apply anyway. The worst they can say is no. Your education (masters/Ph.D) carries weight and companies may be interested even if you don't meet all the criteria they ask for. 

           Networking is, unfortunately, a large part of getting a job. Knowing a person can get your foot in the door. Past group members, current group members significant others, your relatives. You need to use them all!

            Interviews: Before phone interviews and in person interviews, research the position and company. Be prepared for the general questions all interviews ask (https://www.themuse.com/advice/how-to-answer-the-31-most-common-interview-questions is a decent starting point). Find out if the company is pursuing a goal (machine learning, energy efficiency, etc). Bringing that up in an interview shows you did your homework and shows your interest in the company.

      Bring your resume to your interview. They may ask you to go through it and discuss key points.

      Common question: "what do you bring to this job that others dont? / What do you think makes you stand out from other candidates". A list of common questions and how to approach the answers can be viewed here: https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/27-most-common-job-interview-questions-and-answers.html

      Elevator pitch: Can you give the basics of your thesis in 30-60secs? As if you were explaining to someone with no technical background? This shows you can communicate ideas to others effectively.

      Have a list of questions ready for when the interviewer asks if you have any. Examples: What do you like about this company? What is a typical day like? What's one thing you would change if you could? The more specific the better.

      Ask questions that are important to you. Work life balance? Hours? Schedule? This shows you are interested in the position. Don't take a job that you feel won't work for you! Being miserable doesn't help anyone.

      Ask for a tour of the building/work space. Again, shows enthusiasm. (maybe after 2nd interview?)