Compensation

STScI summer students are paid $12.50 per hour, or $500 per week for the ten weeks of the program. As noted elsewhere, we will also pay for the costs of transportation to and from Baltimore.

About the Institute

The Space Telescope Science Institute was established in 1981 as the science operations center for the Space Telescope (later named the Hubble Space Telescope in honor of Edwin Hubble, a great American cosmologist). STScI has a staff of research astronomers to support the operations of Hubble and the use and knowledge of Hubble’s scientific instruments. More recently, STScI was named by NASA to be the science operations center for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a 6.5-meter infrared telescope that will be launched in 2013.

Today the Institute has a total staff of about 450 and is regarded as one of the premier astronomical institutions in the world. Some of our staff are provided by the European Space Agency (ESA), which helps to make STScI an institution with a strong international flavor. The staff of the Institute are engaged in a broad range of activities that support HST, JWST, and other missions as well.

The Institute environment

As an active research institution, STScI offers many opportunities to learn about the current state of astrophysics. During the summer months, speakers from both inside and outside the Institute are featured in talks, typically twice per week. In 2007, the post-docs at STScI began a series of talks on their own research to fill the void left by having no colloquium speakers during the summer.

STScI has a first-rate astronomical research library, rich in both on-shelf and on-line resources. The library is a daily gathering point for informal science discussions over coffee, and there are other gatherings every week as well for staff to meet each other. Our colleagues in the Johns Hopkins Physics and Astronomy Department are just across the street and they also offer opportunities to learn about and discuss current research in astrophysics.

The research staff at STScI also work in support of our missions, and that makes for busy schedules. In 2009 we are anticipating Servicing Mission 4 to Hubble, scheduled for launch in May, 2009. The Institute plays a key role in preparing and executing SM4, but is especially involved immediately after the mission, when the telescope is returned to our control and we begin to start up the new and repaired scientific instruments and to get them ready for use by observers. 2009 will be an exciting time at STScI and a very busy one as well.

Workspace and computers

Our summer students will be provided space to work in and a computer to use while they are here. STScI is not an academic institution, and we do not ordinarily have building space that is unused. For the summer of 2009, we anticipate that students will either have to share the office of their supervisor or have a desk in the JHU Physics and Astronomy building that is across the street from STScI.

Computers will be provided for students. These are often Sun workstations that use the Solaris (Unix) operating system. Students are encouraged to bring their own laptops as well.

Other matters (JHU, library, gym)

STScI is located at the edge of the Homewood campus of the Johns Hopkins University. STScI is an independent entity, run by a consortium of universities, but employees of the Institute have access to the campus facilities. In particular, students may borrow books from the JHU Eisenhower library and may use the athletic facilities. The library is at no cost, but the athletic facilities charge a fee for use.

In addition to numerous local restaurants, STScI also has an excellent in-house cafeteria, Café Azafran.