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The following information is based on rumors submitted by our correspondents from around the world. For the latest astro-gossip, you should also check Pat Hall's Rumor Central. This site complements it by including names. Since many astronomy and physics departments will not verify this (in principle) public information, we cannot guarantee that any information is accurate. Please send an email if you spot an error or if you have some gossip to add - the information here comes from people like you. The dates are usually when the gossip was spread rather than when the event occurred. This information is provided as a public service; no warranty is expressed or implied. Your mileage may vary.


February 15, 2000

Offers from CTIO, Oklahoma

Y2K faculty positions

Agnes Scott Letters requested for some candidates (1/31); shortlist made (2/5)
Arizona ``Long'' short list made (12/16); candidates invited for interviews (1/18), including NEW! Pasquale Blasi, Pat Cote, Martin Haehnelt, Vicky Kalogera, Mike Nowak, Chris Reynolds (2/14) This list appears to be for the physics position. There is another (possibly interleaved) list in Astronomy, which has a more instrumental bent.
Berkeley Short list made (1/6), including (according to highly speculative rumors) Jian Ge, Jeremy Heyl, Alex Lazarian Adrian Lee, Chris Thompson and one more person
Bryant (Physics & Astro position) ``Long'' short list of 12 made to be narrowed down to 2-3 finalists who will be invited for interviews after january 21 (1/4)
Bucknell Short list made (1/26), including Daniel Dale, Douglas Leonard (2/2)
Cardiff (Instrumental lectureship) Offer made to Karl Schuster, declined (12/9)
Carnegie-Mellon Short list made (11/23), including Robert Caldwell, Rupert Croft, Daniel Eisenstein, Bhuvnesh Jain, Lloyd Knox, Istvan Szapudi, Liliya Williams (12/13)
Charleston (Chairman's job) Terry Oswalt on short list (2/3)
Colorado Letters requested for some candidates (1/22)
CTIO NEW! (Multiple positions) Shortlist made and interviews scheduled; offer made to Michael Liu, declined (2/11)
Dartmouth Short list made (12/8), including Robert Caldwell, Lloyd Knox, Mark Trodden, Yun Wang (1/24)
Davis Short list made (1/30), including Joanne Baker, Amy Barger, Andrew Jaffe, Lloyd Knox, Lilya Williams
Delaware Short list made (1/24), including NEW! Pat Cote, Karl Gebhardt, Brad Gibson, John Gizis (2/14)
Denison Telephone interviews being conducted with "shortlist" (1/22); finalists invited for campus visits (1/31)
Fermilab (Associate scientist) Short list made (10/1), including (10/23) Scott Burles, Francisco Castander, Brad Gibson, Michael Ledlow, Lori Lubin; offer made to Scott Burles, accepted (1/17)
Florida Atlantic (Asst. Prof.) NEW! Long list made, including Richard de Grijs, phone interviews scheduled (2/9)
Harvard Short list of 6 made (1/30), including NEW! Brandl, Pat Cote, Laura Ferrasese, Karl Gebhardt, Joe Mohr, Kris Stanek (2/12)
Hawaii (2 IfA positions) Shortlists for both positions made (1/23), including Amy Barger, Harald Ebeling, Martin Haehnelt, Dmitri Pogosyan, Istvan Szapudi, Scott Trager (2/1)
(IfA director position) Short list made (1/31): Roger Davies, Rolf-Peter Kudritzki, Jeremy Mould, Jeremiah Ostriker
Imperial Short list made (1/28), including Martin Haehnelt, Andrew Jaffe, Raul Jiminez, Will Sutherland
Irvine Short list made (2/5), including NEW! Pat Cote, Bhuvnesh Jain, Daniel Kelson (2/14)
