The Victor M. Blanco Fellowships
The National Society of Hispanic Physicists is proud to partner with several organizations to provide the Victor Blanco Undergraduate Research Fellowship. The fellowships were established with the particular objective of encouraging Hispanic students to pursue a degree in physics and astronomy.
Victor M Blanco was a distinguished Puerto Rican astronomer. After serving in the Army in World War II, Blanco returned to the University of Chicago to complete his Bachelor’s degree. He earned his PhD in Astronomy from the U. California, Berkeley, in 1949. He taught at the University of Puerto Rico in 1949 and at the Case Institute of technology from 1950-1965. He served as Director of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Program at the US Naval Observatory for two years. In 1967 he became Director of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile. While the Director from 1967-1981 he oversaw the initial construction of the lab and guided its growth and science for fourteen years. An open cluster which he discovered while at Case was named Blanco I. In 1985, an asteroid was named after him, 9550 Victorblanco. In 1995, the 4m CTIO telescope was re-named the Victor M. Blanco Telescope. He died in 2011.
Victor Blanco/LIGO Summer Research Program
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Detector (LIGO) laboratories and associated universities have partnered with the National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSHP) to offer the Victor M Blanco Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowhip. LIGO is a large interdisciplinary laboratory that is the world leader in the search for gravitational waves. The Fellows will participate in the LIGO SURF program the larger Caltech summer research experience for undergraduates program: https://labcit.ligo.caltech.edu/LIGO_web/students/SURF/. NSHP and LIGO will work to provide an experience in forefront science/engineering research with a friendly and supportive atmosphere. LIGO is interdisciplinary and seeks science (physics, astronomy, math, and chemistry) majors and engineering (electrical, mechanical, chemical, computer) majors. Students interested in applying for the Fellowship need only apply to the SURF fellowship. Deadline is February 1, 2019. But an earlier submission would be good.
Victor Blanco/Vanderbilt University Summer Research Program
The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Vanderbilt University runs a summer Research Experience for Undergraduates Program supported by the NSF which offers a Victor M. Blanco Summer Research Fellowship in cooperation with the National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSHP). The program runs for 10 weeks starting on May 29 and is designed for rising sophomores, juniors, or seniors, but does accept freshmen and high school students. The students will work with a faculty mentor(s) on a funded forefront research project in the areas of astrophysics (observational and theoretical), biological physics (experimental), condensed matter, atomic, molecular, optical and nanoscale physics (experimental and theoretical), particle physics (LHC) and nuclear physics (RHIC and structure), and particle (theoretical/computational) physics. Students receive a stipend of $5,000, housing, meals, and transportation to and from Nashville. In addition, the Blanco Fellow will receive full support to attend the 2017 SACNAS National Conference to be held Oct. 19-21 in Salt Lake City, UT. The Vanderbilt REU program prides itself on its supportive atmosphere combined with very rigorous science. Students from the Vanderbilt REU program won the SACNAS outstanding undergraduate poster in physics (Ama Agyapong, Elizabeth State U.) and in astronomy (Cameron Trujillo, Humboldt State U.) in 2015! The deadline is Feb. 8, 2019. To apply or for more information, go to http://astro.phy.vanderbilt.edu/~reu/index.htm. Students wanting to apply for the Victor M. Blanco Summer Research Fellowship need only apply to the Vanderbilt NSF REU program.
Victor Blanco/Fermilab Summer Research Program
NSHP is happy to announce a partnership with Fermi lab’s Summer Internship in Science and Technology (SIST) program. Fermilab is America’s premier particle physics laboratory, collaborating with scientists from around the world, pioneering research is performed through world-leading particle accelerators and experiments, and developing technologies for science in support of U.S. industry.
The program is open to undergraduate students majoring in Physics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. NSHP student members applying for this program should apply through the SIST web site, https://diversity.fnal.gov/sist/. Important, students should enter the statement, “I am applying for SIST-Victor Blanco/NSHP fellowship program at FermiLab” in the Work Experience box on the application. The deadline to apply is February 1, 2019. But an earlier submission is strongly encouraged.
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