There are two categories of host institutions for LSSTC Catalyst Fellowships – LSSTC member institutions (those that are accepting Fellows in 2022 are listed in the left-hand column, below) and institutions that we refer to as expansion sites (some examples of which are listed in the right-hand column, below).
LSSTC member institutions have demonstrated their interest in Rubin LSST science, and have invested in the scientific success of Rubin LSST by joining LSSTC. Whether large or small, these institutions (or consortia of institutions) have faculty and staff whose expertise and research interests make them extremely well suited for hosting postdocs intending to conduct LSST-related research.
In addition to fostering discovery using LSST data, LSSTC aims to enlarge the networks of researchers and students using these data. In pursuit of these aims, one astrophysics Catalyst Fellow in each cohort will sit at an expansion site -- an institution that is not yet a member of LSSTC and that does not typically host prize postdocs. Astrophysics applicants interested in conducting their research at an expansion site can select from the list below or propose a site of their own choosing. Proposals for expansion sites that have small astrophysics faculty, that are historically Black and indigenous colleges, that are minority-serving, or that are under-resourced will be looked upon most favorably. LSSTC will help establish a mutually beneficial partnership between each expansion sites that ends up hosting a Fellow and an appropriate LSSTC member institution. Moreover, whereas most Fellows will have three-year terms, Fellows who sit at expansion sites will have four-year terms as well as a supplemental annual research allowance on top of the standard research allowance for Fellows. Expansion sites may be a particularly good fit for applicants interested in a future faculty position at this type of college or university.
Finally, three of the LSSTC member institutions listed below – Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, and the University of Washington – are helping to lead a new initiative called LINCC, the LSST Interdisciplinary Network for Collaboration and Computing, with which the Catalyst Fellowship is associated. Astrophyiscs Fellows who sit at those institutions will have the opportunity to get deeply involved in the development, testing, and early use of LINCC software (LINCC Frameworks). They will also be offered four-year terms (contingent upon satisfactory performance and the availability of funds) to enable them both to participate in tools development and to publish. More information
Each institution can only host one astrophyiscs Fellow, so astrophysics applicants will provide a primary and backup host-institution choice on their application. An applicant's primary and backup choice for host institution do not need to be from the same category. The following institutions are already hosting Catalyst Fellows in astrophysics, and so are not eligible to accept new astrophysics Fellows for this application cycle: Princeton University, Rutgers University, University of Arizona (LINCC Hub site), University of Oxford, and Washington State University (Expansion Site). Princeton, Rutgers, UA, and Oxford remain eligible, however, to host LSSTC Catalyst Fellows in the social sciences.
*ELIGIBLE FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE POSTDOC ONLY
Contact Name: Prof. Médéric Boquien
Email address: mederic.boquien@uantof.cl
Chile has a vibrant, dynamic and rapidly-growing scientific community, currently consisting of 274 professional astronomers spread over 24 institutions and covering all active research fields. All LSSTC Catalysts Fellows hosted by a Chilean institution will be eligible to apply for the 10% guaranteed time on all telescopes installed in Chile such as ALMA, VLT, Gemini-S, Magellan, etc. There are currently 60+ astronomers based in Chile who are members of LSST science collaborations, spread over all scientific topics from cosmology to solar system. Particularly relevant for potential postdoctoral fellows is the Alerce project, recently selected as one of the LSST event brokers, led by researchers in Chile.
Postdoctoral fellows hosted by Chilean institutions will be eligible to apply for the 10% guaranteed time on all telescopes installed in Chile. Chile has a very active and lively community of astronomy and data science researchers, including all fields of research associated with LSST.
Potential LSSTC Fellow candidates interested in having a Chilean institution as host are encourage either to establish contact directly with relevant faculty members or alternatively can email Prof. Médéric Boquien at mederic.boquien@uantof.cl for guidance in selecting a suitable sponsoring institution and general information about Chilean institutions.
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) Felipe Barrientos barrientos@astro.puc.cl
Universidad de Antofagasta (UA) Eduardo Unda-Sanzana astro.director@uantof.cl
Universidad Adolfo Ibañez (UAI) Andrés Jordán andres.jordan@uai.cl
Universidad Autónoma de Chile (UAUTONOMA) Natalia Inostroza natalia.inostroza@uautonoma.cl
Universidad de Chile (UCH) Patricio Rojo pato@das.uchile.cl
Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN) Max Moyano mmoyano@ucn.cl
Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción (UCSC) Nicola Astudillo nastudillo@ucsc.cl
Universidad de Atacama (UDA) Mario Soto mario.soto@uda.cl
Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD) Mauricio Herrera mherrera@ingenieros.udd.cl
Universidad de Concepción (UDEC) Neil Nagar nagar@astro-udec.cl
Universidad Diego Portales (UDP) Manuel Aravena manuel.aravenaa@mail.udp.cl
Universidad de La Serena (ULS) Hector Cuevas hcuevas@dfuls.cl
Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación (UMCE) Luis Barrera luis.barrera@umce.cl
Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB) Giuliano Pignata pignago@gmail.com
Universidad de Valparaíso (UV) Radostin Kurtev rudy@ifa.uv.cl
Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV) Germán Varas german.varas@pucv.cl
Universidad Austral (UACH) José Mardones jmardones@uach.cl
Universidad Bernardo O'Higgins (UBO) Maria José Acuña mjose.acuna@ubo.cl
Universidad Central (UCEN) Christian Nicolai christian.nicolai@ucentral.cl
Universidad Mayor (UMAYOR) Raúl Coto raul.coto@umayor.cl
Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH) Roberto Bernal roberto.bernal@usach.cl
Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria (UTFSM) Mónica Pacheco monica.pacheco@usm.cl
Universidad de Tarapacá (UTA) David Laroze dlarozen@uta.cl
Universidad de Talca (UTAL) Gonzalo Pincheira gpincheira@utalca.cl
Potential fellows can directly contact Prof. Mansi M. Kasliwal at mansi@astro.caltech.edu if they have any questions.
The Caltech and IPAC research community is deeply engaged in various major topics of research related to VRO and astrophysical survey science. Caltech’s Babamul event broker (PI Graham) has been selected for full access to the VRO alert stream. For example:
- Galactic Transients and Variables (Hillenbrand, Prince): e.g. FU Orionis outbursts & young star variability, novae, compact white dwarf binaries, AM CVn systems, microlensing events
- Solar System research (Helou, Prince): Asteroid searches using novel algorithms for a commensal survey like LSST; ZTF data to find fast-moving small asteroids (<100m) & study that population; Twilight Survey has found 5 new Atiras and the first inside-Venus-orbit object. TNO (Brown) are a natural VRO topic
- Extragalactic Transients (Djorgovski, Graham, Kasliwal, Kulkarni): e.g. Supernovae, Active Galactic Nuclei, Tidal Disruption Flares, Calcium-rich transients. Graham is a member of the AGN science collaboration. Kasliwal is a member of the TVS science collaboration.
- Multi-Messenger Astronomy (Kasliwal): Active panchromatic searches for electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave events, as well as for neutrinos - Weak Lensing and Galaxy Evolution (Chary, Dore, Bock, Rhodes): Using data from VRO, Euclid, and in combination to pursue better constraints on weak lensing; high-accuracy photometry to reveal line flux contributions and estimate redshifts and star formation rates
- Theory (Fuller, Phinney): work focuses on connecting observational data with the astrophysical processes underlying SNe, GRBs, FRBs, gravitational waves, compact binaries, stellar variables, asteroseismology, etc
- Wide-Field Survey calibration, Informatics and Statistics (Graham, Masci). Graham is member of the Informatics and Statistics Science Collaboration (ISSC), ISSC representative on the Commissioning Liaison Committee, and ISSC representative on the International In-Kind Contribution Evaluation Committee
- Kasliwal serves on the VRO SAC and VRO SCOC committees
- Helou is Caltech Institutional Rep to LSSTC Board, serves on Enabling Science Committee and Governance & Nominations Committee; member of Solar System Science Collaboration.
- Caltech operates the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) -- the premier data and science precursor to the Vera Rubin Observatory (VRO) -- and serves its data products through IPAC. LSSTC Postdoctoral Fellows hosted at Caltech would have access to ZTF data and to the expertise of the team that built and runs ZTF, including near-daily discussions of operations issues, advanced analysis techniques, and fresh scientific results. The ZTF partnership involves several mid-size and large institutions plus a number of individual associates at small institutions, providing many worldwide networking opportunities.
