Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life in Shanghai! As covid-19 continues to plague the US, and you all are (hopefully) wearing masks when you go outside (I still am!) and maintaining social distancing practices, I hope that this blog highlights that there will be a recovery from covid-19 (which is sadly far away in the US). Once things improve, I hope you’ll look forward to small interactions with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find that these interactions will be highlights for you as well. In Shanghai, life has returned to a new normal, though new outbreaks may still occur. However, we are all in this together and if we wear masks and cooperate with social distancing guidelines things will improve.
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Life in Shanghai
I hope that all of you are continuing to stay safe and healthy and remembering to continue to take covid-19 seriously by wearing masks and socially distancing. Additionally, if any of you are in the bay area of California, I hope that you and your families are staying safe and were able to be evacuated from areas of potential fires. As the summer nears its end, I hope that all of you, particularly those of you who are either professors, teachers, or those of you who have children that are students, have figured out what your plan is with regard schools and dealing with covid-19 this fall. As the recent examples of the closures of the University of North Carolina, Michigan State, and Notre Dame have highlighted, it’s necessary to make sure that you have back up plans prepared because you’ll likely need them. So, regardless of what you’ve decided to do, I hope that you have all taken the time to take as many precautions as possible, whether it’s continued social distancing or working from home.
In terms of covid-19, the situation in China has remained entirely under control. There have been more new cases this past week, but all of those have been Chinese nationals returning to China. In total, Shanghai has 82 cases (all imported), which yields a recovery rate of 90%. For China as a whole, the number of total reported cases (not those currently sick) is still only at 90,000, with a recovery rate of 93.6%. In contrast to Shanghai, Beijing has just 2 active cases. You might be wondering why Beijing’s number is again so much lower (and hasn’t increased at all). My understanding is that many of the international flights are now being directed to Shanghai and other airports instead of Beijing. This was done as a response to the recent outbreak a few months ago in Beijing.
I want to highlight that the response to covid-19 by the Chinese government, as well as similar responses in New Zealand and elsewhere epitomizes why former Vice-President Biden is absolutely correct in his assessment that if the scientists fighting the virus deem a total shut down of the country necessary that he would enforce it. China had the first massive outbreak of covid-19 and then essentially shut the entire country down for about 2 months and halted the spread within China. Moreover, when the outbreak of a few hundred cases occurred in Beijing, the city was again shut down, all visitors (and recent visitors) were required to do a 14 day quarantine, which has successfully halted the spread of the virus. The example of the success is combating covid-19 in China as compared to the chaos in the US is a clear example of what the US should have implement. In my opinion it’s the only real way forward and while I know the economic implications could be dire, it’s the only reasonable course of action going forward. That is one of the many reasons why it’s vital to have a President who respects and listens to scientists.
Additionally, on another political note, thanks to the help from my friends involved with Democrats Abroad, I requested my absentee ballot for the upcoming election. That ballot will be e-mailed to me. I then print it out and mail it back (either via DHL or the US consulate). So, if you’re planning on voting absentee, I highly recommend requesting your ballot early and voting ahead of time. If you can drop off your ballot at a drop box, instead of through the mail, that would benefit our overworked and underfunded USPS system.
On the Astronomy side of things, this was another fairly productive week. I spent most of my time (and available computing resources) working on my Luminosity Function analysis. I didn’t quite solve all of my problems, but I did realize that when generating my random positions needed for my background measurement, I wasn’t actually being random enough :), so hopefully my latest efforts (which are still running), will yield success! Additionally, I had a productive meeting with my colleagues in DESI about how to best propose for observations of the missing Brightest Central Galaxies (the big, massive, and bright galaxies at the center of clusters) as well as how to best use the DESI data to study clusters! So, this week, I’ll be running some updated analyses on the DESI simulated/mock data (it’s simulated because the observations haven’t been taken yet).
