CTIO Undergraduate Astronomy Research Assistantships

Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory

La Serena, Chile
January - March 2009

About CTIO - CTIO is the U.S. national center for astronomy in the Southern hemisphere. The Observatory headquarters are located in La Serena, Chile, about 300 miles north of Santiago. The telescopes are located atop Cerro Tololo, about 60 miles east of La Serena, on the western slope of the Andes at an elevation of 6800 feet. For more information about Chile, you can check out CTIO's Travel to Chile page at http://www.ctio.noao.edu/misc/travel.html

Research Projects - Student participants will work on specific research projects in close collaboration with members of the CTIO scientific and technical staff. Research projects vary from year to year. The REU program at CTIO emphasizes observational techniques and provides opportunities for direct observational experience using CTIO's state of the art telescopes and instrumentation. The program will also include a series of seminars given by the scientific and technical staff of the Observatory to introduce students to the basics of modern observational astronomy and observational techniques.

Dates - The REU program at CTIO will run for 10 weeks, from approximately January 12 to March 22, 2009. Applicants should ensure that they will be available during that time, and allow for 1-2 days additional travel time at each end (travel to Chile will commence about January 12, 2009).

Eligibility - Participants must be enrolled as full-time undergraduate students during the REU program, and must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States.

Application Deadline for this Program is
October 5 2008

The completed application must include: (1) the official application form, (2) a letter from applicant detailing scientific experience, educational background, and career goals, (3) official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended, and (4) letters of recommendation from two or three people who can evaluate the applicant's ability, experience, and potential. Letters of recommendation may be emailed to ctioreu@ctio.noao.edu and hrnoao@noao.edu, but should be followed by a signed paper copy. For more details, see the application summary page.

For additional information, interested students and faculty advisors are encouraged to contact the CTIO REU Site Director, or Drs. Ryan Campbell, Nicole van der Bliek, Sean Points and Chris Smith at ctioreu@ctio.noao.edu.

General information about NOAO/CTIO can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.ctio.noao.edu.

The National Optical Astronomy Observatories are operated for the National Science Foundation by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc..We take affirmative action to employ women, minority group members, and protected classes of handicapped persons, disabled veterans and veterans of the Vietnam Era. To be considered, please let us know.