Caltech Human Resources organizes onboarding for new postdocs. The LSSTC Fellow or Fellows would have offices in Cahill, a building designed to facilitate casual interactions. The LSSTC Fellows would join the existing NASA or Prize Fellows at Caltech, and benefit from the established support system and modes of interaction, such as a weekly Postdoc Lunch funded by astronomy department faculty, in addition to normal department functions such as Theory-Observer pizza lunches, Monday Tea Talks, Wednesday colloquia, Friday theory seminars and Friday PM Socials. LSSTC Fellows will be sure to find like-minded colleagues among the ~50 postdocs, and mentors among the faculty and staff working in VRO-relevant areas. Caltech Astronomy and IPAC embrace the Caltech statements and actions on Inclusion & Diversity: http://diversity.caltech.edu
There is an active group of ~50 postdoctoral fellows in the Cahill building for astronomy and astrophysics at Caltech. Here is a list of current postdoctoral fellows: https://www.astro.caltech.edu/people/postdoctoral-scholars Here is a list of some prize postdoctoral fellows in the past and where they are now: https://sites.astro.caltech.edu/people/prize_postdocs.html
Rachel Mandelbaum
rmandelb@andrew.cmu.edu
Catalyst Fellows at CMU would be hosted by the McWilliams Center, which joins research efforts in astrophysics, particle physics, computer science, statistics, and other disciplines to unravel the mysteries of the universe. Theoretical and observational studies within the Center cover a wide range of astrophysical phenomena, including galaxy and structure formation, black holes, gravitational waves, stellar evolution, transients, gravitational lensing, dynamical detection of dark matter and effective field theory in Cosmology. Faculty at CMU are already actively engaged in preparation for LSST through deep engagement with the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) and Informatics and Statistics Science Collaboration (ISSC), and are starting to get involved in other areas. In addition to the interdisciplinary research carried out within the McWilliams Center, which spans multiple departments, CMU Physics is also the host of the NSF AI Planning Institute for Data-Driven Discovery in Physics.
CMU is one of two lead institutions for the LINCC Frameworks initiative, which aims to deliver to the broad LSST scientific community the tools that work at the interface of algorithmic developments and astrophysics, creating robust, scalable analysis frameworks that can deliver new discoveries from massive data streams. As a LINCC member institution, CMU offers Catalyst Fellows four years of postdoctoral funding (one more than Catalyst Fellows at non-LINCC institutions). Catalyst Fellows at CMU would have the opportunity for sustained, deep engagement with the LINCC Frameworks research scientists and software engineers to collaborate on developing the software that enables the Fellows to become scientific leaders in LSST.
Like other postdoctoral researchers in the McWilliams Center, Catalyst Fellows at CMU will have access to the Vera computing cluster and other resources at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, which provides high-performance computing resources on a variety of scales and works closely with our scientists. The Center has a regular seminar series, arxiv paper discussions, and other activities, which Fellows may participate in and/or help organize, and Fellows are welcome to join the research group meetings of any faculty member. The Department of Physics (which hosts the Center) has active efforts in outreach and in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, from which postdoctoral fellows benefit and in which they are encouraged to engage. Postdoctoral Fellows at CMU are able to be the PIs of grants, and arrangements can be made to permit them to teach if they express interest in doing so. They are eligible to apply for the McWilliams Center Seed Grant Program. Finally, members of the Center are engaged in other surveys such as DES, HSC, DESI, and LISA, which may provide collaboration opportunities for Catalyst Fellows. The supportive environment and varied career development opportunities offered here have resulted in strong career trajectories for former postdoctoral fellows at CMU.
Postdoctoral Fellows will receive standard university onboarding from CMU HR, and the McWilliams Center has an onboarding guide for all new members linked from its website. We will ensure that any Catalyst Fellow who comes to CMU has a faculty mentor within the McWilliams Center who they can consult with further questions.
Columbia is an invigorating place to be an astronomer, astrophysicist or cosmologist. We enjoy the intellectual vibrancy that follows from the diverse nature of our research programs. We sit at the nexus of an explosion of astronomical research in the Tri-State area. We have forged a Big Apple community with our colleagues at Barnard, AMNH, the City University of New York (CUNY), New York University (NYU), and the Flatiron Institute Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA). Researchers in the Departments of Astronomy (https://www.astro.columbia.edu/) and Physics (https://physics.columbia.edu/content/astrophysics-gravitational-wave-physics-and-cosmology) at Columbia work on a variety of topics related to core science goals of LSST:
At Columbia there are copious opportunities to present your work, learn from others, and forge collaborations. Columbia Astronomy and Physics hold seminars and colloquia, informal talks and paper discussion, as well as workshops and other meetings resulting in frequent national and international visitors, many of them prominent leaders in astronomy. We have active Outreach programs for our NYC neighbors. There are 15-20 postdocs in Astronomy and Astrophysics at Columbia at present. Mentorship is a priority, with a faculty member specifically assigned to support the postdoc community. In a recent three years period, 13 postdocs from our program were hired into faculty positions. We would be delighted to welcome an LSSTC Catalyst Fellow to join us.
Dr. Michael Prouza (prouza@fzu.cz)
Our group participation in the Rubin Observatory has begun by helping characterize the CCD sensors in the early stages of the project. The scope of our activities developed since then and now we are involved in the camera commissioning, computing, and moving towards data analysis of transients and multi-messenger searches. The later two topics are done within the Transient and Variable Stars science collaboration. Our plan is to contribute to the identification and characterization of interesting objects, such as GRBs (also choked GRBs), AGNs, and Tidal Disruption Events. Equipped with this knowledge we would like to perform multi-messenger searches, trying to correlate these observations with high energy neutrino data or X-ray and gamma observations. A key element will be the variability of the observed objects which can significantly aid the correlation analyses. Our group is part of The Central European Institute for Cosmology and Fundamental Physics (ceico.cz) within the institute. It brings together 15 junior postdoctoral researchers mentored by 9 experienced scientists. CEICO serves as a hub for development of novel ideas in cosmology, gravity, string theory. In the field of aspro-particle physics FZU has also a strong group where we participate as well, whose members are active within the Auger and CTA collaborations. They are involved in a wide variety of activities from hardware development and instrumentation to analyzing observational data. The institute has invested significant resources into creating a modern and friendly work environment, focusing on inclusion, mentoring, and career development, for which we have been awarded the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award. Members of our team regularly participate in outreach programs, the form of which had to change during the pandemic, but did not come to a halt. We are not an educational institution, nonetheless teaching is strongly encouraged, and several group members are lecturing at Czech Universities.
Our HR department and our experts on the technical issues (i.e. computing, safety officer) have put together check lists and established procedures to facilitate the on-boarding. In our experience, within just few days the new member is able to get everything sorted out (medical check, health insurance, understanding the contract and all benefits, safety training, computing accounts, etc.) and begin working within the team without any limitations. There are opportunities to participate in language courses and soft skills improvement paid by the institute, and last but not least, we have informal slack channels to organize free time activities or simply get help and assistance with the specifics of living in the region.
This is a link to our department webpage, from here one can reach other resources to learn about our institution.
https://www.fzu.cz/en/research/divisions-and-departments/division-1/department-16/research
INAF (Istituto Nazionale di Astro Fisica)
INAF is the Italian research institute that directly organises and funds the whole Italian research in all astronomical fields. It is organised in 16 different institutes and observatories scattered throughout the entire country, and includes more than 700 staff researchers and hundreds of associated university professors. At the national level, it operates in strong cooperation with Italian Universities, the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN). It has a wide range of international collaborations with institutes and space agencies across the entire world. INAF researchers are active in all LSST-related fields, including in particular objects of the solar system, stellar population, variable stars, transients and high energy sources, galaxy and AGN evolution, cosmology, machine learning.
INAF staff and post-doc have access to a wide range of world-class facilities, including national facilities (like VST, TNG, LBT in the optical and SRT in the radio), international facilities (like all ESO telescopes, ALMA, as well as SKA and CTA as they are available), and large computing facilities at CINECA. Post-doc at INAF have also the opportunity of joining GAIA, Euclid and other other ESA scientific missions in which INAF is heavily involved.
https://sites.google.com/inaf.it/rubin-lsst-italy
Bellarmine U: Akhtar Mahmood amahmood *bellarmine.edu
Kentucky, U of: Ron Wilhelm ron.wilhelm *uky.edu
Louisville, U of: Benne W. Holwerda benne.holwerda *louisville.edu
Berea College: Tracy Hodge hodget *berea.edu
Eastern Ky: Jessica Lair Jessica.Lair *eku.edu
Morehead St.: Dirk Grupe d.grupe *moreheadstate.edu
Murray St: Josh Ridley jridley *murraystate.edu
Northern Ky: Nathan De Lee deleenm *nku.edu
* = @ for addresses above, to prevent e-mail harvesting
KARL (Kentucky Association for Research with LSST) is a consortium of 8 universities: U Kentucky, U Louisville, Morehead St., Northern KY, Eastern KY, Murray St., Bellarmine U and Berea College.
