Speaker Guide

Hi! Thank you for deciding to give a presentation at the Yale Data Science X Astronomy-Astrophysics Seminar (DSAAS). This is a general framework that has been written down to ensure a good experience for all attendees; however, this is not meant to be a rigid guide in any way; feel free to modify things as you see fit!

1. How long should the talk be? A typical presentation would be ~45 minutes. Please remember that a good seminar discussion session will allow for enough “discussion”, so please don’t try to fit a longer presentation into 45 minutes!
2. What audience should I target my talk for? The seminar is attended primarily by graduate students, postdocs, and faculty members, as well as a few undergraduates, from the Yale Astronomy Department. Attendees span all sub-fields of astronomy and astrophysics, so please provide some background for the “science part” of your talk (if any) and don’t assume any knowledge specific to your sub-field!
3. Keep the data science accessible: One of the goals of the seminar is to be accessible to folks irrespective of their present engagement with data science. Presentations should be as jargon-free as possible, and should briefly explain the basics of the technique in a concise, simple way that is accessible to a typical senior undergraduate/junior graduate student. We warmly welcome presentations highlighting novel data techniques broadly defined: not just machine learning or AI, but also new methods in theory, computation, and observational inference and data processing.
4. How “formal” should the talk be? The seminar does NOT aim to be a colloquium! Expect an atmosphere of a “discussion session” rather than a talk (some folks might be eating lunch during your talk!). Additionally, we highly encourage you to have sections of the talk where you interact with the audience.
5. If I have any questions, who should I contact? Please feel free to reach out to the organizer of the session on the day you are presenting. You can find their email address in the “organizer” column on the current schedule.

If You Are Visiting in Person

The seminar organizer for that week will be in touch to help coordinate your visit, but some general information is provided here for your reference.

Yale Astronomy is located on the 5th floor of Kline Tower (KT) at 219 Prospect St, New Haven, CT. Typically, speakers will take the train to New Haven Union Station and take an Uber or the Yale Shuttle to the department from the station. The Yale Shuttle is free and does not require a Yale ID: take the red line from the “Union Station” stop to the “130 Prospect Street (N)” stop.

We have a visitor office where you can work and leave your things for the day (KT #639/641). The seminar will take place in KT #501 from 12-1 pm, and typically we will get lunch right after. If you are interested in meeting with folks from the department while you are here, you are encouraged to reach out to schedule meetings; we will put you in touch with anyone who reaches out to us.

Reimbursement: When applicable, reimbursement is confirmed with you directly when your invitation is finalized. It is processed by Nicole Perrotta (Senior Administrative Assistant, Yale Astronomy; nicole.perrotta@yale.edu), who will send you the registration instructions.