2003 Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling (CISM) Summer School
During July 28th-August 8th, I was at Boston University attending the CISM Summer School, which is a 2-week program that provides students a comprehensive immersion on the subjects of space weather phenomena, consquences, and modeling. Funded by the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center, the CISM goal is to build a physics-based computer simulation model that describes the space environment from the Sun to the Earth. (COOL!) During this 2-week program, I learned about the various pieces of the "big space weather puzzle" and the difficulties involved in modeling this phenomena. If you care to know more details of the program or about space weather, click on the highlighted words in this paragraph. Or, you can email to get the scoop.
In the meanwhile, check out some pictures that were taken during work 'n play ( - to get the larger images, just click on the thumbnails):
CISM Group Picture.
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Shaka crashes from a hard day of "space weathering"
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(left to right) Asim, Shaka, Ramon, and Robert
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Looking for an inexpensive restaurant on our first dinner out. We ended up eating Thai that night. Yummy!
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Skyscrapers, with Prudential Tower in the background
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Trinity Church at Copley Square
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Some neat stores on Newbury St.
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A picture of a building painted on a building; Prudential Tower in the background
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church tower at sunset
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Newbury St. during sunset
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A few of us went to Comedy Connection at the Quincy Market to watch Kevin Nealon, a former "Weekend Update" anchorman on Saturday Night Live
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SSLers: Christina and Cameron
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Ray and Nick talking shop at an Irish pub.
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CISM faculty eating lunch in Room 500 of CAS.
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Nancy Crooker giving the students a lecture on CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejections).
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Another CISM group photo.
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Students eating lunch...and possibly giving each other brain teasing puzzles to solve.
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Harlan Spence explaining the solution to one of the many thought questions that are given to students during lectures. This one stirred up my noodle pretty good!
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One evening, some of us decided to head out to Government Center Area to seek out cheap lobster dinners. We found one over at The Purple Shamrock restaurant.
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Ed and Alexa order the $12.99 lobster dinners. Yum!
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Robert, enjoying the last morsels of his tasty lobster dinner.
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A bunch of us decided to head over to Quincy Market after lobster dinner. I made Justin put on this lobster hat that we came across. How cute!
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This is a night photo of Quincy Market.
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More CISM group pictures!
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CISM dinner at the Il Bico Restaurant, at 468 Commonwealth Avenue, near BU.
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Conversations at the other big dinner table.
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Hmmm, what's that you're eating, Justin?
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Jeff and gang at the smaller dinner table.
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Kathy, Alan, and John
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Manish, Me, and Ben sitting outside of Sheldon Hall waiting for people before heading over to Il Bico.
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Me and Justin
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Me and Ray
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I started off drinking Chianti until I realized we had Merlot (my favorite!) as well, so I decided to have both. :) Red wine is good...
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Shaka downing the glass of wine, like it was a 40...
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I think Shaka is telling his leprechaun joke while I was taking this picture - he kept wanting to tell the joke all night but could not remember how to set it up. Guess I missed out!
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Thanks to Mike, many logic/brain teaser puzzles were circulating throughout various lunch conversations. ...So which brain teaser did Mike give you this time Shaka?
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After the CISM dinner, a bunch of us headed to Ray's favorite pub and ordered a few pitchers of beer. Check out the shamrock on the beerfoam!
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A picture of the table where I sat. What a blast we had! ;)
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CISM Gals!(left to right) Robin (my roomie!), Alexa, and Me.
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During one of my shopping sprees at Copley Place, I stopped to take a picture of the water fountain seen here.
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A picture of the Charles River taken during a gorgeous sunny day in Boston.
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A relaxing area at Copley Square to hang out during a nice day
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A daytime view of Newbury St.
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Skylight at the Prudential Center Shopping Center
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A photo of some building with neat architecture, taken on Newbury St.
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Reflection of Trinity Church on a modern building.
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A panoramic photo of the Charles River with downtown in the background. To the immediate right is the Esplanade where I often went jogging in the early evenings. The Prudential Bldg. is the tallest building (background) in Boston.
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Check out the TGIF restaurant in an old Bostonian church-like building. Cool!
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Another picture of Trinity Church, Copley Square
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My friend, Josh, got one of his side mirrors broken on the second day after I arrived into Boston. =( Sorry Josh!
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A bunch of us went to the Boston Commons to watch a free, live performance of Shakespeare's "Macbeth".