There is an annual AAS Regional meeting of astronomers in Kentucky and surrounding states. U Kentucky hosts a weekly online journal club and also astronomy seminars, with active participation by other KARL institutions. There is an online summer senior/graduate-level seminar series between KARL institutions.The institutions which have doctoral programs and which typically host post-docs are U. Louisville and U. Kentucky. However, post-docs are encouraged to consider being hosted at and/or interact with faculty at all 8 universities or at combinations of universities, all of which are within a few hours' drive of each other. KARL institutions are in areas with an attractive cost of living and a good quality of life.
Research areas in KARL cover a range of topics, including but not limited to AGN, galaxy evolution, quasar absorbers, X-ray astronomy, supernova remnants, pulsars, Galactic structure, exo-planets and proto-planetary disks.
KARL has discussions with Kentucky St. Univ., a Historically Black University, as an associate member for teaching/outreach purposes, and is currently voting on admission. This would be the first HBCU in LSST Corp. Any scientist at a KARL institution will be encouraged to include KY St. in teaching/outreach plans, and it is possible for post-doc candidates to discuss teaching experience opportunities with any KARL institution.
BELLARMINE U:
Bellarmine University is part of DESC with two faculty members and a postdoc (funded by the university). Akhtar Mahmood and his postdoc, along with other DESC collaborators are currently working on a Weak Lensing project on quantifying and modelling selection bias in cluster weak lensing signal using the CosmoDC2 simulated data. The accuracy of cosmological constraints from the cluster weak lensing data depends on the accuracy of the measured cluster weak lensing signal. Our current research work will allow us to determine how much reduction on cosmological parameter bias can be achieved by modeling the cluster weak lensing section bias analytically. Another project is investigating the possibility of using the quasar (QSO) data (QSO fluxes and time-delays) to determine cosmological parameter constraints. Bellarmine University have contributed to DESC’s Photon Simulation (Phosim) project with Purdue University. Bellarmine University's HPC cluster generated the DESC PhoSim Rubin Survey# 1 data that is available in the public domain. Bellarmine Astrophysics group has state-of-the art facilities for research, a 384 core HPC cluster with 200TB disk storage space that is being used as a Rubin-DESC computing resource, 9 high end NVIDIA triple-monitor for data analysis and a 16 ft x 5 ft Hiperwall display system in the Advanced Visualization and Computational Lab (AVCL) for Big Data analysis. A Catalyst Fellow would be very welcome to join Bellarmine University’s involvement with DESC’s Weak Lensing research efforts and/or propose new research efforts with DESC, such as the development and testing of algorithms and software needed to pursue precise and accurate cosmological studies using weak lensing at the pixel level, quantitative assessment of potential biases in photometric redshift/cosmic shear estimators, and the development of solutions to meet the requirements for tomographic cosmic shear analyses. For additional information, please contact Dr. Akhtar Mahmood (Phone: 502-272-7599 or Email: amahmood@bellarmine.edu).
KENTUCKY, U of:
Ron Wilhelm has an SDSS slot, and works on Galactic structure/RR Lyr stars. Yuanyuan Su works on X-ray observations of clusters of galaxies and AGN feedback, employing machine learning. Thomas Troland uses radio observations to study magnetic fields in the context of star formation. Isaac Shlosman does theoretical work on Galactic dynamics, AGN and accretion disks. Gary Ferland is an AAS Fellow who works on a variety of topics including nebular emission and quasars.
LOUISVILLE, U of:
The LSST survey Deep Drilling Fields coincide with a wealth of other surveys, for example the deep fields done with radio astronomical observatories in the run-up to the Square Kilometer Array. One such field, the Chandra Deep Field South, is the target for the Looking At the Distant Universe with the Meerkat Array (LADUMA) survey, the PI of which is Dr. Holwerda. Combining the 21cm emission line information with the LSST deep photometry allows one to probe the kimematic evolution of galaxies over cosmic times (e.g. changes in the Tully-Fisher relation) as well as characterize the gas content of different populations of galaxies since z~1 (7 billion years ago). Work on LADUMA/LSST will include synthesis analysis with optical spectroscopy and a range of other photometry (ultraviolet, near-infrared etc).
U Louisville also has an on-going ground-based program for prompt followup of NASA TESS discoveries (John Kielkopf), and is engaged in the LSST Transients and Variable Stars Collaboration to develop this science to a higher level. Building on that, we offer to a potential post-doctoral fellow, the support of a collaborative international community focused on the use of time-series observations for exoplanet and stellar astrophysics.
James Lauroesch and Gerard Williger perform quasar absorber research, focusing on the analysis of archival spectra (SDSS, HST, GALEX etc.) in the context of metal absorbers, damped/subdamped Ly-alpha systems, Lyman limit systems and relation to large-scale structure. Lutz Haberzettl works on various aspects of galaxy evolution and collaborates on quasar absorbers. Williger also works on high-resolution imaging and spectral imaging of proto-planetary disks.
The University of Louisville offers computing facilities, including an NVIDIA workstation for machine learning applications, a dedicated physics cluster and a collegial scientific environment. Fellowship benefits include health care and a competitive salary.
BEREA COLLEGE:
Tracy Hodge has research interests on transient/variable stars. On the teaching side, she would like to incorporate LSST in undergraduate teaching and also help to develop a planetarium show about it for E/PO work.
EASTERN KENTUCKY U:
Jessica Lair has research interests in SN light curves. She would like to incorporate LSST into undergraduate teaching.MOREHEAD ST U:Dirk Grupe studies AGN and GRBs, using SWIFT and other facilities. In particular he is interested studying the temporal behavior of AGN on short and long time scales, detecting AGN in extreme X-ray flux states. His primary field of interest are Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies which are AGN with relatively low black hole masses, high accretion rates, and in an early stage of their development. Tom Pannuti does multi-wavelength work on SNRs.MURRAY ST U: Josh Ridley engages in radio observations of pulsars.
NORTHERN KENTUCKY U:
Nathan De Lee studies Galactic structure with time-series analysis of RR Lyr stars, and in involved with SDSS-IV APOGEE-2, TESS and lead-up studies for LSST. He has been working on an LSST light curve simulator.3. A brief summary of the resources your department will make available for onboarding a new postdoc fellow.U Kentucky and U Louisville provide computing access/facilities and office space for all post-docs. Resources for other host insitutions can be discussed with each individual university. Fellows are encouraged to consider joint appointments between two or more institutions.4. A web link that potential fellows can click on to get more information. This can be a link to your main department page, an existing summary of research at your department, or a page you make specifically with information for potential Fellows.
U. Kentucky https://pa.as.uky.edu/
U. Louisville http://www.physics.louisville.edu/
Morehead St. U. https://www.moreheadstate.edu/ssc
Northern Kentucky U. https://inside.nku.edu/artsci/departments/pget/physics.html
Eastern Kentucky U. https://programs.eku.edu/academics/physics-and-pre-engineering
Murray St. U. https://www.murraystate.edu/academics/CollegesDepartments/CollegeOfScien...
Bellarmine University https://www.bellarmine.edu/arts-and-sciences/undergraduate/physics/
Berea College https://physics.berea.edu/
At the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology (KIPAC), which spans the Stanford campus and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, LSSTC postdoctoral fellows will find scientific mentoring expertise in a wide array of astrophysics and cosmology research topics, described here, including dark energy, dark matter, gravitational lensing, optical surveys, cosmological simulations, scientific visualization, instrumentation, and data analysis related to Rubin Observatory and LSST. Many KIPAC members are deeply engaged in the integration and testing of the LSST Camera at SLAC and preparing for observatory commissioning in Chile, offering postdocs a unique opportunity to contribute to verifying and validating LSST data for early science. SLAC is the host DOE laboratory for the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) and manages the Rubin US Data Facility. KIPAC hosts an active LSST Early Science Group to brainstorm a wide range of ideas, and SLAC hosts the LSSTC-supported “LSST Stack Club” to train scientists to run Rubin/LSST analysis software. LSSTC postdocs working at KIPAC will benefit from the experience of KIPAC scientists in working with data from complementary observatories, that will help them achieve the full potential of LSST data, including multi-messenger / multi-wavelength opportunities. Feel free to contact KIPAC faculty and scientific staff listed here to learn more about their research interests and plans.
Many practical onboarding resources are described on the webpage for postdocs who are New to the KIPAC Community and the Getting Started section of the Stanford Office of Postdoctoral Affairs resources. Intellectual onboarding is provided through the KIPAC postdoc mentoring program and engagement with the community through KIPAC Teas and off-campus retreats -- both KIPAC-wide and for postdocs only.
KIPAC & Rubin/LSST, Postdoctoral Opportunities at SLAC.
