Students-to-the-DOT program

Warning: all this is obsolete:  Utrecht University, therefore no longer a university, has no astronomy program anymore.  Links may not work anymore.

The "Students-to-the-DOT" program brought pairs of students for two weeks to La Palma to receive intensive on-the-spot tutoring in solar physics, astronomical observing techniques, image processing, and data interpretation.  Tutoring was by Prof. R.J. Rutten (solar physics), Dr. P. Sütterlin (solar physics and image processing), Ir. F.C.M Bettonvil (observing techniques), Dr. R.J. Hammerschlag (telescope design), and the assorted guest observers at the DOT and SST.

Each student was assigned a solar physics research topic including analysis of recent data.  The project generally started with a week of introductory solar physics study at the home institute, two weeks at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, and either two weeks of completion and report writing at the home institute for an allocation of 7.5 ECTS, or seven weeks of further research for 15 ECTS.  Both Bachelor's and Master's students were eligible.

Additional student activities on La Palma were the giving of presentations in the Utrecht-Stockholm-Oslo Seminar Series, sharing in DOT observing, orientation at the SST, and excursions to nighttime telescopes at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory including Grantecan, the largest optical telescope worldwide.

The highly successful program operated during 2004-2007, bringing 28 students to La Palma.  It terminated when Utrecht University terminated its DOT funding on January 1, 2008.

DOT student manuals:   La Palma         LaTeX & BibTeX         IDL         Linux

DOT students 2004:
Selma de Mink & Dagmar de Rooij
Marcel Haas & Jacob van Peet
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DOT students 2005:
Sebastiaan Keek & Bob van Veelen
Ernst Kuiper & Incognito
Klaartje Schure & Tim van Werkhoven
Mirte Kraaijkamp & Ivana Sersic
Fedde Benedictus & Daan van Eijk
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DOT students 2006:
Catherine Fischer, Judith Palacios, Juan Martinez Sykora (USO), Arek Berlicki (ESMN) & Prisca Zwaan (SOZOU)
Luc Rouppe van der Voort & Peter Jonker
Hesdy Hoekstra & Marijke Huijgen-Holsappel
Gregal Vissers
Jeroen Burgers & Marcin Dukalski
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DOT students 2007:
Helena Becher, Vasco Henriques, Leandro Jesus, Nikola Vitas
Pedzi Girigori & Reinier Zeldenrust
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