[phas-dept] Research opportunity in astronomy for undergraduates

[Kurtis Williams]

If you are an undergraduate interested in astronomy research, or if you know someone who is, you may want to consider the following research opportunity!


Students Wanted for 2015 CTIO REU and PIA Programs!

The Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) offers positions for U.S. and Chilean student interns during the Chilean summer months of January-March (northern winter semester) at the CTIO offices in La Serena, Chile. Six undergraduate research assistantships are offered for U.S. physics and astronomy undergraduate students through the NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. The CTIO-funded Prácticas de Investigación en Astronomía (PIA) program is run concurrently with the REU program, and offers two research assistantships for Chilean undergraduate students, recent graduates, or 1st or 2nd year masters students, also at the CTIO offices in La Serena, Chile.

CTIO is part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) of the United States, focused on the development of astronomy in the southern hemisphere. The Observatory offices are located in La Serena, about 300 miles north of Santiago. The telescopes are located on top of Cerro Tololo, a mountain approximately 50 miles east of La Serena, on the western side of the Andes, at an elevation of 7,241 feet above sea level. Participants in the program live and work primarily on the compound of the observatory offices in La Serena, with occasional visits to the telescopes on the mountaintop. Additional information on CTIO is available at thehttp://www.ctio.noao.edu.<http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ctio.noao.edu%2F&h=vAQGGHuKH&enc=AZNj6Vd0lQlsPWEQiGTqIHUJTSyploWyGo08Xhr2N_ahXaKRanLZRNob5KrY5Gu0v9faQY6bWUUBf0RvdFn3y1CLBSqQewo6c14LxxAxpWxDgtBxO6fb0uziZUvZef2HVu-KxCrbzCJOG9c_GJ5kJ7yz&s=1>

The CTIO REU and PIA programs provide exceptional opportunities for students considering a career in astronomy to engage in substantive research activities with scientists working at the forefront of contemporary astrophysics. Student participants will work on specific research projects in close collaboration with members of the CTIO scientific and technical staff, such as galaxy clusters, gravitational lensing, supernovae, planetary nebulae, stellar populations, star clusters, star formation, variable stars and interstellar medium. The CTIO REU and PIA programs emphasize observational techniques and provides opportunities for direct observational experience using CTIO's state-of-the-art telescopes and instrumentation.

Participants in the REU program must be enrolled as full-time undergraduate students at a U.S. university during the REU program, and must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States. Participants in the PIA program must be undergraduate students or first or second-year masters students (pre-thesis), and must be enrolled in a Chilean university or recently graduated from one.

The programs will run for 10 weeks, from approximately January 9 to March 21, 2015. A two-night observing run on Cerro Tololo and a field trip to another observatory in Chile are included for students of both programs. These positions are full time, and those selected will receive a modest stipend and subsidized housing on the grounds of the offices of CTIO in La Serena, as well as travel costs to and from La Serena. In addition, the students usually attend the American Astronomical Society (AAS) winter meeting to present their research the year following the program, in this case the 2016 AAS meeting in Kissimmee, Florida.

Complete applications, including applicant information, official transcripts and two or three letters of recommendation should be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. on October 1, 2014 CLST. More information and the program application can be found at: http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/content/student-programs-and-internships. Women and candidates from under-represented minorities in the sciences are particularly encouraged to apply.

Dr. Kurtis A. Williams
Assistant Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Texas A&M University - Commerce
Tel: (903) 886-5516
Kurtis.Williams at tamuc.edu<mailto:Kurtis.Williams at tamuc.edu>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.tamuc.edu/pipermail/phas-dept/attachments/20140829/0f5110aa/attachment.html>