Masahiro Takada, masahiro.takada@ipmu.jp
Kavli IPMU is a leading institute of the ongoing Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) survey and the upcoming Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) survey with the 8.2m Subaru Telescope. Faculty members at Kavli IPMU are also actively involved in CMB experiments such as the Simons Observatory, CMB-S4, and the LiteBIRD satellite mission. With a similar survey depth and image quality to LSST, the multicolor HSC imaging survey has been considered a precursor to LSST. The planned PFS survey will carry out spectroscopic observations of HSC targets (stars, galaxies, and AGNs) over a wide solid angle, offering synergistic scientific opportunities when combined with HSC. An LSST fellow at Kavli IPMU will have the unique opportunity to lead projects involving a wide range of cosmological surveys that are complementary to LSST. Kavli IPMU provides a stimulating and supportive environment for junior scientists to grow with its mentorship program, large group of postdoctoral scholars, and interdisciplinary research opportunities with scientists from particle physics, mathematics, and machine learning.
The LSST fellow will have access to proprietary-period data of Subaru HSC and PFS, as well as in-house computer resources at Kavli IPMU. The fellow is also encouraged to organize seminars, workshops, and conferences that are sponsored by Kavli IPMU. Kavli IPMU strongly supports equity, diversity, and inclusion. Female and underrepresented members are encouraged to lead scientific projects. A support desk is provided for the researchers and their families to facilitate everyday living in Japan.
e-mail: ldacosta@linea.org.br
website: linea.org.br
LIneA is a Brazilian institute created to provide support for scientists and fellows to participate in large international collaborations such as SDSS, DES, DESI and now LSST. Its main office is based in the city of Rio de Janeiro but it has affiliates in several Brazilian Universities in different states. Scientists affiliated with LIneA work on topics ranging from the solar system, Milky Way, galaxy evolution, cluster of galaxies and cosmology. LIneA also has a dedicated computing infrastructure and an IT team that designs and develops tools to support research. Among its many projects, it has developed over the years a science portal to host workflows to carry out end-to-end analysis for DES which are now being scaled up to the LSST requirements. LIneA also plans to host a catalog-LITE LSST IDAC offering great opportunities for fellows to carry out their research.
LIneA provides to its associates access to all of its dedicated computing resources which include more than 700 cores, access to a supercomputer, and the support of LineA’s IT team to help develop/optimize applications The postdoctoral fellow that comes to LIneA will also be able to receive travel support from the INCT of the e-Universe, a special grant from the Federal and from the State of Rio de Janeiro
Please contact Lisa Storrie-Lombardi, lisa@lco.global, with your questions.
Las Cumbres Observatory’s global, robotic telescope network was custom-built specifically for time-domain astronomy. Our 25 robotic telescopes provide instant access to the sky in both hemispheres. Catalyst Fellows will join a unique environment that is a public/private partnership conceived from some of the best ideas at companies like Google and Apple, but in an academic setting consisting of in-house scientists and engineers, who also work closely with UC Santa Barbara scientists. LCO staff are highly active in the Rubin Observatory LSST science community and lead global science collaborations in which postdocs actively participate. Our staff scientists lead a diverse range of research into the characterization of explosive transients, tidal disruption events, and gravitational waves (Andy Howell); exoplanets and microlensing (Rachel Street); and Solar System astronomy, particularly Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) and comets (Tim Lister). All of our scientists have established multi-national networks of collaborators. Postdocs also benefit from training in professional software development, through active collaboration with LCO’s software engineers, critical in exploiting the big data from LSST. Mentoring support is also provided by LCO Observatory Director Lisa Storrie-Lombardi, KITP Director, and Chair of the LCO Board of Directors, Lars Bildsten, and 10 other faculty members in the Astro group at UC Santa Barbara. LCO participates in an active outreach program, co-sponsoring Astronomy on Tap in Santa Barbara with UCSB. Postdocs can also look to Wayne Rosing, the LCO founder and a former Vice President at Google, for both his technical expertise and life experience in management at Apple, Sun, and Google.
In LCO’s supportive atmosphere, post-docs are not only assigned a single mentor but work within teams where cross-discipline collaboration is strongly encouraged. This is enhanced by strong links with external institutions, fostering co-mentoring and networking. LCO offers its post-docs a wealth of resources, including Science Grants and time on the LCO 1m network. Post-docs have autonomy and can try innovative ideas, attend science meetings of interest, and facilitate collaborations. They are encouraged and trained to lead independent proposals for grants and telescope time. Post-docs also have the opportunity to gain teaching experience, co-mentoring students and interns, and are encouraged to partner with LCO’s professional software engineers, providing outstanding training that is valuable for astronomy, as well as gaining experience in instrumentation and observatory operations. This environment has a proven track record of cultivating strong, independent researchers who have gone on to become Einstein, Sagan, and Hubble Fellows as well as Faculty and Senior Research positions. We maintain strong links with a large number of institutions around the world, and have a particularly strong relationship with UC Santa Barbara, whose graduate students are often mentored at LCO.
See the LCO website for information about the observatory: https://lco.global/science/
For more information, contact: Michael Schneider, schneider42@llnl.gov, Group Leader for Astronomy & Astrophysics Analytics
Our astronomy group at LLNL contributes to several aspects of LSST science including dark energy constraints from cosmic shear with the Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC), searches for primordial black hole dark matter through stellar microlensing, surveys for potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs), and development of machine learning pipelines. We also have group members contributing to Rubin operations in the area of wavefront sensing and point spread function measurements as well as connections to the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey. We are an institutional member of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) Phase II survey where we are developing PHA, microlensing, and machine learning pipelines as precursors to LSST science. A unique aspect of LLNL is our Data Science Institute (DSI), which helps connect our astronomy research to data scientists working across the lab and supports many student and seminar opportunities. Recent Rubin postdocs have developed collaborations and co-authors with computer scientists, statisticians, and engineers across the lab. The newly launched Space Science Institute is helping to create an even broader LLNL community related to LSST research.
Postdoc fellows will work as members of the LLNL Physics Division and will be on-boarded as division employees.
https://data-science.llnl.gov/research-areas/basic-science/astrophysics
For more information on logistics please contact
Dr. Coryn Bailer-Jones (calj@mpia.de)
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany
For more information on possible science projects, feel free to contact any of the relevant PIs:
Coryn Bailer-Jones, Eduardo Banados, Gregory Green, Knud Jahnke, Jörg-Uwe Pott, Hans-Walter Rix, Fabian Walter.
Contact information can be found on the MPIA web site http://www.mpia.de
The Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg is home to more than 200 scientists, students, and engineering staff, working on a wide range of instrumental, observational, and theoretical projects. Our science efforts are structured in three departments: Galaxies and Cosmology, Planet and Star Formation, and Atmospheric Physics of Exoplanets. We work on a wide range of topics, ranging from the characterization of planet forming disks, the mapping of dynamical structures in our Milky Way, the studies of nearby galaxies, through to finding the highest redshift quasars. We develop instrumentation for both ground-based (e.g. VLT, ELT) and space-based (e.g. JWST, Euclid) telescopes. Across the three departments, MPIA has an emphasis on data modelling, machine learning, and big data analysis. Our recently formed Data Science department provides assistance to MPIA researchers in high performance computing, working with complex data, and producing data analysis solutions.
The MPIA is contributing to Rubin/LSST through a group of software engineers, and has data rights for several Principal Investigators. MPIA scientists are planning to collaborate in the Rubin/LSST context in several areas: the identification and follow-up of interstellar objects, mapping interstellar dust in the Galaxy, dynamics of the Milky Way, exploring stellar variability and linking it to spectroscopic surveys and Gaia astrometry, as well as studying the environments of the most distant quasars. MPIA has a leading role in the near-infrared photometry of the Euclid mission, which will create exciting synergies with Rubin/LSST data. Fellows are welcome to propose projects on any topic, and are encouraged to contact us so we can identify potential collaborators and help optimize the application.
The MPIA community is diverse and highly international, with PhD students, postdocs, and staff coming from over 40 different countries. The institute's working language is English. We have a strong international visitor programme and many scientific seminars and colloquia. The MPIA Campus houses the "Haus der Astronomie" (HdA) - the Centre for Astronomy Education and Outreach - which is a joint operation between the MPIA, Heidelberg University, and the City of Heidelberg. The HdA also hosts the Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
All MPIA fellows have access to state-of-the art computing resources, both in-house and at clusters hosted by other institutes. MPIA has access to all ESO telescopes, and we are a partner in the twin 8m LBT telescope with guaranteed time access. We are also part of the Gaia, Euclid, SDSS-V, and 4MOST consortia, providing opportunities to work with data that are complementary to LSST/Rubin.
MPIA has many ties to Heidelberg University, from common research projects, to teaching, and training undergraduate and PhD students. Postdoctoral Researchers are the largest group of junior scientists at MPIA and are central to our training and mentoring mission. We have a long and succesful record of supporting postdoctoral fellows on a path to successful research careers, and offer opportunities to get involved in teaching and supervising, and to organize workshops.
In addition to the LSSTC fellowship funding, we can provide additional travel funds if needed, and we offer the opportunity to extend the fellowship by a year at a competitive salary level.
