Brinson Postdoctoral Fellowship in Astronomical Instrumentation

Description

We invite applications for the Brinson Prize Fellowship in Astronomical Instrumentation at The Carnegie Science Observatories in Pasadena, California, to begin in Fall 2026. The fellowship is intended to encourage long-term research in astronomical instrumentation. The principal selection criteria will be demonstrated depth and/or breadth of knowledge and research/technical accomplishments, potential impact of the proposed instrumentation work, use of Carnegie's scientific resources, and broader impact contributions to the candidate’s local department and/or the wider astronomical community. Fellowships are awarded for three years and may be renewed for two additional years.

Carnegie Science owns and operates the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, which includes the twin 6.5-meter Magellan telescopes as well as the 1.0-meter Swope telescope and the 2.5-meter du Pont telescope.  Carnegie is also a full institutional member of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey V and a founding partner of the Giant Magellan Telescope project. Based in Pasadena, between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology, the Observatories provide an exceptional research environment and access to resources for theorists, observers, and instrumentalists alike. Scientific computing at Carnegie is supported by our 19% share in the Resnick HPC Center at Caltech in addition to local computing resources.  Fellows will have access to dedicated computational facilities and Carnegie observing facilities on the same basis as the scientific staff. Carnegie Science strives to enable a scientifically excellent, interactive, and welcoming community, and therefore aims for all people to collaborate and thrive at Carnegie.  

The fellowship offers an annual starting salary range of $84,500-$85,750 and a research budget of approximately $12,000 per year.

Current instrumentation projects underway at Carnegie include the MIRMOS and Henrietta near-infrared spectrographs (https://sites.google.com/carnegiescience.edu/mirmos; https://carnegiescience.edu/instrumentation/henrietta-infrared-spectrograph; PI Nick Konidaris, npk@carnegiescience.edu), the ViaSpec multifiber optical spectrographs (https://via-project.org/#/spectrographs/, Carnegie PI Ana Bonaca, abonaca@carnegiescience.edu), the Falcon multiobject spectrograph and imager (https://sites.google.com/carnegiescience.edu/falcon; PIs Jeff Crane, crane@carnegiescience.edu and Steve Shectman, shec@carnegiescience.edu), the GMT Commissioning Camera (https://sites.google.com/carnegiescience.edu/comcam; PI Jeff Crane), and upgrades to the WINERED near-infrared echelle spectrograph (http://lihweb.kyoto-su.ac.jp/WINERED/index.html; PI Andy McWilliam, andy@carnegiescience.edu).  A more experimental Intensity Interferometer program has also just started (PI: Nick Konidaris; npk@carnegiescience.edu).  Aside from these projects, we are interested in hearing from any candidate broadly interested in OIR astronomical instrumentation. 

Applicants should reach out to one or more of the above scientists, or others involved in leading instrumentation projects at Carnegie, to discuss specific projects that would be possible within the time frame of the fellowship.

Qualifications

The successful applicant must have completed the Ph.D. requirements before beginning the fellowship.

Application Instructions

The application should include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, list of publications, an essay describing the applicant's previous work and future plans (up to 5 pages including references), and a 1-page broader impact statement articulating the applicant’s past experiences in any of the following areas: mentoring, outreach, service work, and contributions to the culture of their department or the astronomical community (see https://obs.carnegiescience.edu/broader-impact-statement-overview for more information).  

Research statements should be anonymized; specific expertise that the applicant has developed can be described, but references to published work should be written in the third perso