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The Macbeth stage during dusk.
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Some colorful clouds that I noticed while watching "Macbeth".
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Some buildings around Boston Commons during dusk.
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At the Museum of Science: Robin, Shaka, Paul, and I spent a day being reminded of how cool science is.
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Me standing inside a replica of the Apollo Capsule.
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Magnified Paul
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Shaka blending in with the germs in the Germ Room.
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Robin is experimenting with making a cartoon.
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Shaka and I decided to play a racing game. Guess who won?!
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Shaka and Paul attempted to cyle as fast as they could to see the horsepower output they can accomplish.
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Shaka's legs got real sore afterwards. heh heh
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Newly-hatched chicks on display.
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Me, attempting to be a circuit element on this gigantic model of electronic circuit board. ...What a dork I am!
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Faraday Cage Experiment
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Faraday Cage Experiment, w/2 "lightning bolts" - so cool!
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Shaka and R2D2
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At the Unos Pizzeria
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... There's still a bit more of pictures to post up (ones I took at the Museum of Fine Arts and random one taken during my one-day tour with Paul and Josh) so come back later if you want to see them!
September 12-14, 2003: CISM Graduate Student Retreat
About a month later, I returned to the Boston area for the CISM grad student retreat. The retreat was held at the Essex Conference Center, which is about 1-hr north of Boston in the secluded woods of Cape Ann.
During this weekend, I got a chance to learn in more details about the way CISM is structured, space weather "problems" that CISM students are trying to solve, as well as work ethics and the ethic problems that scientists encounter. When we weren't official "working", the director, Dr. Hughes, and the students spent some time getting to know each other while hanging out at the hot tub, eating SUPER DELICIOUS meals at the dining area, going to the beach, playing Trivial Pursuit, or just snooping around the Essex Conference property.
And just for kicks...The following is dedicated to Tim and David for giving us 15 great minutes of laughter during our 2-hr game of Trivial Pursuit: In 1976, who was elected to get a bowl of "raspberry red, lemon yellow, and orange orange"?
... On my way back to Logan Airport, I had some time to spare so David Murr drove me to the 221-ft tall Bunker Hill Monument in Boston, where we speed-climbed the first 200-steps, took a break (thanks to me - my thighs were SUPER burning!), then speed-climbed the last 94 steps to the top. I must mention this because ... (two-days later) my thighs are still in pain! So FYI: take your time going up the Bunker Hill Monument. ...Now on with the pictures:
This the left side of my room, where I slept.
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My Bathroom
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Doh! We managed to break something within 15 minutes of our arrival.
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While checking out Jae Yong's room, someone found a small cubby door.
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As we roamed around the property we found a rope to swing on. Elly gave it a try and did so gracefully.
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I gave it a try too, and almost spun myself to dizziness. Thank goodness I remembered to stick my leg out to decrease my angular momentum.
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Dining Area, where a lovely sign greated us during our first day there.
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This is the living room area, where we spent a bit time discussing ethics and what we want CISM to do for us.
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Next to the living room is the conference area, overlooked by Earth.
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The front of Essex Conference. ...We're on our way to the beach!
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In getting to the beach, we had to cut across Castle Hill on the Crane Estate. Atop the hill is the Great House.
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View from the long lawn of the other side of the Great House.
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This lawn leads to (more or less) Crane Beach. ...This is probably the longest lawn I have ever laid eyes on.
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An interesting statue that I saw while walking on the long lawn.
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A wedding flower arrangement in front of the Great House.
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Many of these stone carvings surround the Great House.
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More interesting statues. A bunch of these lined the edge of the long lawn.
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This is one of the first buildings I saw on my way up to the Great House. Not sure if anyone ever lived in there.
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This is one of the views I saw on our way to Crane Beach...
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Once we got to the beach, the first thing we did was to see how cold the water was. Here's a picture of Paul checking out the initially "icy cold" water.
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A bunch of CISM grad students. (left to right) Paul, Tim, David, Jae Yong, Elly, Josh, Nisha, Christina
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Elly, Paul, and Tim.
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Plum Island, north of Crane Beach
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Lots of people on Crane Beach
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Some kids building a sand castle.
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The view we got as some of us walked over to the longer beach from Crane Beach.
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The longer beach. From where I was standing, the right side of the beach stretched out for another couple miles.
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The bottomless pit of snacks we often got our hands on whenever we wanted.
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Last Updated October 2, 2003
