UC Berkeley SETI Research Center Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates
Undergraduates can spend the summer as a research intern at the Berkeley SETI Research
Center (BSRC), a world-leader in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI),
in the Astronomy Department at the University of California, Berkeley. Alongside scientists
and engineers at BSRC, previous interns have written machine learning algorithms to look for anomalous signals, searched
data from the TESS spacecraft for transiting mega structures, used observations from
the Green Bank Telescope to study fast radio bursts, and much more. If you are motivated,
work well as a member of a team, and can take initiative and responsibility for your
own work, you’ll fit in well in our group
Open to sophomores, juniors or seniors currently enrolled at degree-granting institutions in the United States (including
non-citizens legally present in the US for study purposes). Women, underrepresented
minorities, transfer students, and others traditionally underrepresented in science
are strongly encouraged to apply.
A recent transcript (unofficial is fine)
A CV
A letter of recommendation from a faculty member, researcher, or other academic mentor
A cover letter, which should include details of
Your interest in the program / science area
Your programming experience (including projects worked on)
Any prior research experience
Any other relevant information
Able to work 40 hours per week during the placement
Majority of projects make heavy use of modern programming languages and tools. While
we don’t expect applicants to be experts in all of these areas, familiarity and experience
with one or more of Python/Jupyter, version control (e.g. git / github), database
software (e.g. MySQL), visualization tools (e.g. Bokeh, D3, etc.), GPU programming,
visualization, interface design, machine-learning, cloud computing, Unix / Linux scripting,
and / or public outreach will make for a strong application. Prior astronomy research
experience is not a prerequisite, although if you have knowledge or experience of
positional astronomy, observational astronomy, radio astronomy, signal processing,
and / or data reduction we would like to hear about that in your application. We'll
also train you to operate some of the planet's largest radio telescopes (Green Bank
and Parkes) - again, no prior experience is required, but we would like to hear about
it if you have any
