How does DARTs work for analysts?

Our goal at DARTs is to provide short-term employment for astronomy professionals. There is a pool of analysts with varying skills and experiences. DARTs matches these analysts with projects that are brought to us and arranges for a working agreement with the scientist and a budget to fit both needs. This is an excellent way to stay involved in the astronomical community.

DARTs maintains a database of current analysts and their experiences and interests. Based on the needs of the project, an analyst will be matched to the project. The DARTs coordinator will contact the analyst to check interest and availablity. If this appears to be a good match, the coordinator will contact the scientist and start the process of arranging a working agreement and the budget. The analyst works directly with the scientist to reduce the dataset and maintains contact with the scientist during the process. Analysts track their hours for payment and present a final written description of the data analysis process that could be included in a publication.

Working as a DARTs analyst allows the flexibility of a working out of home -- even when home isn't much more than the place you keep your laptop. If you would like to become a DARTs analyst, contact the DARTs coordinator and we'll collect information on your fields of interest, the facilities and software your have experience with as well as the amount of time the you are able to commit to a project. References are required for vetting prospective analysts. Analysts will be expected to use their own hardware for data reduction unless otherwise agreed upon for a specific project.