The research highlight of my week was on Thursday, when I met with my research supervisor, Ying, in person for the first time since January! As I’ve mentioned, Ying and I have met frequently via Zoom and communicate via slack and WeChat, but this was the first time that we decided to meet face-to-face. It was really nice and led to a super-productive discussion about the different research projects that I’ve been working on! Part of the reason that we haven’t met up before is because Ying and I live in different parts of the city (and neither of us live near SJTU). Moreover, he hasn’t been pressuring me to return to the office (more of the opposite). I also just learned that SJTU will be having students return to campus in the fall. It’s a phased arrival. So, this semester will be taught in person. So, in September, I’ll start making the trek out to Minhang a few days a week. One benefit of covid-19 is that I now know that I can work productively from home!
I met with Ying at a coffee shop in a Pudong (the other side of the Huangpu river, which runs through Shanghai). The malls in Shanghai are fascinating! They’re usually filled with lots of good restaurants and interesting sculptures/designs. While I don’t shop at the malls (many of the stores are super fancy and expensive), they are fun to walk around in!
Since I was only a 5 minute walk from NYU Shanghai, I met up with my friend Hannah Maia, who works there, to get a tour of the campus! I’ve heard a lot about NYU Shanghai from Heather and Hannah Maia, so it was really fun to get to see the campus!
For those of you unfamiliar, NYU Shanghai is a vertical campus. One office building houses the entire school (though a larger new campus, with multiple buildings is being built). Given everything that I’ve heard, I was kind of expecting something that felt on the interior more like a high school. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how much the interior felt like many of the colleges I’ve been at before. The modern office space/interior reminded me of West Hall at the University of Michigan! There were science labs reminiscent of both Barus and Holley at Brown and West Hall at Michigan. There were also a lot of really nice lounge/study areas for the students. Even though none of the students were there yet, I could get a feel for how the different parts of the building represented different parts of the University.
I was also impressed by the different covid-19 security protocols that NYU Shanghai has in place. There are temperature scanners at the entrances and a plethora of hand sanitizers at every door. My personal favorite was the markers on the floor of the elevator telling people where it is safe to stand!
Even though NYU Shanghai doesn’t have any Astronomers (they do have a few Physicists), hopefully I’ll be able to come back and give a guest colloquium at some point this academic year (now that the campus will be open with students)!
While I haven’t spent much time in Pudong, I did find the surrounding area to be really beautiful! So, assuming I keep meeting with Ying in person for the next few weeks, maybe I’ll do some more exploring!
Jewish Life in Shanghai
This weekend was filled with a lot of fun Jewish related activities! On Friday night, my friends at Moishe House hosted a Pizza Shabbat! I made my Mom’s delicious oatmeal raisin cookies for desert (which were a big hit)! For those of you wondering, you can get good pizza in Shanghai (though it’s mostly made by ex-pats)!
It was a lot of fun getting to catch up and hang out with some of Moishe House community friends! Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of talk about politics and the situation in the US (both the virus and the political situation), but I also got to talk about the TV show Doom Patrol with my friends, so it wasn’t always a heavy conversation. This was a very fun way to relax and spend the evening!
Additionally, I got to spend some time playing with Lucky!
On Saturday evening, the Kehilat Shanghai President, Josh, hosted a lovely Havdalah in his home! For those of you who don’t know, Havdalah, means separation. It’s a set of prayers that mark the ending of Shabbat. While we haven’t done tons of Kehilat events this summer, it was really wonderful to gather different members of community (especially some of those who live in Pudong, like Josh) and join together for the Havdalah prayers and a lovely dinner! I was also very impressed that Josh’s daughter made the braided Havdalah candle herself!
This was a nice opportunity for me to chat with and get to know some of the long-time members of the Community better! Unsurprisingly when you gather a bunch of ex-pats, there were a lot of discussions about making sure everyone was registered to vote, the recent Democratic National Convention, and fears about the situation in the US. Overall, even though the conversations weren’t always light, it made for a very fun and enjoyable Saturday evening! I look forward to attending and organizing more Kehilat Shanghai events this fall!