Name: Adam Miller
Email: amiller@northwestern.edu
LSSTC Catalyst Fellows will join the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) at Northwestern University. Faculty in CIERA lead Rubin/LSST related research in several areas, including: the search for electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave sources, understanding the host galaxies of fast radio bursts (FRBs), probing the origins of stellar explosions, dense stellar dynamics, the development of machine learning models for petabyte-scale data sets, galaxy structure and evolution, and the use of variable stars as probes of stellar evolution. As CIERA postdocs, Catalyst Fellows have access to a suite of telescopes (including Keck, MMT, Las Cumbres Observatory, SEDMv2, and the LS4 time-domain survey) as well as exclusive access to two high-performance computer clusters with a total of 2,644 compute cores. As a LINCC member institution, Northwestern offers Catalyst Fellows four years of postdoctoral funding (one more than Catalyst Fellows at non-LINCC institutions). Catalyst Fellows at CIERA benefit from a diverse and dynamic intellectual environment (learn more about CIERA’s programs and activities). CIERA has a strong record in postdoc mentorship, and hosts an active community of postdoctoral researchers. K-12 education and public outreach are also key components of CIERA’s mission.
Northwestern is a LINCC member institution, LSSTC Catalyst Fellows at Northwestern recieve an extra year of fellowship funding resulting in a 4 year fellowship appointment. Catalyst Fellows will have access to small, mid-and large-scale optical/IR ground-based telescope facilities (Keck, MMT, Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO), SEDMv2, and LS4). Catalyst Fellows will have access to two dedicated high-performance computer clusters, as well as Northwestern’s Quest cluster. Catalyst Fellows will have an office within CIERA and access to quality training, professional development, and other resources offered through CIERA.
https://ciera.northwestern.edu/opportunities/lsstc-catalyst-fellowship/
Questions about joining NOIRLab as an LSSTC postdoctoral fellow should be addressed to Knut Olsen (Knut.olsen@noirlad.edu) or Joan Najita (joan.najita@noirlab.edu).
Contact: Donald Schneider, Penn State, dps7@psu.edu
Penn State has been an institutional partner in the LSST project since 2005.
Penn State astronomers plan to use the LSST to study active galaxies, stellar tidal disruptions by supermassive black holes, the most distant galaxies, gamma-ray bursts and fast optical transients, supernovae, and brown dwarfs. The torrents of data that will be delivered by the LSST also present an enormous challenge in data mining, and members of Penn State's Center for Astrostatistics are developing algorithms to address this challenge. The department also has close ties to Penn State's Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos.
The university's Institute for Computational and Data Sciences provides a local high-performance computing environment, professional support and training opportunities, and a team of computational scients and software engineer to bring the power of high-performance computing to research project. The department regularly offers teaching opportunities to interested postdocs, has extensive and vibrant public outreach activities, and has a postdoc mentoring program.
The department will provide office space and computer connectivity support for the fellows, as well as an orientation session to provide a an overview of department activities.
Web Link: https://science.psu.edu/astro/research
Contact: Michael Strauss, strauss@astro.princeton.edu
Princeton University is playing a major role in the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time. Princeton is one of several centers developing the code to process the Rubin Observatory images from raw pixels to calibrated catalogs, with a particular emphasis on the annual data releases. Relevant science interests at Princeton include but are not limited to transient astronomy, transits of extrasolar planets, Milky Way structure, low surface-brightness astronomy, galaxy evolution, weak lensing, active galaxies and quasars, and large-scale structure. We are also partners in the Subaru HyperSuprime-Cam, the Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS), the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, Simons Observatory, and HAT-PI. The department is also very strong in theoretical and computational astrophysics. We are a very interactive department, with a strong culture of mentorship, and postdocs have ample opportunity to mentor students.
Each postdoctoral fellow is assigned a faculty mentor, with whom they meet on a regular basis. There are also regular postdoc lunches and many weekly seminars and colloquia, daily astro-ph coffees, and many other opportunities to interact. The department has of order 50 postdoctoral fellows and research astronomers, over a dozen of whom are actively working on Rubin-related software or science, so there is a large community into which the fellow will find support and become a member.
The department webpage is http://www.astro.princeton.edu.
Prof. John Peterson, peters11@purdue.edu
Purdue University hosts state of the art computing facilities through the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing (RCAC) and has a robust interdisciplinary Integrative Data Science Initiative (IDSI). The department of physics and astronomy includes two major projects related to the Rubin observatory: the Photon Simulation (PhoSim) project and the REFITT project. The department hosts diverse research groups in cluster of galaxies, galaxies, Supernovae, transients, and high energy astrophysics.
The department of physics and astronomy includes a large group of faculty, postdocs, and graduate students in astrophysics. There are weekly seminars, weekly journal clubs, as well as many interdisciplinary seminars across the campus.
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, has strong connections to the Vera Rubin Observatory LSST, including leadership roles in the Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) and participation in the Galaxies, Strong Lensing, and Transients and Variable Stars Science Collaborations. Fellows will be able to take advantage of local computational and observational resources: Rutgers has a 10% share in the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) and Rutgers astronomers participate in projects including Advanced ACTPol, HETDEX, large MeerKAT surveys, the Simons Observatory, HST, Chandra, JWST, and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Fellows will be able to select Rutgers faculty as mentors and will have an opportunity to advise graduate and undergraduate researchers. Located 1 hour from New York City and 1.5 hours from Philadelphia, Rutgers offers active collaborations with several other outstanding nearby universities and astrophysics research centers.
Further information about the Rutgers astrophysics group can be found at http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/ast/. Questions can be directed to Saurabh Jha <saurabh@physics.rutgers.edu> or any of the Rutgers astrophysics faculty.
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, offers a comprehensive benefit program. See https://uhr.rutgers.edu/benefits.
Institutional contact: Louis Strigari (strigari@tamu.edu)
Texas A&M represents a unique opportunity for LSSTC Catalyst Fellows: a very large, diverse university in the growing area of central Texas. Catalyst fellows at Texas A&M would benefit from both a vibrant astronomical research atmosphere and outstanding expertise in data science and statistics. We have 10 tenured/tenure-track Astronomy faculty, including the recent hire of Justin Spilker who will start in January 2022. The faculty have significant expertise and active research programs in most of the topics covered by LSSTC science collaborations: Galaxies (Kennicutt, Papovich, Spilker); Stars, Milky Way and Local Volume (DePoy, Marshall, Strigari), Dark Energy (Suntzeff, Wang); Active Galactic Nuclei (Walsh), Transients/Variable Stars (Macri, Wang), Gravitational lensing (Spilker). Our group has strong collaborations with members of the statistics department in a wide variety of topics: black hole masses, galaxy evolution, variable stars (as tracers of MW halo structure and extragalactic distance indicators), and supernovae as cosmological probes. All faculty, postdocs and students work in the Mitchell Institute, designed to promote scientific interaction within all members of the astronomy and high energy physics groups.
Facilitated by the addition of Rob Kennicutt, the astronomy group has hired 8 new postdocs within the past three years, with broad interests overlapping with those of the faculty. The postdocs, along with the faculty and about 20 graduate students, have developed a close-knit atmosphere; over the past decade over a dozen postdocs have gone on to successful careers in academia and industry. Postdocs are actively mentored by faculty members through an organized program in which they rotate through a new faculty career mentor (in addition to their premiere scientific mentor) each semester. Postdocs actively participate in research group meetings and weekly events aimed at promoting community growth (weekly seminar, tea, and astro-ph coffee). Postdocs are encouraged to work closely with our senior graduate students to develop their mentoring ability. If so desired, they are offered classroom teaching opportunities to diversify their portfolio prior to applying for faculty jobs.
Web link with further information: https://physics.tamu.edu/research/astronomy/
Contact UW Astronomy: uwastro@uw.edu
LSSTC Institutional Representative: James Davenport, jrad@uw.edu
The University of Washington has a strong background in interdisciplinary survey science, and is a founding member of Rubin and LSSTC. We have broad expertise across nearly every domain of astronomy, including astronomical theory and observation, high performance computing, astrobiology, and instrumentation. Postdoctoral Fellows at UW have access to a large share of time on the Apache Point Observatory’s 3.5-m telescope, and significant computational resources. Fellows are invited to collaborate with our vibrant graduate and undergraduate students, engage in outreach events, and join a wide range of research groups within the Astronomy Department as well as within the eScience Institute.
Catalyst Fellows would be included as Fellows in the DiRAC Institute, which focuses on data-intensive research in areas of time domain, solar system, and data science and algorithms development. Recent DiRAC Fellows have gone on to faculty positions at a number of institutions, and produced a wide range of high impact software and science discoveries. DiRAC also hosts the Rubin Data Management and Alert Pipeline development teams, as well as members of the LINCC Frameworks team. As a LINCC Frameworks institution, Catalyst Fellows will have access to an additional year of support.
Prospective Fellows are encouraged to look at the UW Astronomy department webpage for more information on our faculty and research, as well as the DiRAC Institute’s website.
