Graduate Students in Residence

GBO/NRAO summer students by the GBT during the Summer Student Bootcamp at GBO
(Image by Jill Malusky)
GBO/NRAO summer students with Will Armentrout (white hat) on the GBT
(Image from GBO Flickr)
GBO/NRAO summer students learning about radio astronomy during the Summer Student Bootcamp
(Image from GBO Flickr)

Are you a graduate student who works with Green Bank Observatory data or staff as part of your research program? Apply to spend a few weeks in Green Bank this Summer as a “Graduate Student in Residence”! We will provide housing and office space free of charge, although we will not pay any stipends as part of this program.

Applications for Summer 2026 are currently open at this link, with rolling admission until all spaces are full. We expect to make initial offers on March 13 and cut off applications by April 24.

Graduate Students in Residence
To apply to be a GBO Graduate Student in Residence, you must apply through this portal and select which weeks you are interested in joining us. We have specific weeks outlined for the program, aiming for a mix of students working in similar and different research areas (e.g. Weeks 1-3: Focus on Pulsars and the Interstellar Medium, Weeks 4-6: Focus on Star Formation and Astrochemistry, Weeks 7-9: Focus on Planetary Radar and Radio Astronomy Instrumentation, Weeks 10-12: Focus on HI + Galaxies and Interference.). However, you are welcome to indicate custom dates as part of the application and apply for periods outside of your research specialties. We anticipate standard appointments as being three weeks in length, although you are welcome to apply for shorter or longer periods.

In each three-week block, we will offer a mini “Single Dish Summer School” for visiting graduate students. These schools will involve lectures from staff and the opportunity to observe with the Green Bank 20-meter telescope. Tentative dates for these schools are as follows: May 20-22, June 10-12, July 8-10, July 22-24. See an example schedule at this link.

As part of the program, we will ask every student to contribute back to the observatory in some way, whether by giving a lunch talk, contributing to an Education/Public Outreach program, etc. We will provide options, but we welcome your creativity, too!

The GBO Site
Green Bank students typically do their day-to-day research from the Jansky Lab on site, home to most of our scientific, software, and engineering offices. The nature of said research will depend on the project, but we will provide frequent workshops, talks, and check-ins to ensure that everyone has the skills and support they need.

In addition to hosting 10 graduate students in-residence, we will also host ~10 undergraduate research students each year. These undergraduate students will have office space adjacent to the graduate students. More information about the undergraduate Green Bank program can be found on our site-specific page of the NRAO website.

Internet
Green Bank is situated in two radio quiet zones which minimize Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) for our telescopes. Although this means we don’t have cell service or WiFi, people here can still connect to the internet! If you come here, you’ll just need to bring Ethernet adapters so your devices can connect to our wired internet. We also get GPS signals, so you can use Google Maps provided you load the route beforehand.

Housing
Graduate students will live together in a large house on the observatory campus. There are typically 2 students per room. The house is equipped with Ethernet, landline phones, and a kitchen complete with dishes and cooking utensils.

Driving
The student house is within walking distance of the Jansky Lab and a small grocery store. However, having access to a car becomes a necessity for traveling anywhere else. We will work with students to coordinate rides and may be able to arrange an airport shuttle, with the cost split between students. Typically, a few students drive to Green Bank instead of flying and will use their car to travel to the grocery store, etc. Most staff members would also be happy to help if asked, so you’ll be just fine if you don’t have a car here. We will work with students to coordinate rides and may be able to arrange an airport shuttle, with the cost split between students.

2026

The blocks below are just a rough outline for the Summer, with roughly 3 weeks planned for each student visit. Students are welcome to stay for shorter or longer, as their schedules allow. We also expect to have students from outside the “Focus Topics” listed below in each of the sessions (these are meant to help students plan when to come, but are not set in stone).

StartEndFocus TopicSingle Dish Dates
May 18, 2026June 5, 2026Pulsars, Interstellar MediumMay 20-22
June 8, 2026June 26, 2026Star Formation, AstrochemistryJune 10-12
June 29, 2026July 17, 2026Radar, Radio InstrumentationJuly 8-10
July 20, 2026August 7, 2026HI + Galaxies, InterferenceJuly 22-24

Please direct your questions to Will Armentrout at ude.o1770042295arn@r1770042295tnemr1770042295aw1770042295.