This was another very nice week, highlighted by spending time with the Jewish Community of Shanghai! I expect that this upcoming week will again be more research focused as I continue to plow ahead on my many different research projects! Though, I’m sure there will be some fun photos to share with you all!
I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my week! I hope this update reminds you that the covid-19 situation can improve (though the process of recovery can’t be rushed) and that when it does, it’s the small gatherings that make it special! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about Shanghai or covid-19, please let me know.
In peace,
Jesse
Hi Jesse,
It sounds like you had another very productive week! That’s awesome! Keep it up! I’m glad you were able to meet with Ying in person. I find that zoom meetings work, but aren’t quite as effective. Do you know if you’ll have any in person group meetings? Also, what are SJTU’s policies for social distancing and temperature checks. It looked like NYU Shanghai did a pretty good job. Hopefully things keep working with students returning. I know everyone here is pretty paranoid about that. I’m glad you had a fun Shabbat and Havdalah! But where was a picture of the Chinese pizza? It sounds like you have a nice community! I’m glad you requested your ballot! Definitely submit it sooner rather than later! I need to look into requesting one soon. As always, keep sending pictures of the malls (they look really cool) and with Lucky! Have a safe, healthy, and productive week.
Love,
Emmet
Hi Emmet! Thanks! I don’t know if we’ll do any in person group meetings yet. I think that’s mostly because Ying and I were meeting pretty far from the campus (about 1.5 hours by metro). So, if we did it’d need to be somewhere else. I know SJTU is doing temperature checks, but I don’t know about social distancing guidelines (they implemented some in the cafeteria, but I won’t be eating there). In the picture from Shabbat, you can see us eating pizza, but it’s nothing unique to China. As soon as I get the ballot, I plan to mail it. Some of my friends from Kehilat said they can help me figure out the logistics of sending mail internationally. Hope you also have a safe and productive week!
Thanks for your blog, Jesse. Quite fascinating to read that the mall in Shanghai tends to focus on expensive goods – quite different from US malls. My thinking is that high end ‘consumer’ products are sought after by wealthier Chinese as a mark that they have “made it” and are embraced by the Chinese government that their economic system is at least as good as the system promoted by the US. From “peasant” to “plenty” in six decades.
Are all your astronomical observations made with electronic devices and not optical telescopes? Such things as the background “noise” that was detected – when? in the fifties? that people spent months on trying to clean up thinking that the problem was in their equipment only to realize that that noise was caused by the “big bang” fascinates me – both the fact that we can detect evidence of a singular event moments after it occurred billions of years ago AND that we can offer a testable hypothesis that verifies such an explanation… If life itself is – in so many ways – is so simple (four “letters” in a genetic alphabet and yet so complex that while one of those “words” might be amoeba another is homo sapiens and that as homo sapiens we can reflect on the universe and on our own nature and being perhaps understanding the origins of matter and time and the shape and size of the universe there is something so wondrous about life and our relationship to the universe.
Thanks Bernard! I think your thoughts on the mall are correct. I think it’s very much a status system for people to be seen either shopping there or in the stores. Many of the stores are those you only see in NYC on Madison Avenue.
To answer your Astronomy question, modern telescopes observe using CCD cameras that are used to count the number of photons observed at each specific location. For my own observations, background has more to do with actual galaxies that are along the line of sight of the clusters I study, but not part of the cluster. However, you are correct that earlier Astronomical observations had much trickier things they were trying to understand in their background. I completely agree with you about the wondrous nature of life and our relationship with it in the Universe!
Hi, Jesse.
