Job Category: Occasional
Exempt Overtime Eligible: Overtime Eligible
Benefits Eligible: Non-Benefit Based

Caltech is a world-renowned science and engineering institute that marshals some of the world's brightest minds and most innovative tools to address fundamental scientific questions. We thrive on finding and cultivating talented people who are passionate about what they do. Join us and be a part of the diverse Caltech community.

Job Summary

IPAC at the California Institute of Technology invites applications for a part-time (20 hr/week) high school summer hire for up to ten weeks to help interpret data currently being acquired by James Webb Space Telescope. The JWST data consists of photometry and spectroscopy of T and Y dwarfs over a wide wavelength range, which enables us to calculate the total luminosity of these objects.

Essential Job Duties

You will be tasked with simulating functional forms of the stellar/substellar "mass function" - the frequency with which star formation creates objects of various masses - to compare to the observed luminosity distribution of known brown dwarfs within 20 parsecs (65 light years) of the Sun. Your goal will be to determine which combination of mass function + birthrate function + evolutionary model grid produces the best match to our luminosity distribution. As an additional goal, you will be asked to determine if the luminosity distribution can better constrain the low-mass cutoff of star formation, which we already know lies somewhere below five times the mass of Jupiter. Your work will become part of a larger scientific publication by our team, and our expectation is that you will be a co-author on that paper.

Basic Qualifications

You should meet these basic qualifications to apply:

• Experience in programming (e.g., Python).
• Basic knowledge of astronomy, either through having taken an introductory astronomy class, attendance at a professional astronomy conference, involvement through a NASA citizen science project, etc.
• Good communication skills.
• Work permit allowing part-time employment.

Preferred Qualifications

Beyond these basic qualifications, there are a set of skills and experiences that will add to your ability to contribute to the project:

• Experience working with scientific data sets and use cases.
• Ability to work remotely and be self-motivated.

Required Documents

You should submit the following two items to apply:

• 1-page cover letter conveying your skills, experience, and passion.
• 1-page resume highlighting your qualifications, past awards, etc.

To be considered for this position please visit our web site and apply on line at the following link: https://hr.caltech.edu/work/job_openings

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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