Caltech-Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory SURF Program
Student: Sophia Xiao, Astronomy-Physics major (2015)
Location: Pasadena, California
Website: http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/LIGO_web/students/SURF/ (for LIGO SURF, if you are
interested in astrophysics, gravitational waves, and optics)
https://sfp.caltech.edu/programs/surf (for other physics programs, other science programs,
engineering programs, and programs at NASA JPL)
Stipend/compensation: $6000 stipend for the summer
Number of students: ~25 students in total for LIGO SURF. ~600 students in total for the whole
SURF program (including ~300 Caltech students and ~50 Oxford summer exchange student
interns.)
Housing: On-campus housing is not provided, and is rather expensive ($950/month + $200
dining for 10 weeks). If you choose to apply for on-campus housing, this will probably cost 30%
of the stipend. Off-campus housing is usually available from $600-$800/month.
Application Requirements: Application (general information), two recommendations, two
essays, unofficial transcript
Program Admission Rate: ~3% for LIGO SURF. Not sure about other SURF programs.
Application Deadline: early/mid-February (might vary between different SURF programs)
Projects: In your application, you will need to indicate your interest in either experimentation
or data analysis. It is very likely that they will find a project that you are both interested in and
good at to work on. My project is to optimize the data analysis pipeline that we use to search
for gravitational waves from high-mass coalescing binary black holes before the improved
Advanced LIGO detectors turn back on by 2016. I do my work in Python and shell scripting
mostly. There are also projects using C++, Matlab, and Mathematica. Other projects include
similar pipeline optimization work on GWs from the Big Bang, pulsars, and supernovae, as well
as hands-on projects that deal with detector optics. Past project abstracts can be viewed here:
http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/LIGO_web/students/SURF/about/projects.shtml.
In general, each student had two mentors. My head mentor was the lead of the lab and of the
program, Alan Weinstein. And my post-doc mentor was a super impressive and helpful expert
in data analysis and gravitational waves physics. I learned a lot of physics and data analysis
technique from them, and my coding skills got boosted up a lot. All the mentors were extremely
supportive and helpful throughout the summer. My mentors and colleagues were also very fun
to be around with.
Requirements: a project proposal before the summer, 2 progress reports and an abstract during
the summer, a final report by October, and a final presentation by the end of the summer.
Social Events: The Caltech SFP office held weekly seminars on different science topics, panels
on grad school application and post-graduation work paths, etc. For LIGO, we also had weekly
meetings and LIGO science seminars. Besides science, SFP also organizes trips to NASA JPL,
Santa Monica beach and LA Disneyland. LIGO interns also gathered interns from other
programs to go to Six Flags together. In general, California has a lot to offer. My friends and I
went to Stanford, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Seattle, Las Vegas before the summer and
during the summer. Some interns went to Catalina Island, San Diego, Joshua Tree, Yosemite,
Yellow Stone, Grand Canyon, etc. During regular weekends, we went to night markets, beaches,
etc. And LIGO organized all Caltech LIGO interns to LIGO Livingston site (LLO), including a night
in New Orleans, with all expenses paid. We had to give our final presentations at LLO.
General Impressions: LOVE IT! California is great! Summer in California is the best! Apply if you
want to enjoy cool science, meet smart peers and scientists (a lot of Sheldon-like
scientists/students do exist at Caltech…), be inspired by their enthusiasm about their work, and
enjoy sunshine in Cali. And honestly, Caltech SURF helps you in Caltech grad school application.
A lot of SURF alumni attend Caltech for grad school after the program.
Caltech-MIT pranks. (And a lot of on-campus ones. MIT stole Caltech’s Cannon, etc.)
Trip to NASA JPL. You can casually sit in the central control room of Mars Curiosity Rover.
Caltech banners. (Caltech has a small campus, though. You can walk around the whole campus
within 15 minutes.) Caltech’s cute and choice of pets – turtles in Millikan Pond.
LIGO Livingston. This is one arm of the actual LIGO 4km interferometer!!!