It sounds like another productive and fun-filled week for you in Shanghai. As much as I miss you, I am glad that you are able to have a new normal to your life and that you can socialize and be productive. I am most excited that you actually met Ying in person after so many months. And I am also delighted that SJTU will be having students return to campus after all this time. The staggered return makes a lot of sense to me. Perhaps you will be able to have Astro Coffee in person soon? And I do hope you can give a talk at NYU Shanghai as well as at Tsinghua University when Emmet gets established there.
Pizza and oatmeal raisin cookies–from my recipe no less–sound like real comfort food, reminders of home! Yum. I also can tell that Lucky really loves you. Perhaps there is a dog in your future, but I also hope to see a cat in your future, too. Please include some cat pictures in your next post!
Here it was a productive week, too. The kitchen is really coming along. We have all the new floor, the cabinets, the crown moldings in place. This week, we will get countertops on Wednesday and a sink, and our contractor will come back on Thursday to hook up the sink and dishwasher. The tiling will be next weekend, and then the hood can be installed. Just waiting for a while for a new frig to replace the defective one that was delivered. Being without a sink and countertops for almost a month has been a challenge! Can’t wait. And I start school today with advising for my first-year seminar students. And classes begin on Tuesday–the Brontes and Jane Austen!
Please know how proud I am of you and all you have accomplished. It will be nice to have Emmet home with us this fall, as you were last fall, as he prepares to head to China!
Much love,
Mom
Thanks Mom! I think once the semester gets up and running, we likely will start having AstroCoffee in person (assuming larger in person meetings are allowed). Once Emmet arrives at Tsinghua, I’ll definitely make plans to visit.
In terms of cats, I’ll try to take pictures of them, but I don’t see cats as often, since none of my friends who have cats have had me over. I’m so thrilled to hear that the kitchen is almost done! I hope that you and Dad both have a great first week of classes! Hopefully your experience teaching online last semester will make it easier this fall.
Hi Jesse,
Your week sounds very full!
I’m glad that you and your advisor finally met in person!!
I’m assuming his English is pretty good?
Have you been acquiring a few Chinese greetings/ comments?
I’m curious about the amours that Hannah Maia works at…, is it for students to do a semester abroad ?
Or, do students stay there for their whole college experience?
Did Hannah Maia come to China before she got the job? … Or a student of Chinese
Language/ literature.,,, etc? Beforehand??
I’m just curious about how people end up working in different countries …. as it was something I was interested in doing long ago.
Are there many varieties of mangos available to buy?
Any interesting mango or other exotic fruit dishes … that you’ve encountered.,, both savory and sweet?
Have a great week a Jesse!
I am doing professional development this week… virtually… in preparation for school starting in person 9/8!
Apparently I will be teaching in a tent!
Take good care!
Xo🌺🙏🐸Pam
Hi Aunt Pam! Thanks for all the questions. :). Ying’s English is excellent, he did his Ph.D. and pstdocs in the US. I’ve acquired a few Chinese expressions, but I need to get better at that. NYU Shanghai is a separate branch of NYU. Students apply to go there for the entire 4 year college experience. I’m not sure if they do study abroad opportunities though. Hannah Maia was already working in Shanghai when she got the job. In general, there’s a mix of people who are here for business (many of those people got transferred to China) or here for teaching/education (that’s more of a choice for an international experience).
I’ve seen green and yellow mangos here. Mango flavored drinks are really popular. I’ve had one mango desert, that was mango and pomelo with coconut ice cream and another with black sticky rice and mango a while ago. If I have any others I’ll definitely share some photos! The mangos are very good here, though!
I hope that your virtual training goes well! I hope teaching in a tent is still safe, though I imagine that might be uncomfortable this winter.
Hi Jesse, sounds like you had a nice week! My family has been okay so far, although the Pt Reyes fire was alarming! I’m honestly more worried about covid at michigan than the fires in california though.
Anyway I hope you have another nice week!
Thanks Ryan! I’m relieved to hear that your family is staying safe in California. I can understand being worried about the situation in Ann Arbor, especially with students arriving on campus. Hope you’re staying safe and healthy!