Minnesota (Astronomy) Short list of 8 made (12/21), including (1/4) Pat Cote, Laura Ferrarese, Brad Gibson, Mike Nowak, Ken Sembach, Liliya Williams
MIT (Astronomy) Short list of 5 made (1/16), including Jian Ge, Karl Gebhardt, Brad Hansen, Janna Levin (2/7)
Northwestern Short list made (1/29), including NEW! Tal Alexander, Thomas Baumgarte, Andrew Jaffe, Vicky Kalogera, Lloyd Knox, Mike Nowak (2/12)
Ohio University Short list made (1/7), including NEW! Pat Cote, Brad Gibson, Yun Wang (2/14)
Oklahoma ``Long'' short list made (1/7), shortened (1/19), including Yun Wang, Liliya Williams; NEW! offer made to Yun Wang (2/10)
Liverpool (Lecturer/Reader) Short list made (12/16), including Maurizio Salaris, Christopher Tout; offer made to Maurizio Salaris, accepted (1/27) Correction from inside source: Our university is Liverpool John Moores University. John Moores was the founder of the Littlewoods group of companies, which put some money into the University when it was set up. We have not made an offer to John Moores. One of the reasons for this is that he has been dead for many years.
NYU Short list made (1/27), including Eisenstein, Andrei Gruzinov, Martin Haehnelt, David Hogg, Matias Zaldarriaga; simultaneous offers made to Andrei Gruzinov, David Hogg, Matias Zaldarriaga, and one other person who wishes anonymity (1/30)
Penn State Candidates invited for intereviews (11/29), including Rennan Barkana, Bernhard Brandl, Jian Ge, Chip Kobulnicky (12/10); offer made to Jian Ge (12/22), accepted (1/21)
More candidates being interviewed for two more tenure-track jobs, including Brad Hansen, Jeremy Heyl, Alycia Weinberger
Michigan Tech ``Long'' short list made (1/26)
Purdue Short list made (10/28), including Steve Bloom, Rod Lessard; offer made (12/5)
Rutgers (Observer position) Short list of 5 made (1/17) (Theory position) Short list of 5 made (1/17) These short lists include (1/24) David Buote, Cote, Robert Caldwell, Chiang, Martin Haehnelt, Jimenez, Karl Gebhardt, Vicky Kalogera, Kobulnicky, Welsh, Liliya Williams (1/28)
San Diego State (Observer position) Y2K search still in progress; Eric Sandquist accepted last year's position (1/26)
STScI (Tenure track) Shortlist made (11/29), including Pat Cote, Lori Lubin, Chris Reynolds, Liliya Williams (12/16)
San Francisco State ``Long'' short list made (12/16)
Swarthmore (Asst. Prof.) Short list of four made (10/28); offer made to David Cohen (12/8)
Swinburne (Tenured Lecturer) Two-person short list made (11/28): Brad Gibson, Duncan Forbes (12/13); offer made to both (1/20), both accepted (2/5)
UKIRT Support astronomer position offered to Paul Hirst (11/30), accepted (1/31)
U. Florida (2 positions) Some candidates invited to give talks, including Anita Cochran, William Cochran, Nuria Calvet, Lee Hartmann (12/2). However, a short list will not be made until January (12/20).
UPenn Short list made (10/17), including Martin Haehnelt, Bhuvnesh Jain, Kris Stanek, Liliya Williams (1/27)
Urbana-Champaign (Joint Astronomy-Physics position) Candidates invited for intereviews (11/29), including Rennan Barkana, Robert Caldwell, M. Haehnelt(?)
(Astronomy position) Short list made (12/12), including Brad Gibson, Robert Caldwell, M. Haehnelt(?)
Texas Short list made (12/27), including Amy Barger, Patrick Cote, Stephane Courteau, Karl Gebhardt, Kenneth Sembach, Kris Stanek, Scott Trager, Frank vanden Bosch (2/8)
Yale Short list made (12/27), including Derek Buzasi invited for visit (2/3)



