Hello, a few months ago I completed all Portal and Notebook aspect tutorials of the RSP, as an astronomy novice. I’m extremely interested in Rubin and the science it’s doing, but my background is in Computer Science and Math, not astronomy or physics. I was curious about next steps and I’ve learned about science collaborations as a place to contribute.
I figured I’d ask the community here is it’s appropriate for someone who’s a novice in astronomy but with intermediate experience with the RSP to join a science collaboration, if there’s room for someone like me in one of those groups, and what the expected time commitment is/what someone of my skill level can contribute while I work a full-time job.
Any feedback or advice that the community could provide would be very appreciated!
Hi John,
in general, Science Collaborations are simply communities of scientists from all over the world doing similar things. The policy of joining depends on the collaboration, since some have rules regarding e.g. co-authorship of publications or internal peer-review, while others are essentially free-entry. There is no general (or even common) rule about commitment to dedicate a certain number of hours, etc - in many cases the degree of participation is completely your call.
So it depends on what kind of science you want to do. If you got access to the RSP, it means you have data rights, so you are part of some research group - what does it do? From that you select the Science Collaboration that suits your interests and reach out to the SC leaders, and see if they’re ok with accepting you (usually they do).
I don’t have an answer, but I wanted to add that I am following this thread as I have a similar interest. I have no idea how to connect with people for collaboration if I am not already connected through some senior researcher. I also worry that as an early career scientist, it is inappropriate (and maybe even a negative mark on your reputation) to reach out without your supervisor or something like that, at least in some countries, so what is the culture here with Vera Rubin observatory on this? How ‘free’ or ‘welcome’ is such communication from people who are not already in the collaboration? As the advice is to reach out to the SC leaders, who I assume are senior scientists, I would appreciate if a little bit more explanation is given in what the expectation is and how such requests are perceived in this amazing Observatory .
For John, I humbly comment that I am an astronomer without a significant coding experience (comparatively as I am an observer vs astronomers who are focused on computational regime), and in my experience of 10+ years in astronomy, your background is highly sought after, even without ANY background in astronomy . In fact, I myself try to always improve my coding skills and gain computational experience which don’t come naturally with my science work. So I would highly encourage you to emphasize your background in Computer Science and Math, it is a very big plus on your expertise/record for any collaborative project.
Good luck and thank you for posting this question here.