My First Research Paper

For the past two weeks, I've been very busy writing a research paper.  My advisor, Dr. Katherine Freese, asked me  if I wanted to write the conference proceedings for a talk she gave at the First Stars and Galaxies Conference in Austin, TX.  Seeing as this would put my name on a paper, give me experience writing papers, and help me better understand the material I'd be researching, I agreed to.

The next few days we very stressful, just trying to figure out what to do, and what information to put in the paper.  Katie was very helpful, giving me tips and pointers whenever I was stuck.  And, before long, I finally finished the paper.

It was an exhilarating process.  I had to relearn a lot of the things I'd forgotten about LaTeX, and learn a few new things, like adding figures and making a bibliography.  I learned how to create .eps pictures, and how to work with LaTeX macros.  Overall, this paper, for all the twists and turns we had in preparing it, was one of the most fun times I've had this summer.  The experience will greatly help me in my research endeavors, and I'm very grateful for my advisor for all the help she gave me along the way.

Since the paper is going to be published by the American Institute of Physics, I'm not entirely sure I can upload the paper onto my website.  If, however, I am allowed to (since I am an author), I will upload it for people to download and read (if they care to).

Now onto figuring out some more Fortran...