LIGO SURF

Graduate and undergraduate students actively participate in the research and development program of LIGO. While furthering their education in a research environment, they make important contributions to the progress of the LIGO project. Students benefit from the diversity of scientific and engineering skills represented by the LIGO project's technical staff, including faculty, senior scientists, and engineers, who provide individual guidance and supervision to students.

Opportunities for students span a broad range of scientific and engineering disciplines, including: gravitational physics and astrophysics, metrology, optics, lasers, mechanical systems, controls, and electronics. Students are involved in detector development, modeling and analysis, as well as in operations, observing, and data analysis. Summer research takes place on the Caltech campus and at the observatory sites at Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana.

Students apply directly to the LIGO program. Further information is available on the LIGO website.

Caltech's Student-Faculty Programs Office provides administrative support to the LIGO undergraduate research program. Students may live on the Caltech campus and will join a large community of undergraduate researchers. Once they have been selected for the LIGO program, students will receive additional information from the SFP Office.

Click here to create a LIGO SURF application.