JHU CAS is one of the largest centers for astrophysics in the country, with an extremely active world-class postdoctoral training program. Mentoring students is a major component of the postdoctoral experience. Participation in JHU CARE program can serve as direct practice and preparation for future faculty duties, making it a unique aspect of the JHU postdoctoral experience. Supervising a semester or a summer internship provides an ideal self-contained, time-limited commitment which is a good match to the timing of both the postdoctoral and undergraduate program. Because of the high demand for undergraduate research projects at JHU, postdoctoral participation is an essential component of the JHU CARE program: much of the day-to-day JHU CARE intern supervision, programming training, and seminar organizing is conducted by postdoctoral researchers.
What postdocs can do for JHU CARE:
— indicate their interest to one of the participating faculty members (if in doubt, contact Prof. Nadia Zakamska);
— design and write up one or more undergraduate research project proposal (aim for one-two pages, written at a non-specialist level, but include 5-10 references both to general public websites and to professional literature);
— discuss their proposals with their faculty contact and iterate if necessary;
— commit to being available for 80% of the summer — while being away for a couple of conferences will not jeopardize the summer intern’s project, this program is not suitable for postdocs with extensive travel plans;
— explore funding opportunities which will enable them to provide support for an undergraduate researcher.
What JHU CARE can do for postdocs:
— Participating faculty members will help postdocs design projects of appropriate difficulty level;
— They will advertise postdoctoral projects to prospective undergraduates and find a good match between advisees and advisors;
— They will seek funding to support the summer interns and the associated summer activities;
— They will find joint office space for interns to enable collaboration and cohort learning, provide overall program structure and guidance, hold regular group meetings to oversee research progress, provide scientific feedback on drafts and suggestions for mentoring.
Summer 2017 postdoctoral supervisors Dr. Rowlands, Dr. Wylezalek and Dr. Nataf