David Sand; dsand@arizona.edu
Ann Zabludoff; aiz@arizona.edu
The University of Arizona is a world center for astronomy and a Hispanic Serving Institution, with a vibrant, diverse, and beautiful Sonoran desert campus that includes the LSST/RubinObs headquarters, Steward Observatory, the Departments of Astronomy and Physics, NSF’s NOIRLab, the Lunar and Planetary Lab, and the Wyant College of Optical Sciences. LSST-related cross-disciplinary efforts also include the Departments of Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Chemistry, and Biology, as well as UArizona’s Data7 Science Institute and Theoretical Astrophysics Program (TAP). UArizona postdocs have the same access to facilities—observatories, laboratories, high performance computing—as faculty, and they may lead facility and funding proposals as Principal Investigators. The Astronomy Department actively mentors its postdocs, providing access to multiple advisors, proposal writing workshops, job interview preparation, and an array of educational and outreach opportunities.
UArizona is one of the founding members of LINCC. As such, Catalyst Fellows at UArizona will be mentored across the LINCC collaboration and have the opportunity to spend a fourth year on their research. UArizona faculty have interests spanning all of astronomy and are committed to helping Fellows achieve their goals. Fellows will have access to the MMT and two Magellan 6.5m telescopes, the 2x8.4m Large Binocular Telescope, millimeter and submillimeter telescopes with cutting edge receivers, and a suite of 1-2m optical telescopes. Fellows are welcome to participate in on-going hardware and software upgrades to facilitate fast follow-up of transients and other potential LSST targets. On-campus high performance computing facilities are available to all UArizona researchers: 36,000 CPU-hours per month of standard allocation on Ocelote and a remarkable 70,000 CPU-hours per month on Puma. UArizona’s Data7 Institute provides the data science and computational expertise necessary to analyze the LSST firehose. Postdoctoral Program Coordinators oversee postdoctoral mentoring, as well as an annual multi-part job application and proposal skills series, with panels, writing workshops, and practice job talks/interviews. There are weekly sponsored lunches with visitors, faculty, and graduate students. Additional opportunities to develop academic and industry contacts are available through the Tucson Women in Astronomy program. Educational and outreach opportunities for postdocs include the world-renowned Astronomy Camp and Mt Lemmon Sky Center, course teaching, graduate and undergraduate student tutoring and mentoring, and science learning research through the Center for Astronomy Education (CAE).
https://www.as.arizona.edu/postdoctoral-research-astronomy-university-arizona
Prof. Joaquin Vieira
jvieira@illinois.edu
Many department members are active in LSST, in particular in the Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC), the Transient and Variable Stars Science Collaboration (TVSSC), the Solar System Science Collaboration (SSSC) and other ongoing optical surveys, including the Dark Energy Survey (DES), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS V), the Young Supernova Experiment (YSE) and postdoctoral fellows are encouraged to work with faculty on these projects at the Center for Astrophysical Surveys (CAPS). UIUC and NCSA is also involved in extending the ANTARES alert broker for multi-messenger astrophysics with the Scalable Cyberinfrastructure for Multimessenger Astrophysics (SCiMMA) group, and are part of several other projects across the electromagnetic and gravitational wave spectrum, including SPT-3G, CMB-S4 and the LIGO-Virgo-Kagra (LVK) collaboration. Several other cross-disciplinary groups exist, including the Center for AI Innovation and the Midwest Data Science Innovation Initiative which includes members of Astronomy, Statistics and Data Science and NCSA researchers, as well as the Illinois Center for Advanced Studies of the Universe (ICASU) between Astronomy and Physics. Postdoctoral Fellows are also welcome to get involved in Illinois’ strong education and outreach activities, including the Girls Astronomy Summer Camps, Astronomy on Tap, The Hacker Within and more.
Illinois has a streamlined onboarding process for postdoctoral fellows, including HR and International office Support as needed. New fellows are automatically added to department listservs, Slack, and we typically encourage new fellows to present their work to the department, and meet with the faculty, staff and students to forge connections. Fellows are paired with faculty mentors, and strongly encouraged to work with graduate students, and can lead proposals for grant funding as PI. Faculty mentors not only work with fellows on research, but also provide career support and help provide development activities for fellows. CAPS and ICASU also host both postdoctoral and graduate student fellows who will be part of the LSSTC Postdoctoral Fellow’s cohort. The department has rich social interaction outside of work, and we introduce new fellows to activities in the Champaign-Urbana area and the greater Midwest. CAPS has dedicated high-performance and on-prem cloud computing resources that postdoctoral fellows may use.
https://caps.ncsa.illinois.edu/
https://astro.illinois.edu/
https://astro.illinois.edu/research/research-overview
https://icasu.illinois.edu
Associate Professor David Alonso
David.Alonso@physics.ox.ac.uk
A world top-10 Physics department, our international research environment (most of the 132 professors, 210 fellows and 406 PhD students are from outside the UK) is stimulating and creativity thrives. Oxford's interest in Rubin stretches from the moment photons hit the detector to the final scientific results. Groups play leading roles in instrument and hardware development (Shipsey), software (Azfar, Lintott), database development (Tseng) and citizen science (Zooniverse/Lintott), cosmological pipelines and analysis (Alonso, Jarvis), strong lensing (Verma), galaxy evolution (Davies, Jarvis, Lintott, Verma), cosmological theory (Alonso, Ferreira) and multi-messenger transients (Tseng, Azfar). We also benefit from close interaction with the Departments of Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, which have stimulated a fruitful interdisciplinary research environment. Fellows will benefit from this joint expertise, allowing them to tackle Rubin-related challenges from a wide range of angles. Our deep involvement in different aspects of the project allow fellows, from the beginning, to insert themselves at the core of the work carried out within the different science collaborations to prepare for the data. An Oxford strength is our leadership and prominent roles in a range of facilities and surveys operating across the electromagnetic spectrum. We are the largest UK Rubin group and are also leading members of Euclid, SKA, the Simons Observatory, and CTA. We have a track record of providing high quality mentorship: of the 71 (17) postdoctoral fellows of the Beecroft Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (Hintze Centre for Astrophysical Surveys) since 2001, 57 (14) are now in academic positions or are working in research in national and international laboratories. All fellows have an experienced lead mentor, with specialized mentors (e.g. in public engagement) also available, and the opportunity to teach and participate in world-leading public engagement.
Fellows will be able to supervise graduate students who have an experienced co-supervisor but work on a day-to-day basis with the fellow. Fellows can also supervise Master’s research projects. Our research facilitation team will provide support to fellows to develop their own research proposals. Fellows are encouraged to participate in our courses on research management, grant writing, communication, leadership, teaching and engagement. A full-time public engagement team supports academic staff in developing and delivering their own innovative and wide-reaching public engagement programs, with a focus on underrepresented communities
https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/research
https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/research/group/rubin-lsst/lsstc-catalyst-fellowship
Contact: Gary Bernstein, garyb@physics.upenn.edu
Information at https://www.physics.upenn.edu/research/astrophysics-and-cosmology
UPenn's astrophysics group has a strong concentration in survey-oriented work for multiple science pursuits, and are eager to work with LSST collaborators on forthcoming advances. Our faculty and students have made foundational contributions to cosmological measurements with weak gravitational lensing and galaxy clustering (Professors Jain and Bernstein), with high-z supernovae and photometric typing (Sako), population studies of early-type galaxies (Bernardi and Sheth), Milky Way structure (Sanderson), and searches for outer solar system bodies (Bernstein). Our group has also provided software with algorithmic advances in precision measurement of photometry, astrometry, galaxy shape and structure, and PSFs in past surveys such as SDSS and DES (Jarvis, Bernardi, and Bernstein). UPenn provides a rich, collaborative environment for postdocs interested in advancing any of these areas with LSST. Philadelphia is a lively, diverse and affordable city enjoyed by all our students and postdocs, and UPenn has many programs of outreach to local communities.
LSSTC Fellows at UPenn will have use of the local computing cluster, and full access to DES data. Strong connections to CMB surveys (ACT, Simons) and to 21-cm surveys (PAPER, HERA) are possible through Penn faculty's engagement in these projects.
Jeff Newman, janewman@pitt.edu
An LSSTC Postdoc at Pitt will benefit from local expertise in the Rubin Observatory together with access to other complementary proprietary datasets, including DES (Dark Energy Survey), DESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument), SDSS-V, PFS (Prime Focus Spectrograph), and the Simons Observatory. Pitt is institutionally committed to the success of Rubin/LSST and has funded a long-term research faculty position in support of survey astrophysics efforts including LSST and has an additional DESC-focused research faculty member as part of the Pitt Center for Research Computing. Particular areas of focus for Rubin Observatory efforts at Pitt include photometric redshifts (a key tool for all extragalactic science with Rubin); supernova science; and the Pitt-Google Broker, one of the Rubin Observatory-approved transient event brokers that will classify and announce news of the changing and variable sky to the world. The synergies of these projects with Rubin will enable postdocs to undertake whole new types of studies both leading up to and during the main LSST survey period.
