My colleague Adam Ciesielski and I recently returned from a 5-week work visit in (mostly) sunny Austin, Texas. Sera had been awarded the Beatrice Tinsley Centennial Visiting Professorship, permitting her to visit the University of Texas (UT) for a semester, and Adam, Chiara and I were excited to learn that we would be joining her at least for a short period. Among the many things we were able to do – embark on a road trip to Lubbock in icy conditions, visit Enchanted Rock and the German settlement of Fredericksburg, attend the infamous SXSW festival, visit a shooting range and a vineyard in the same weekend (!!!), traverse the hills and creek areas on bike, and the list could go on – we also had a chance to experience how the University of Texas (UT) do astronomy and astrophysics and what we can learn from them scientifically. Our connection to UT had become more sustained shortly before we departed for Texas when a current UT final year grad student Patrick Crumley was offered (and accepted) a Postdoctoral position here in Amsterdam with Sera, and as such we had the chance to discuss ideas with real purpose for the future of our working group. So each day we took the long journey in the department lift to reach the 15th floor of the Robert Lee Moore building on UT campus and set about trying to achieve progress in our work whilst simultaneously interacting with the many brilliant astronomers/astrophysicists around us – and it certainly paid off. My focus was perhaps helped by working within a less familiar environment, and I was able to make strides in my work, as well as present my progress to the theoretical astrophysics department. Adam and I also attended the group meetings of Pawan Kumar, a distinguished theoretical astrophysicist at UT, during each of which we learned both how different groups conduct their meetings and some interesting concepts in astrophysical areas previously alien to us. All in all, a successful trip. Keep checking the site, I will post more news on the progress of my work soon!
