Los Alamos Radiation Effects Summer School

Program details

The Los Alamos Radiation Effects Summer School is sponsored by the Center for Space and Earth Sciences (CSES) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The program is hosted by LANL’s Intelligence and Space Research division. During the program, students will receive technical training and lectures, as well as opportunities to develop their written and oral communication skills.

Application and acceptance dates

Applications may be submitted starting Nov 1st, 2020. The registration deadline is Friday, January 22nd, 2021. Participants who are accepted into the program will be notified in mid-February 2021.

Acceptance into the program 

Application packages are reviewed by a panel of experts. Acceptance into the program is based primarily on the student’s academic record, list of publications and presentations, nomination letter and affinity with a specific project. Program acceptance is also based on the student's interest in attending the summer school and the benefit to the student of attendance, as demonstrated in the cover letter.

Attempts are made to identify highly qualified students from a diverse background, including academic, institutional and cultural diversity.

There are some restrictions on who may be accepted to the school; please see the eligibility page for more information. Preference is given to students who have completed at least their second year of a PhD program, but applications from undergraduates and Master's degree students will be considered as well. A limited number of students are accepted to the program each year, depending on funding. The summer school considers applications from US citizens and foreign nationals authorized to work in the US.

Fellowships

Top-ranked students accepted to the program will receive a prestigious Cibola (SEE-bo-lah) Fellowship worth $10,000 to cover travel and living expenses. Fellowships are disbursed after arrival at the Lab.

Lectures

Students will attend a variety of lectures given by distinguished researchers at LANL and other US government agencies and universities. Topics are related to current radiation effects research, including testing techniques, data analysis, single-event effects, basic mechanisms, radiation environments and resilience and reliability at the component, device, and system levels.

Final presentation and report

At the end of the summer, students will give a short oral presentation of their research at the LANL Student Symposium. In addition, students will write up their results as a first-author abstract suitable for submission to a peer-reviewed conference in radiation effects or high performance computing.

Attendance

Students are expected to be attend the entire 9-week summer school, with exceptions granted for overlap of the student's academic calendar with the summer school and/or attendance at a conference during the summer school (e.g. NSREC). Any other absences must be approved by the summer school co-directors.

NSREC is a major conference in our field. No summer school lectures are scheduled during this time. If attending a conference during the summer school, students must arrange conference registration and reimbursement through their own home institutions.

Housing

Students are responsible for obtaining their own housing for the summer. Summer housing fills up quickly with students in LANL summer programs; successful applicants should secure housing before April 2021.