Hey there, welcome to this blog. My name is Mihir and I am a contributor for Google Summer of Code 2022. This blog is the first in a series of blogs where I will write about my journey through the GSoC working for Stingray under the umbrella organization OpenAstronomy. During the period of the next 12 weeks or so, I will be working toward implementing the Bayesian Excess Variance method in Stingray with help of my mentors Matteo and Daniela.

If you are here then you might already know about the Google Summer of Code. If you do not then here is a brief description of it. It is a program, organized and conducted by Google annually. It starts somewhere around the winter equinox and ends sometime around the autumn equinox, i.e. throughout the summer. The program aims to bring new contributors to open-source software development. Of course, you can get more information about it by visiting its website!

Since this is my first blog, I will keep things simple and just write briefly about myself. By profession, I am a researcher and an educator. I did my post-graduation in Physics from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai. My research work is in the field of Star and exoplanet formation. I study the evolution and dynamics of circumstellar disks that form around young stars. Apart from this, I teach physics to undergrad students. I like to slow travel and sometimes I volunteer as a teacher and an artist. I like to read fiction and watch movies. Currently, I am staying in a small village, located amid the snow-covered mountains of the Himalayas. Here is a picture of myself, taken after a small mountain hike.

I love to code, and I love Astrophysics. There had been multiple moments in my life when I had to choose between Physics and Computer Science, and every time I wished that I can choose both. For my research work, I extensively use open-source packages like Astropy, CASA, etc. This motivated me to contribute to open-source packages for astronomy and give something back to the community. Surprisingly, this year GSoC also relaxed its eligibility criteria for contributors. All of these have brought me this serendipitous point in my life when I have an opportunity to start my journey in open-source, writing code for software used for Astrophysics while participating in a prestigious program like GSoC! So this is like a dream come true for me.

I think I will wrap up this blog for now! I plan to write about my project ‘Bayesian Excess Variance (Bexvar) in Stingray’ soon in this series. If you want to know a little bit about it now, you can take a look at this webpage. Till then goodbye :)!