A further benefit is the rich collaborative environment between the University of Pittsburgh and neighboring Carnegie Mellon University. We enjoy long-standing broad and deep collaborative connections with departments that are within walking distance of each other. CMU will host a team of software developers as part of the LSSTC LINCC program, while Pitt will host two additional research scientists as part of this effort. Their proximity will enable a mutually-beneficial collaboration with an LSSTC postdoc at Pitt, aiding postdocs in their scientific efforts and providing essential scientific feedback to the software team
Responsibilities and opportunities for postdoctoral fellows match their transitory career stage, and are intended to prepare them for permanent or faculty positions. Our mentoring plans build on this perspective:
• Our research faculty are deeply involved in SDSS, DESI, PFS and LSST DESC and in the educational and training of astronomers in software engineering. Postdocs will be welcomed and brought up to speed in both our local and wider Rubin LSST computational resources.
• Postdocs will be encouraged to organize workshops on topics of interest which can be financially sponsored by PITT PACC, providing both organizing experience and a major boost to visibility.
• Talk slots in the joint astronomy seminar will be reserved for LSSTC postdocs on an annual basis, providing speaking experience to prepare them for seminars elsewhere
• Postdocs will be encouraged to participate in leadership activities within LSST Collaborations.
• We will hold biweekly Rubin research meetings for faculty, postdocs, and students from both Pitt and CMU, providing postdoc opportunities to discover new research problems and to speak about their work.
https://www.physicsandastronomy.pitt.edu/research/astrophysics-and-cosmology
We welcome LSST-Catalyst fellows to apply to bring their fellowships to Yale. While our membership application to join LSST Corporation is currently underway, many of our faculty have been involved in Rubin-LSST science. The faculty in the Astronomy Department and the Astrophysics Group in the Physics department at Yale have research interests that span AGN Science, Strong Lensing, Cluster physics and cosmology, Galaxy Formation and Evolution, Near-Field Cosmology and multi-wavelength studies of Active Galactic Nuclei. Current and recent research at Yale involves extensive expertise in optical/IR galaxy surveys (DESI, SDSS-V., Euclid, WFIRST), 21-cm surveys (CHIME, HIRAX) and CMB observatories (Simons and CMB Stage IV) and we have time reserved for Yale on Keck/Palomar for follow-up observations. Of relevance to LSST-Rubin, in the Southern hemisphere, the Yale-Chile collaboration is on-going and enables access to proprietary Chilean time on all telescope facilities in Chile. We have a strong and very interdisciplinary department of Statistics and Data Science and a university-wide initiative in integrative data science all ready to help with Rubin-LSST analysis.
The Yale Physics and Astronomy departments are committed to fostering the next generation of diverse, cross-disciplinary leaders working at the forefront of astronomy, physics and information science through inspired mentoring that is inclusive, equitable and fully supported by a world-leading university. All postdoctoral fellows including LSST-Catalyst Fellows will have access to data and resources at all of the observatories mentioned above. Access to high-performance computing and Keck/Palomar telescope time will help leverage the Rubin-LSST data for optimal scientific reach. Our commitment to postdoctoral mentoring is exemplified by the extensive programming to give each astronomy/astrophysics/cosmology postdoctoral scholar collective access to the 17 astronomers, astrophysicists and physicists in our departments and Yale faculty take seriously the need to provide access to group meetings, graduate students and other postdocs involved in a number of leading projects and computing resources.
For additonal information, please contact:
Larry Gladney larry.gladney@yale.edu
Priya Natarajan priyamvada.natarajan@yale.edu
MSI, PUI, Liberal Arts College
Matthew Wiesner
https://ben.edu/degree-programs/physics/
CUNY
PUI, MSI, HIS, Community College
K. Saavik Ford
keford@bmcc.cuny.edu
Josh Tan
jotan@lagcc.cuny.edu
Astronomers across CUNY (known as the CUNYAstro group) have interests spanning a wide range of LSST research topics. We are spread across various campuses in NYC, but have regular meetings at AMNH and the Flatiron Institute, and hold long-term research collaborations with surrounding institutions. Research areas and potential mentors for the LSST Catalyst Fellowship include:
1) EM counterparts to GW merger events (Ford, McKernan) 2) AGN variability characterization, modeling and inferences (Ford, McKernan, O’Dowd) 3) Binary Supermassive black hole systems (Ford, McKernan) 4) Intermediate mass black holes (Bellovary, Ford, McKernan), 5) Cosmological simulations of galaxy formation (Bellovary, Maller, Welker), 6) Gravitational waves (Bellovary, Ford, McKernan), 7) Gravitational lens modeling, microlensing of AGNs, and time-delay cosmography (O’Dowd, Minor), 8) Brown dwarfs, low-mass stars and software development (Cruz), 9) Questions in galaxy evolution (Acquaviva, Maller, Welker), 10) Evolution of the cosmic web: galaxy clusters, filaments, walls, voids (Welker) and 11) galaxy dynamics with integral field spectroscopy (Welker)
Please see the CUNY astro site (https://cunyastro.org/faculty/) for contact information, and feel free to reach out to potential mentors directly.
R2 - Small Astro Program
Jesús Pando
jpando@depaul.edu
The Vera Rubin observatory will be the premiere platform on which questions about dark matter, dark energy, and the large scale structure of the universe can be addressed. Likewise, the catalyst fellowship has the ptential to be a premiere route by which a rewarding career can be attained. DePaul university is well-placed to receive fellows who interests lie not only in the science, but also in teaching the science and making sure that all communities have a chance to get in on that science. With small department that nevertheless has an astrophysics undergraduate major, an institution and department who's mission has a strong social science focus, and with three faculty who are involved in astronomical research, DePaul is an ideal institution for those seeking to integrate science, community outreach, teaching, and mentoring.
https://csh.depaul.edu/academics/physics/Pages/default.aspx
HBCU Partnership
Kelly Holley-Bockelmann
Our site is a unique partnership between Fisk University and nearby Vanderbilt University, so if you choose to join the Bridge, you would be spending time at both places -- we would absolutely love to have you. We specialize in multi-messenger astronomy, computation and data science, galaxy formation and evolution, galactic structure, star clusters, black holes of any mass, and gravitational wave astronomy. We are involved in NANOGrav, LISA, LIGO, and SDSS-V, and we hired two new faculty who are experts in intermediate mass black hole observations. We are also starting EMIT (Establishing Multimessenger astronomy Inclusive Training) the first graduate certificate program in the nation in multimessenger astronomy, and we are incorporating diversity, equity and inclusion into teaching, research, and everything we do. If you are interested in these research areas and want to help build a better Bridge, join us!
The Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s to PhD Bridge Program is focused on increasing underrepresented groups in STEM at the graduate level. After 18 years, 176 students have enrolled in the program, 126 Master’s degrees have been awarded, 112 students have bridged to PhD programs, and 53 students have earned the PhD, 41 of those from Vanderbilt. Today, 30 students are in a Vanderbilt PhD program, while 25 are in a Fisk Master’s program. 57% of the students are African-American, 22% Hispanic, 7% other minorities, including Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, and 14% white or other non-minority. 60% identify as female. Overwhelmingly, the student population has been underserved in intersecting ways, with many being first-generation college students, of low socioeconomic status, and/or with disabilities. We have built a culture of scholars who are committed to mentoring one another and are doing world-class research. We are always in need of great mentors, and we've found that postdoc mentors are really effective because students can see exactly what the next level can look like. And if you join us, we will be committed to mentoring you — your whole self, not just your career.
PUI, Liberal Arts College
Karen Masters
klmasters@haverford.edu
The Department of Astronomy and Physics at Haverford College is a small, but active research department in a liberal arts college located in the outskirts of Philadelphia (in easy reach of research seminars at UPenn, Drexel, Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr Colleges). Haverford College has a history of acting for social justice, and has a large fraction of students who have significant scholarships, are FGLI and/or BIPOC. Undergraduates at Haverford are expected to be engaged in research, and all do a senior thesis; a high fraction go on to further student in astronomy or related fields. As part of the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium, we are also connected with faculty who do astronomy research in SLACs across the Northeast, and engaged in an active REU program. We have around 20 Physics majors (6ish Astro) each year and a small observatory which we use for teaching/public observing. Astro faculty are interested in galaxies (K Masters), gravitational waves (A Lommen) and cosmological constraints (D Grin); we also host a research associate working on pulsars (W Ho). We would be delighted to host a fellow and to offer the experience of the small college environment, opportunity to work with undergrads and gain teaching/mentoring skills, while strongly supporting research development.
https://www.haverford.edu/physics-and-astronomy
PUI, Liberal Arts College
Stephanie Douglas
douglste@lafayette.edu
We are a small physics department with several faculty studying astrophysics. Our astronomical research areas include low-mass stars, stellar variability, binaries, pulsars, and particle cosmology. The major program is small but growing; we value one-on-one interactions with students, and many students pursue research projects with faculty. Astronomy-related research topics are popular, and we also receive interest from students in other departments such as computer science and engineering.
