Philip Cigan, Inst. Mining & Techn., Socorro NM, USA (pcigan -at- nmt.edu)

Hello, I'm currently a Ph.D. student at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and I originally hail from Wisconsin.  This summer I worked with Paolo Serra modeling the neutral hydrogen in UGC 09519. This galaxy is an interesting specimen - at first glance it appears to be a simple early-type (S0) that is quite isolated, and such galaxies are expected to live out their lives quietly with little star formation and simple geometry.  When we look closer, however, we find that the system is quite complex with an outer ring of HI that extends far past the edge of the optical component and is tilted and warped with respect to the inner disk of HI.  We also see molecular gas and young stars in the center.  Using TiRiFiC, a program developed by Gyula Jozsa, I constructed models of the HI and CO gas to determine the kinematics of the rings and how the inner and outer two are linked, which could give us an idea of how this peculiar system formed.
ASTRON is an amazing place to work, with wonderful people and an incredibly warm and friendly atmosphere.  The summer program taught me a great deal about modern radio astronomy.  Aside from work, there were plentiful opportunities over the summer to explore and enjoy places far and near. From ASTRON-organized events like Astrofest, wadloping, and the Moonwalking Barbecue to traveling around the country with the other summer students to taking part in local activities like the Wampex (40 km 'survival' hike) and having fun with the locals in Dwingeloo, the International Summer School was and is a truly phenomenal experience.

David Cseh, Eotvos University (csehdavid -at- freemail.hu)

Hi! I'm from Hungary, I recently finished my Master degree at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. From October I will be a PhD student at The Commissariat á l'Énergie Atomique (CEA) in Saclay. At JIVE, I worked on 6.7-GHz methanol masers with Stephane Bourke, Kalle Torstensson and Huib-Jan van Langevelde. I processed an EVN survey on 12 nearby massive star forming regions (SFRs). I was investigating what is brewing at the sites of these methanol maser sources. During my summer internship I've got familiar with ParselTongue, Python and I was introduced to the world of spectral line VLBI. Beyond, I've learned a lot about the astrophysics of masers and massive star fromation. One of my conclusions was that the morphology of these nearby methanol maser sources is much more complex than other sources more far away in the Galaxy. And these SFRs extend a few hundred AUs and on this spatial scale the velocity gardient is only a few km/s.
The JIVE stuff and the locals are really friendly and always happy. The area of JIVE is very relaxed and pleasant, but if you want to set The Netherlands on fire I assure you'll have the opportunity :-)

Francesco de Gasperin, Astronomical Obs. of Trieste, Italy (FDG -at- VOO.IT)

Ciao, I am at the first year of my Ph.D. program at the Max Planck Institute für Astrophysik (Germany), but I am originally Italian. My Ph.D. thesis focuses on the cosmological evolution of super massive black holes with the use of the new radio-telescope LOFAR. During the summer project at ASTRON I have been working with the very first LOFAR data under the supervision of Ger de Bruyn, John McKean, and Ronald Nijboer.
We started from the raw data coming from the first 3 LOFAR stations and applied all the new imaging pipeline to obtain the first images taken with LOFAR. A deep analysis has been also conducted to see the ionospheric effect on these first dataset. The summer program here is great, I learned really a great amount of techniques and tools for my future work. And the environment is extremely friendly. Living with other students for all over the world for these months was equally a great experience. I can only say thank you!

Nancy Irisarri, Univ of Puerto Rico, USA (nancy_im -at- msn.com)

¡Hola! I recently finished a Second Major in Physics from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. During my 10-week studentship at ASTRON, I worked under the supervision of Gyula Józsa. We used HI data, taken with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, of two dwarf irregular galaxies and modeled their kinematics. The first step in my project was learning how to calibrate and clean the data cubes we would model. We used Miriad and Karma for the data reduction, which I had never used before. My supervisor thoroughly explained this process to me, and we worked on it for several weeks. Afterwards, he explained his own Tilted Ring Fitting Code (TiRiFiC), which models data cubes so that parameters like the rotation velocity, inclination, and position angle of the galaxy can be accurately determined. I spent a lot of time making a lot of models so that we could choose the best ones with the most realistic parameters. The model for one of the galaxies, KKH 11, was extremely successful, allowing us to trace the potential out to a radius where the mass enclosed is about 50 times higher than the galaxy’s content in stars. The other galaxy, UGC 5846, has a lot of anomalous HI which makes modelling difficult.

ASTRON is located inside the beautiful Nationaal Park Dwingelderveld. It is surrounded by huge trees, animals, and rural homes. The nearby small town of Dwingeloo and its locals are also extremely charming. The staff at the Institute is very welcoming and caring, and they prepared several events for us summer students. There were also several weekly informal meetings which allowed us to learn about scientific happenings and other projects we were not directly involved with. Fritz, the guesthouse caretaker, is always there when you need him to fix your shower or put a new light bulb in the kitchen. As a Puerto Rican and a woman, I am very content with my participation in the studentship. Lastly, to the other summer students, the staff, and the locals I would like to say: dank u wel!!

Louise Ker, Univ of Edinburgh, UK (lmk -at- roe.ac.uk)

Hello, I’m currently a PhD student at the Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh. The goal of my thesis work is to study various aspects of AGN and galaxy evolution through the combination of large surveys from LOFAR, GMRT and Pan-STARRS. 
This summer I have been working with the very first data from the new LOFAR  stations, under the supervision of Ger de Bruyn, Ronald Nijboer & John McKean. This involved testing and applying all stages of the imaging pipeline to produce some of the first images from LOFAR.  The highlight for me was being able to pass on what I had learned over the summer at the first Imaging ‘Busy Week’. I have gained an in depth understanding of radio interferometry, and as I hope to be involved with more LOFAR commissioning work in the future, the experience I have had here will be invaluable.
ASTRON was a lovely place to work over the summer, I thoroughly enjoyed the Moonwalking barbecue, and will miss the Dutch pancakes! Everyone was really friendly, and I’d also like to take this chance to say thank-you to everyone who patiently assisted me in understanding the various aspects of the imaging pipeline and LOFAR data ☺ 

Patrick Lazarus, McGill Univ, Montreal, Canada (patrick.lazarus -at- mail.mcgill.ca)

I am a Master's student at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. My research at McGill involves searching for (and finding) pulsars using radio telescopes. While at ASTRON I was working on the timing and single pulse characteristics of two Rotating Radio Transient pulsars (RRATs) under the supervision of Jason Hessels and Joeri van Leeuwen. I analysed year-long data sets from the Green Bank Telescope, in West Virginia, to determine parameters describing the spin of the two RRATs.
My time at ASTRON was easy-going and productive, thanks to everyone working there. The people at ASTRON are helpful and understanding, which fosters a good working environment, especially for students. Also, nearly everything I needed during the summer, both in the guest house and at the office was either already available, or provided. For me, ASTRON was also a fun place to spend the Summer, thanks to the other Summer Students, some locals from Dwingeloo, and the people working at ASTRON who took the time to have a friendly conversation over lunch, show me around on weekends, or welcome me into their home.

Mai Urata, Kogashima Univ, Japan (urata -at- astro.sci.kagoshima-u.ac.jp)