MESA Summer Schools
History of the MESA Summer School Program
The MESA Summer Schools (material linked here) have traditionally been held in Santa Barbara, California, until 2022. The 2023 MESA Summer School program, branded as MESA@Konkoly, was held in Budapest, Hungary. This was followed by MESA Down Under, hosted in Sydney in June of 2024. As of 2022, MESA Summer Schools can be run anywhere in the world. The involvement of the MESA developers is encouraged, and we are happy to help.
How to run a MESA Summer School
Preparing a good program takes about a year. Historically, the program has taken place in the middle of August. Assuming this timing, preparations for next year’s program should begin in September.
1 year + out (September/October)
Book a venue. The summer schools have traditionally aimed for approximately 45 students, one TA per 3 students (15 TAs), and 6 lecturers. These numbers are not strict, but they have worked well in the past. Plan for your venue to accommodate roughly 75 people (lecturers, TAs, students, organizers). Be aware that your venue should have reliable, high-speed internet and enough outlets for every student, TA, and lecturer to plug in their laptop simultaneously.
Choose your organizational team. For past programs, it has worked well to have a scientific organization committee that includes MESA developers, a local organizational committee comprising individuals at the host institute and/or in the host country who can help with local logistical matters, and a teaching committee.
9 months out (November)
Contact potential lecturers. Try to invite people with a diverse set of research areas and consider focusing on topics that have not been covered in past programs (see previous summer school pages and agendas for this information). Please be mindful of the fact that academics’ schedules fill up quickly, and you may have to ask several candidates before your lecture roster is filled.
Contact potential TAs. We recommend that TAs should have attended a Summer School and performed well. TAs should span a range of MESA experience levels but in all cases have a strong baseline level of competence with the code.
We aim for 50-50 gender representation (50% men, 50% women and gender minorities) among both lecturers and TAs. We have succeeded in having 35% or greater representation among women and gender minorities in past programs.
9 months to 7 months out (November - January)
Look for and apply to grant funding schemes. Previous supporters of the MESA Summer Schools include the International Research Network of Nuclear Astrophysics (IReNA; USA), the European ChETEC-INFRA network of research infrastructures, and individual research grants (NSF; Marie Curie scheme, ERC scheme).
reserve accommodation. Hotel room blocks can be booked for discounted rates. Some universities are willing to provide discounted bulk accommodation through their own facilities (e.g. dorms), as was the case at Santa Barbara.
open the application for students. A template for this is available from Meridith Joyce, Earl Bellinger, or Eoin Farrell (MESAdev). A Google form is a good way to provide the application. Be aware that summer schools have been oversubscribed by more than a factor of 2 in recent years, and be prepared to rank applications in a systematic way. We aim for 50-50 gender representation among students and have a track record of achieving 35%-45% participation from women and gender minorities, on average.
6 months out (February)
post the Summer School website. Bill Wolf (MESAev) has been the web manager for many Summer Schools
assign TAs to lecturers. We recommend assigning one first-time TA, one returning TA, and one very experienced TA per lecturer. This ensures that new TAs receive excellent training while the more experienced TAs can provide leadership on the development of exercises and management of the group. Please be aware that it has not been a requirement historically that the lecturers have any experience with MESA. It is the lecturers’ jobs to develop the scientific program and contribute their subject expertise. It is the TAs jobs to turn the lecturers’ science into accessible, MESA-based exercises.
5 months out (March)
close applications
make selections among applications. An admissions rubric used for the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Summer School programs is available from Meridith Joyce (MESAdev)
email the supervisors of potential attendees to confirm that they have their advisor’s permission and funding to attend. Be aware that some prospective students may apply without having secured funding and without their advisor’s knowledge.
send acceptances to students, cc-ing supervisors, while maintaining a ranked waitlist. If you do not hear back from an accepted student or their supervisor in, for example, 2 weeks, move on to the waitlist. There are typically several students admitted off the waitlist.
4 months out (April)
Begin regular, bi-weekly, all-hands meetings to check in with the organizational team, lecturers, and TAs. Lecturers should begin to schedule separate group meetings with their TAs to design exercises. Bi-weekly meetings serve to check in on the progress of these groups.
begin preparing any visa or invitation letters necessary for international students
1 month out (July)
Increase the cadence of all-hands meetings to weekly. Lab exercises should be distributed for testing among TAs, leaving at least two weeks before the start of Summer School for final corrections to be implemented. Labs should be tested for coherence, timing, and accessibility of the exercises
2 weeks out
final corrections to labs are underway
Lecturers’ programs and slides should be near completion. It is helpful if all lecture materials are available before the start of the labs. All lab materials should also be available before the start of the program.
send students a schedule or point them to a schedule online. Remind students which version of MESA they will be using and send links to installation instructions. Remind students that having MESA installed and working on their machines must happen before they arrive.