[kdd] Does 'Theoretical Astrophysics' Encompass Astroinformatics?

[Kirk D Borne]

Nick:  I cannot speak for other programs or for general interpretations,
but I can say that I fight very very very hard in my program to keep
a hard distinction between Computational Science and Data Science.
If I don't do this, then Data Science (informatics) will easily be
absorbed into the former, hence lost forever, since the majority
of computational scientists (e.g., "applied theoretical astrophysicists",
if I can call them that) often don't see value in KDD, Data Science, 
Machine Learning, etc. as a form of "theoretical" or "computational" science.

So, I recommend that you continue to push the envelope, as you are doing,
and try for those jobs (both "Theoretical" and "Observational"), since 
your work truly bridges that historical gap.

- Kirk

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Hi everyone,

I am posting this question here because I believe it is relevant to the broader context of KDD within astronomy, and to others in this group who may run into the same issues.

As a job applicant this fall (my funding at HIA is currently set to run out July 2012), I have come across numerous adverts asking for applications in 'theoretical astrophysics', or 'computational astrophysics' (or both). My application is pitched in terms of my data mining expertise, with application to science questions (e.g., the galaxy luminosity function).

The question is, does this fall within the purview of places asking for 'theoretical astrophysics'? Since to me, the term generally means either analytical work, or simulations, and data mining is equally applicable to simulated data as well as real data, it would seem the answer is yes. However, institutions may not see it that way.

And, for that matter, what about 'observational' astrophysics? My work is closer to this, but does not generally require new telescope time, so it may not be seen as 'observational', either.

Obviously I can email individual places and ask them directly, but if anyone has any comments or experiences with this, I would be most happy to hear them.

Thanks,

Nick

--
Nick Ball
Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics
5071 West Saanich Road
Victoria, BC  V9E 2E7
Canada

https://sites.google.com/site/nickballastronomer
nick.ball at nrc.cnrc.gc.ca<http://nrc.cnrc.gc.ca>

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