The SRCfTA plays an important role in the training of postgraduate students in the School of Physics, and contributes to the supervision of students at other institutions. Within the School of Physics, seven PhD students and one Honours student were supervised by SRCfTA staff members during 1997. In addition, one third year student undertook a special project with Don Melrose in the mid-semester break.
SRCfTA postgraduate students. From left: Olaf Skjæraasen, Jean-Pierre Macquart, Lucyna Kedziora-Chudczer, and Curtis Saxton.
Three of the PhD students were supported by Australian Postgraduate Awards or University Postgraduate Research Awards, while three were funded by SRCfTA stipends. A number of external students was also hosted/supported by the SRCfTA: three PhD students, one each from the ANU, and the Universities of Tasmania and Oslo and one Honours student from Oberlin College in the USA.
An essential skill for a good researcher is the ability to present results and ideas clearly and comprehensibly. Students of the SRCfTA are given specific opportunities to develop their presentation skills through Journal Club talks, the informal Friday meetings, and through participation in workshops and conferences. The need to tailor the material and presentation to meet the needs of the audience is particularly stressed, and is reinforced by requiring the students to present a variety of talks with different emphases. Students are encouraged to attend and present their work at the yearly scientific meeting of the Astronomical Society of Australia, and to make at least one overseas trip during their candidature. The SRCfTA provides financial assistance for these activities. The benefits of this program are evident from comments on how well the SRCfTA students present their work.
The Special Research Centre participates in two Vacation Scholarship programs, in which undergraduate students undertake a research project during their summer vacation with guidance from a staff member of the SRCfTA - the first taste of research for many of the participants.
The SRCfTA provided funds for two Second Year students over the summer of 1996-97, as part of the School of Physics Vacation Scholar program, for University of Sydney students.
The Special Research Centre also continued its involvement in the nationally-advertised Vacation Scholars program together with the AAO, the ATNF and the Division of Telecommunications and Industrial Physics, CSIRO. A total of 31 students who had just finished their Third Year or Honours Year courses were selected for the program in 1997/1998. Four of these were selected for scholarships in the SRCfTA. Two of the Research Centre Scholars originated from Monash University and one each from the Universities of New South Wales and Western Australia. The scholarships run for 12 weeks from December to February. In addition to their research projects the vacation scholars meet at both the ATNF and the School of Physics for a few days of lectures on a variety of aspects of the research undertaken in the host institutes and spend a weekend at one of the ATNF telescopes or at the Anglo-Australian Telescope undertaking an observational project of their own devising. At the end of the program the students present their research results in a short talk to all the supervisors involved in the program.
The Vacation Scholarship schemes aim to raise awareness of astronomy and astrophysics amongst physics and engineering students, and to attract some of the best students into astrophysics. The scheme provides valuable research training for the participating students, and the projects undertaken often lead to publications in scientific journals.
SRCfTA Vacation Scholars for 1997/98.
From left: Paul Wang, Colin Jacobs, Cameron Fletcher and Brent Groves.
Student Supervisor Topic
Postgraduate
Shaun Amy Lewis Ball, Prof. Lawrence Cram (Astrop.) Radio sources in the Magellanic Clouds, Mar 1989 -
Michael Burgess (based at ANUATC) Prof. Dayal Wickramasinghe (ANUATC), Kinwah Wu, Dr Peter Wood (MSSSO) Mass transfer instabilities in binary systems, Mar 1996 -
Sue Byleveld, SRCfTA stipend Mark Wardle, Don Melrose, Dr Helen Pongracic (DSTO) Influence of magnetic fields on star formation, Feb 1993 -
Jason Cullen, UPRA Kinwah Wu X-ray emission from accreting compact objects, Feb 1996 -
Duncan Galloway (based at U. Tasmania) Kinwah Wu, Dr Bob Watson (U. Tasmania) Binary X-ray pulsars - pulse morphology and temporal behavior,
Nov 1996 -
Stephen Hardy, APA Don Melrose Neutrino astrophysics, Jan 1994 - Jan 1997
Lucyna Kedziora-Chudczer, SRCfTA stipend Don Melrose, Dr David Jauncey (COSSA) Variability in radio emission from quasars, Jan 1993 -
Jean-Pierre Macquart, APA Don Melrose, Lawrence Cram (Astrop.) Scintillations in the interstellar medium,
Mar 1997 -
Curtis Saxton, SRCfTA stipend Kinwah Wu, Helen Pongracic (DSTO) Shock oscillations in cataclysmic variables, Feb 1995 -
Olaf Skjæraasen, (based at U. Oslo) Dr Jan Trulsen (U. Oslo), Dr Hans Pecseli (U. Oslo), Lewis Ball Particle acceleration, Feb 1997 -
Fourth Year
Malcolm Kennett Don Melrose Neutrino emission in magnetized plasmas, Jan - Nov 1997
Naomi McClure-Griffiths (based at Oberlin College USA) Dr Dan Stinebring (Oberlin College), Simon Johnston Scintillation in PSR B1259-63, Sep 1996 - May 1997
Third Year
Nick Halmgyi Don Melrose Dispersion in highly relativistic plasmas, Jul 1997
Vacation
Ashley Crouch Don Melrose Acceleration of particles and synchrotron losses,
Dec 1996 - Feb 1997
Russell Edwards (at ATNF) Dr Dick Manchester (ATNF), Simon Johnston A pulsar timing machine for Tidbinbilla, Dec 1996 - Feb 1997
Lisa Evans Neil Cramer (Theor.), Sergey Vladimirov Dusty plasmas around comets,
Dec 1996 - Feb 1997
Matthew Fitzgerald Michelle Storey, Jenny Nicholls Modeling the non-thermal radio emission from a magnetic Bp star,
Dec 1996 - Feb 1997
Cameron Fletcher Don Melrose Waves in pulsar magnetospheres, Dec 1997 - Feb 1998
Brent Groves Kinwah Wu Mass transfer in black hole binaries, Dec 1997 - Feb 1998
Colin Jacobs Lewis Ball Radio supernovae and the Razin effect, Dec 1997 - Feb 1998
Cindy Ng Mark Wardle The propagation of Alfvén waves in interstellar clouds,
Dec 1996 - Feb 1997
Paul Wang Simon Johnston Refraction scintillation in pulsars, Dec 1997 - Feb 1998
Lap Kun Yeung Neil Cramer (Theor.) Surface waves in dusty plasmas with mobile dust grains,
Dec 1996 - Feb 1997