NSF-REU Internships
BREAKING NEWS: The Maria Mitchell Association Receives Presidential Award for its 50-year long program of mentoring undergraduate student research in Astronomy. Click here to read more about this exciting development!
The Maria Mitchell Observatory (MMO) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) offer summer internship opportunities for qualified undergraduate students with interests in astronomy and physics: Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU). Occasionally, this program is augmented by the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program.
During the summer, the REU participants accomplish research projects in astronomy and astrophysics under the 
guidance of experienced mentors. For the past 12 years, all MMO REU students have completed their research projects and virtually all presented the results at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting. Three students received Honorable Mention for the prestigious Chambliss Award introduced by AAS for the best student posters three years ago. In 2009, the MMO REU student Lauren Weiss won a Chambliss Award for her poster co-authored by the MMO RET intern (and Nantucket teacher) Peg Davidson (click here to download the winning poster). Approximately three-fourths of the MMO REU participants publish the results of their research in professional journals. Sixty percent of the MMO REU students go on to graduate school and obtain the PhD. 
Five percent of American women PhDs in astronomy today acquired their first research experience at the Maria Mitchell Observatory.
Shown: Images of the Chambliss Award Medal
About Becoming an REU Student
MMO offers six summer REU positions. The positions provide an opportunity for students to conduct independent research supervised by the senior staff of the MMO and qualified visiting scientists. The Maria Mitchell Association (MMA), of which the MMO is a department, has been supervising undergraduate research in astronomy for fifty years, including 18 years within the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program. To be eligible, students must be enrolled in an undergraduate institution and have not graduated before September 2010. U.S. citizenship or permanent residency is required for all positions.
The current research areas for supervised individual student projects include forming stars and planetary systems, variable stars and galactic nuclei, astrophysical masers and lasers, astrochemistry, observations of stars with planetary systems as well as other topics. Students have an excellent opportunity to acquire observational material for their projects by observing with the new MMO 24" and 17" telescopes with a CCD camera and, possibly, by doing on-site and/or remote observations with the ARO 12m millimeter-wave radio telescope on Kitt Peak, AZ. Data for research are also obtained from the Very Large Array (VLA) and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) of the NRAO, other large national facilities, and occasionally from space missions. Students have access to the photographic plate collections of the MMO and the Harvard College Observatory, which are used to reconstruct the past light curves of unusual variable objects. Students may also pursue studies in theoretical astrophysics. Recent topics have included the theory of interstellar supersonic turbulence and the theory of astrophysical masers and lasers. The research emphasizes state-of-the-art data reduction techniques and thoughtful physical interpretation. Most of the projects involve use of the Observatory's computing facilities which include SUN workstations, PCs, and Macs.
The MMA-REU experience helps students to develop their public speaking and presentation
skills. For the last eleven years, every student in the program has presented project results at the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). Most of the students have also been authors or co-authors of papers published, or being prepared for submission to scientific journals. Some students participate in preparing observing proposals for large telescopes. Students acquire additional public speaking and teaching skills by assisting with the Observatory's public "Open Nights" and giving tours of the permanent astronomy exhibit.
Positions will be available starting the end of May and continuing through the end of August (dates are flexible). Stipends are $1,700 monthly. Furnished housing is provided as part of each student's compensation. Up to $500 for home-Nantucket-home travel and funds for field trips and the trip to the January AAS meeting are available. The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association is an affirmative action and Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages all interested individuals to apply. Internship applications are due February 15th the year of the internship.
In addition to the application form, applicants must arrange for transcripts from all colleges and universities attended and at least two letters of recommendation to be sent directly to:
Dr. Vladimir Strelnitski, Director of Astronomy
Maria Mitchell Association, REU Program, 4 Vestal Street, Nantucket, MA 02554