The last time I logged my research progress was at the end of the summer, and so I should start with summarizing the semester thus far.

It took much longer than I would have liked to set up my computer in the lab with all the software I needed. On the plus side, I did learn a lot about Linux, especially about how picky Linux is with syntax.

Once I had everything set up, I ran through a GRB I analyzed over the summer to ensure that I could duplicate my results. What took me weeks over the summer only took a few hours to reproduce.

Sandy introduced me to timing analysis, and I’ve been struggling with it ever since. Efsearch doesn’t look very hard, but the finer points of powspec continue to elude me. The goal is to use these tools to determine the spin period of the APX 4U0142+61 from Swift’s summer observations and compare the results with previously found periods. In theory, this does not seem like a difficult task; I just need to get a handle on the software.

Last weekend I submitted a last-minute application for a NSF graduate fellowship to continue my research. I’m hopeful, but not expectant. If nothing else, it was preparation for future fellowship applications.

I’ve also been looking into other fellowships. Unfortunately, I’m not eligible for most of the awards I’ve looked into. So far I only know of the NSF GRF and the NASA GSRP, but I am still searching for other possibilities.

In other news, Dr. Wood invited me to speak on gamma-ray bursts at the Melbourne Astronomical Society meeting last Thursday. It was good timing, as I had just prepared my talk for Senior Seminar this week. And so I modified that presentation, which was a modification of the NASA Academy wrap-up talk Michelle and I gave in August. Unfortunately, having never attended a Melbourne Astronomical Society meeting before, I misjudged my audience. The talk went well otherwise. I was asked a lot of questions, many of which I could not answer because I’m still in the beginning stages of the learning process.

My goal is to understand powspec before the Thanksgiving holiday. I’ve spent far too much time on this program, and I want to get past this stand-still.