Undergraduate Internships
The U.S. National Science Foundation Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (NSF LIGO) Laboratory offers two student research/internship programs: Caltech's SURF program, open to students from any university; and MIT's UROP program, for students from MIT and Wellesley College.
Caltech's SURF Program
L to R: Prof. Joe Giaime (Head, LIGO Livingston), Dr. K. Renee Horton (NSBP President), Oduchu Ogbonnaya, Bria Storr, and Dr. Stephen McGuire (Past President of NSBP)
Each summer, NSF LIGO hosts students as part of Caltech’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program. LIGO SURF students pursue cutting-edge research in gravitational-wave science and engineering (e.g., detection technologies, strong-field gravity, astrophysical sources, and LIGO data science). Students can request to work either at Caltech or at one of the two interferometer sites in Hanford WA or Livingston LA.
L to R: Dr. Gabriele Vajente (Caltech LIGO), Danielle Frostig, Prof. Alan Weinstein (Caltech LIGO), Michael Antia, Jessica McIver (Caltech LIGO)
The LIGO SURF program also aims to increase the participation of underrepresented students (such as African American, Hispanic, and Native American, females who are underrepresented in their discipline, and first-generation college students) in science and engineering Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. programs, and to make opportunities in gravitational wave science more visible to students not traditionally exposed to it. The program supports Caltech's commitment to training a diverse set of science, technology, engineering, and math leaders. Students from groups that are historically underrepresented in science are strongly encouraged to apply to the LIGO SURF program and identify their minority status in the application. Students that are elected for a LIGO SURF Fellowship may elect to be associated with the Caltech WAVE Program, and may also elect to be considered for a Carl Albert Rouse Undergraduate Research Fellowship or a Victor M. Blanco Fellowship.
The National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSHP) sponsors the Victor M. Blanco Undergraduate Research Fellowship for research with LIGO Laboratory.
Some of student project titles from previous years:
- Thermal Noise in Ultra-Stable Fabry-Perot Cavities
- Automatic System Identification of the Photodetectors in a Gravitational Wave Detector
- Testing the Strong Field Dynamics of General Relativity Using Compact Binary Systems
- Cutting Edge Computing for the Extraction of Astrophysical Parameters from Gravitational Wave Observatories
- Improving the Detection Rate of Gravitational Waves from Coalescing Binary Black Holes with a Template Bank Consistency Test
- Modernizing the Interferometer’s Control Loops
- Investigating Crackle Noise in Metal Blade Springs
- Rapid Sky Localization of Binary Inspiral Sources
- Low-Noise Seismic Sensing and Actuation
- Adaptive Quantum Measurements in Future Gravitational-Wave Detectors
This program is open to undergraduate students from any institution. To apply or to find out more, visit the LIGO SURF website.
MIT's UROP Program*
* Program is available only to MIT and Wellesley College students.
MIT offers a summer research program called UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program) for MIT and Wellesley College undergraduate students each year. The LIGO Laboratory group typically mentors 6 to 10 UROP students each summer. Learn more at the UROP website.
Find projects and apply to UROP
Related Opportunities
Other universities may have undergraduate research opportunities involved with LIGO. If you are interested in other potential work or study opportunities, check the list of LSC member institutions to see if your university is a member.
