Unified Astronomy Thesaurus Student Internship

Posted by J Barnes-Mitchell on

The American Astronomical Society Working Group on the Unified Astronomy Thesaurus (AAS WG UAT) invites motivated undergraduate and graduate students to participate in internships focused on curating the UAT, expanding its content, and broadening its reach within the fields of astronomy, planetary science, and heliophysics. UAT is an open, community-supported Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS)-based tool for describing literature, datasets, software, and other research products in the fields it covers.  The AAS journals and the Astrophysics Data System (ADS) use it as a keyword system. This unpaid internship provides students with practical experience in ontologies, thesauri, and community building.

About the Unified Astronomy Thesaurus
The UAT is an open-access, standardized vocabulary covering astronomy, planetary science, and heliophysics, and related sciences. It supports efficient data organization, discovery, and compliance with FAIR Data Principles. Published in interoperable formats, the UAT facilitates integration with other vocabularies and promotes best practices for linked data.

Internship Highlights
Selected interns will pursue a project related to one of the following areas of UAT development:  curation of current concepts, ingestion of new concepts, maintenance of technical infrastructure, outreach to the scientific community, and coordination with publishers. Moreover, interns will

  • Participate in the development, maintenance, and management of a professional thesaurus serving the astronomy, heliophysics, and planetary science research communities and reflecting new discoveries and insights in these fields
  • Advocate for broader adoption of the UAT with publishers of astronomical content and managers of astronomical data
  • Collaborate with leading experts, including scientists, publishers, archivists, and librarians
  • Exploring career pathways in the fields of library science and open science through mentorship and professional development opportunities.

Logistics

  • Opportunities available remotely.
  • Interns are expected to commit to 135 hours over the semester.
  • Flexible scheduling options will be coordinated between students and mentors.

Qualifications

  • Enrollment in an undergraduate or graduate program with a focus on library science, astronomy, computer science, data science, or a related field.
  • Interest in ontologies, publishing, or open science.
  • Familiarity with SKOS, Github, or PoolParty is a plus but not required.

How to Apply
Interested students should submit a brief statement of interest and resume to gstahlman@fsu.edu. Applications will be accepted until December 13, 2024.

For additional information about the UAT, visit https://astrothesaurus.org/