PUI, Liberal Arts College
Jorge Moreno
jmorenosoto@gmail.com
The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Pomona College seeks applications for one LSSTC Catalyst Postdoctoral Fellowship. Theorists and observers are welcome to apply.
On the theory side, the fellow could closely work with Jorge Moreno; and use FIREbox, a new state-of-the-art cosmological simulation, to investigate topics related to nearby low-mass galaxies, and the structure of the Milky Way stellar halo. The fellow will also have the opportunity to work closely with Moreno’s collaborators, including Philip Hopkins (Caltech) and Robyn Sanderson (Penn). On the observational side, the fellow could work closely with Philip Choi to engage in high-cadence, follow-up studies of various transients. In connection with collaborators at JPL and Caltech, that group has most recently been implementing synthetic tracking techniques to investigate fast-moving Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), both independently and in support of ZTF and Pann-STARRS surveys. The fellow will also have opportunities to co-mentor undergraduate students and participate in our departmental Diversity-Equity-Inclusion efforts.
Pomona College in Claremont, California is a highly selective private undergraduate liberal arts college and the founding member of the Claremont Colleges Consortium. The college has approximately 1600 undergraduates and 200 faculty members, with a long history of strong academic programs and vigorous student-faculty research. Excellent facilities and technical support for both teaching and research are available, including a 1-meter optical telescope located on a JPL facility in the San Gabriel Mountains; a new Sky-Skan full-dome, 3-D Planetarium; and our on-campus Brackett Observatory. The department has a strong technical support staff, including a machinist, an electronics technician, and a lab director.
https://www.pomona.edu/academics/departments/physics-and-astronomy
PUI, Liberal Arts College
Rider University is a small, primarily undergraduate institution located in Central New Jersey. Our science programs are among the largest on campus, attracting dedicated and diverse students looking for opportunities with expert faculty. The Computer Science and Physics department is one of the fastest growing groups on campus, with five tenure-track faculty in with expertise in Galactic structure and dynamics, low-mass stellar properties, computer vision, and machine learning. We also enjoy proximity to Princeton, Philadelphia, and New York. We look forward to discussing your opportunities at Rider.
https://johnbochanski.com/ - personal page and
https://www.rider.edu/academics/colleges-schools/college-liberal-arts-sc... - department page
PUI, MSI, HBCU
Donald Walter
dkw@scsu.edu
We submit to the External Site Listing as the Time Domain Astrophysics Consortium (TDAC), a collaboration of institutions whose science interests are focused on the discovery and classification of transients with LSST. Our collaboration has access to dedicated follow-up resources including an 0.5m telescope in the Virgin Islands (the VIRT) and a 1.3m telescope at Kitt Peak (the RCT) and we will carryout coordinated follow-up observations with these two ground-based observatories. Our collaboration includes the South Carolina State University and the University of the Virgin Islands, both HBCUs. Our collaboration involves researchers with a variety of science interests and post-doctoral researchers wishing to focus on time domain astrophysics topics including (but not limited to) gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, tidal disruption events, CVs, and exoplanets are encouraged to apply. Geographic location of the position is flexible depending on the science interests of the post-doctoral researcher (and the location of the most appropriate research advisor) but is expected to be at one of the TDAC member institutions and travel between member institutions is anticipated to foster collaboration and disseminate results. Appropriate COVID19 safety considerations will be recognized in relation to any associated travel.
http://physics.scsu.edu/rct/index.html
R2 - Small Astro Program
Peter Frinchaboy
p.frinchaboy@tcu.edu
The TCU Galaxy Evolution Lab is a partnership within the Department of Physics and Astronomy involving the research groups of Kat Barger, Mia Bovill, and Peter Frinchaboy which study various aspects of galaxy evolution, including the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies, to understand the major components and evolution of galaxies, stars, gas, and dark matter. TCU Astronomers work with a variety of "big data" astronomy data sets, like Gaia, 2MASS, WISE, Pan-STARRs, including proprietary access to the SDSS-IV, SDSS-V, and WHAM survey data, plus utilize local and world-class computing resources to explore cosmological galaxy evolution. Prof. Frinchaboy, a leader of SDSS-IV & -V, is planning to use Rubin-based data to explore LSST-identified research in Stellar Populations and the Milky Way and Local Volume Structure, primarily in the areas of star clusters, binary stars, and Galactic structure. Prof. Bovill investigates the formation evolution and fate of the first stars and galaxies using cutting edge numerical simulations. She will use data sets from the Rubin Observatory to search for signals of the first stars at high redshifts and learn more about the faint relic galaxies of reionization in the Local Group. Prof. Barger's science focuses on understanding the evolution of gas within the Magellanic Clouds that will also incorporate SDSS-V/Local Volume Mapper data, plus she is currently PI of an HST Treasury program to analyze UV spectra of hot stars to probe gas evolution in the Clouds.
R1 - Small Astro Program
Jennifer Hoffman
The University of Denver (DU) is a private institution built on exploration through research and collaboration among educators, students, and local and global communities. Recently recognized as an R1 institution, DU still takes pride in its small class sizes and emphasis on creating opportunities for students to learn by participating in research, scholarship, performance, and engagement.
DU's Department of Physics and Astronomy has a diverse and dynamic faculty of 12 that includes three women and represents seven different countries. We provide an attentive, hands-on research and learning community for undergraduate and graduate students up through the PhD level. Our program is recognized by the APS among US PhD-granting departments for its high percentage of female graduates, placing second nationally at the undergraduate level and third at the graduate level (APS data for the period 2011-2013). Our graduate and undergraduate students collaborate closely with faculty and postdocs on cutting-edge research in astrophysics, biophysics, and condensed matter/quantum information science.
The astronomy program at DU is small but has a long history spanning 125+ years. Our strongly collaborative research environment offers a supportive community to graduate students from underrepresented and non-traditional backgrounds. Our research focuses on evolved stars and their interactions with their circumstellar environments, including many types of variables and explosive transients and incorporating both observational and computational approaches. Prof. Jennifer L. Hoffman studies massive binary stars and their supernova descendants; Prof. Toshiya Ueta explores mass loss and dust properties of AGB stars and planetary nebulae. We also offer an undergraduate astrophysics minor and informal science education via the historic Chamberlin Observatory and our DU SciTech and Project SPACE initiatives, which provide hands-on STEM opportunities to K-12 students of color in Denver. An LSST Catalyst Fellow in our department will have many opportunities to pursue educational, mentoring, and outreach projects in addition to astrophysics research.
Find more about us at www.physics.du.edu.
PUI, MSI, HBCU
David Morris
dmorris@uvi.edu
We submit to the External Site Listing as the Time Domain Astrophysics Consortium (TDAC), a collaboration of institutions whose science interests are focused on the discovery and classification of transients with LSST. Our collaboration has access to dedicated follow-up resources including an 0.5m telescope in the Virgin Islands (the VIRT) and a 1.3m telescope at Kitt Peak (the RCT) and we will carryout coordinated follow-up observations with these two ground-based observatories. Our collaboration includes the South Carolina State University and the University of the Virgin Islands, both HBCUs. Our collaboration involves researchers with a variety of science interests and post-doctoral researchers wishing to focus on time domain astrophysics topics including (but not limited to) gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, tidal disruption events, CVs, and exoplanets are encouraged to apply. Geographic location of the position is flexible depending on the science interests of the post-doctoral researcher (and the location of the most appropriate research advisor) but is expected to be at one of the TDAC member institutions and travel between member institutions is anticipated to foster collaboration and disseminate results. Appropriate COVID19 safety considerations will be recognized in relation to any associated travel.
PUI, Liberal Arts College
Meredith Hughes
amhughes@wesleyan.edu
Wesleyan University is a primarily undergraduate institution with a standalone astronomy department. There are five faculty who maintain active research programs related to intermediate-mass black holes, the structure and evolution of AGN, star and planet formation, x-ray binaries, transiting exoplanets, the local interstellar medium, planetary science, and simulations of galaxy formation and evolution. In addition to our program of research and education for undergraduates, we also run an MA program for students from nontraditional backgrounds, many of whom go on to obtain PhDs in astronomy. We maintain two 24" telescopes that can be used for research purposes, as well as a suite of smaller telescopes used for teaching and outreach. We frequently host postdocs in our department, who sometimes teach or advise students if they so desire. Our department is committed to building an equitable and inclusive community and holds regular journal clubs and events on related subjects. We would be delighted to welcome an LSSTC Catalyst Fellow to our community.
https://www.wesleyan.edu/astro/