Y2K postdoc-type positions

Arizona NEW! (SIRTF/MIPS w/Rieke) Shortlist made (2/12)
Amhearst/FCAD Short list made (1/26), including Douglas Leonard
Arcetri Shortlist made (2/12)
Berkeley Miller Fellowship offered to Kurt Adelberger (1/17), Eugene Chiang (1/30), and Ray Jayawardhana (1/31)
Caltech (Prize Fellowship) offer made (1/26)
(Theory group postdoc) Offer made to Siang peng Oh (1/17), accepted (1/26)
(w/Cohen) Some rejection letters sent out (2/11); NEW! offer made to Solange Ramirez, accepted
(Center for Adaptive Optics postdoc) NEW! Offer made to Michael Liu, declined (2/11)
Carnegie-Mellon (w/Nichol) NEW! offer made to Christopher Miller, accepted (2/9)

CfA (w/Sasselow) Offer made and accepted (1/3)
(CfA Fellowships) Offers made to (1/31) NEW! Kurt Adelberger (accepted Harvard Society position), Brad Behr, Eugene Chiang, Scott Gaudi (declined), Mary Putman (2/8)
(Clay Fellowship) Shortlist of 15 made (1/30), including Vicky Kalogera, Daniel Kelson, Piotr Popowski, Dimitrios Psaltis (1/30)
NEW! (Unspecified postdoc) Offer made to Michael Liu, declined (2/11)
Chandra Selection committee meeting held at the CfA (1/18); several offers made (1/24); all 5 offers have been made (2/1)
CITA (National Fellowships) Offer made to Maxim Lyutikov (CITA -> McGill) (2/8)
Columbia (Cosmology postdocs) Offers made (2/7)
DTM (w/Butler) Offer made to Chris McCarthy (2/8)
ESO Some offers made (1/4), NEW! including one to Michael Liu, declined (2/11)
Ferminab (5-year Schramm Fellowship) NEW! Offer made to John Beacom (2/14)
Gemini At least one offer made, to Scott Fisher (1/19)
Hawaii Parrent Fellowship offered to Ray Jayawardhana (1/17); NEW! Offer made to Michael Liu, accepted (2/11)
Hubble Fellowships Offers made (1/28), including NEW! Kurt Adelberger (Caltech -> Hawaii), Eugene Chiang, Romeel Dave (Princeton->Arizona, accepted), Scott Gaudi (Ohio State -> IAS, accepted), Amber Miller (Princeton -> Chicago), Mary Putman (ANU/MSSSO->Colorado, accepted), Dan Reichart (Chicago -> Caltech?) (2/8)
IAS 3 year offers made (1/17) to Anthony Aguirre, Xiaohui Fan, Alex Friedland, Joop Schaye (1/28)
5 year offer made to Eugene Chiang (1/17)
Heidelberg (w/Grebel) NEW! Two offers made (2/12)
IGPP Offers made to James Robinson (1/14), NEW! Michael Liu (declined 2/11), Gabriela Canalizo and Howard Cohl (2/14)
Illinois (BIMA postdocs) Offer made to Ronak Shah (2/8)
Imperial At least one offer made (2/5)
JCMT Fellowship offered to Herve Aussel (1/24)
Leicester (3 year Lecturer) Short list made (12/16), including Christopher Tout
Maryland (BIMA postdoc) NEW! Short list made, including Ka Chun Yu (2/8) (Kerr Fellowship) NEW! Short list made, including Ka Chun Yu (2/8); offer made (2/9)
Michigan ``Society of Fellows'' position offered to Ray Jayawardhana (1/22), declined (2/1)
MIT (Pappalardo Fellowship) Shortlist made (1/30), including Dimitrios Psaltis
MPA Ten offers made in all areas of theoretical astrophysics (1/13), including ones to Eric Agol, Mikhail Medvedev (1/26)
NASA Ames NRC Associateship offered to Ray Jayawardhana (1/15)
OCIW (Carnegie Fellowship) NEW! Offer made to Paul Martini, accepted (2/10)
PPARC (Advanced Fellowships) 13 positions on offer, roughly half to astronomers and half to particle physicists. 25 people are being interviewed, including Carlton Baugh, Arjun Berrera, Dave Clements, Martin Haenhelt, John Magorrin, Frazer Pearce, Andy Taylor
Santa Barbara (ITP postdoc) Two offers made (12/21), to Kristen Miller (1/22) and Scott Hughes
Princeton/U. Catolica NEW! Offer made to Pat Hall, accepted (2/11)
Santa Cruz NEW! (DEEP postdoc) Offer made to Michael Liu, declined (2/11)
Socorro (Jansky Postdoc) Offer made to Crystal Brogan, accepted (2/7) NEW! Offer made to Ingrid Stairs (2/9)
STScI (STScI Fellowship) NEW! Offer made (2/9)
Texas (McDonald Fellowship) Offer made to Daniel Reichart (1/31), declined (2/1); some rejection letters sent out
UCLA (Schwinger Fellowship) Shortlist of 4 made (1/31)
UMASS (w/Wang) Offers made to Stefan Immler and Cornelia Lang, both accepted (2/7)
Victoria (w/Vandenberg) Offer made and accepted (2/7)
Yale-U.Chile (Andes Fellowship) Offer made to Ray Jayawardhana, declined (2/8); NEW! Offer made to Francisco Castander, accepted (2/14);



If this isn't enough, there's also last year's gossip.

General gossip

Rumor Policy Many people have sent us their speculations about who runs this site, usually guessing from among the names that occur most frequently on this page. One person speculated that those of us who run this site post our own names to improve our job prospects. We remind you that in order to eliminate such conflicts of interest, we continue to strictly enforce our policy that rumors get posted here if and only if they are emailed to [email protected], regardless of who sends them. We do not prohibit people from sending in rumors about themselves.
New management As we enter the Y2K gossip season, the Edwin Hubble team has changed identity. Although we've changed the look of the page somewhat, we'll do our best to keep everything else the same, with regular weekly updates. As before, the policy is that no gossip appears here unless it is emailed to [email protected], so please send in your own gossip even if you think it is well-known.
Particle rumors The particle rumor mill has moved to http://www.phys.washington.edu/~calvin/ (9/17)
This site in the news An article about this and other job rumor sites appeared in the Chronicle in Higher Education (5/3)
Grad school survey Phds.Org, a Sloan-funded education and employment resource for young scientists, is launching THE GRAD SCHOOL SURVEY (www.phds.org/survey), an assessment of educational and professional development practices in the nation's graduate schools. The survey will use input from graduate students and recent Ph.D.s to reveal which graduate programs and departments are doing a great job preparing Ph.D.s for their future careers and which need to improve. This is an important opportunity to give feedback to the scientific community on what kind of job we are doing in educating Ph.D.s. The survey is totally anonymous, free, and takes less than 10 minutes to complete online. Help improve graduate education by taking the survey today! Just click here.
An independent survey (astro-ph/9904229) has just been completed (5/3).

Miscellaneous

(2/12) As many of you noticed, this site was down for a few days. This was caused by a disk crash. Thanks for the messages of support that many of you sent in the meantime. Here are a two samples:

Gossip mongering

Please send in your own gossip! The gossip above came from people like you. Email any news (or corrections) to [email protected] 

Other rumor pages: Pat Hall's rumor central (astro), Calvin's rumor mill (theoretical particle), experimental particle, nuclear 

 
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