Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium

The Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium comprises astronomy faculty and students at eight small liberal arts colleges and universities in the northeast. Our goals are to promote astronomy research among our students and to foster faculty and student interaction among the eight campuses. We sponsor a student exchange program each summer and a student research symposium each fall.

The application process for the summer research program is now closed for 2012. Applications were due on February 8, 2012.

Although originally funded by the W. M. Keck Foundation beginning in 1990, we are now funded by the National Science Foundation, under their Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program.

Consortium member schools

REU summer research program

Each summer KNAC faculty host undergraduate research interns, from within and outside of the consortium, as part of our NSF/REU program. These out-of-consortium spots are intended for students from schools where there are few opportunities for astronomy research participation.

Information about the types of research projects carried out in the consortium can be found on the webpages of individual faculty.

The REU program runs for 10 weeks, with the start date determined by each individual faculty member. Stipends and housing allowances total approximately $4000 per student with small variations depending on the local rate at each host school.

Students participating in the REU program are required to present their work at the Fall Student Research Symposium. Because the symposium facilitates interactions between students and faculty from the various schools, faculty advisors of applicants from non-consortium schools are encouraged to contact Prof. Kim McLeod at Wellesley College (kmcleod -at- wellesley.edu) for information about the summer exchange program. The consortium will pay travel expenses for the fall symposium for both the research student and faculty mentor.

Application information is available, although the application process for 2012 is now closed. The application deadline for the summer 2012 program was February 8, 2012. Offers will start to be made in early March.

Student research symposium

Each Fall, students and faculty from the REU program and the member schools gather together for a Student Research Symposium. The 2012 symposium will be held at Middlebury College this fall, on September 21 & 22.

Information about previous symposia [2011 Wellesley, 2010 Colgate, 2009 Swarthmore, 2008 Wesleyan, 2007 Williams, 2006 Vassar, 2005 Middlebury, 2004 Colgate].

Research activities of KNAC students and faculty

Our members are active in many fields of astrophysical research. We have a listing of papers published by students under the auspices of our NSF grant.

Information for students

Faculty list
Photo gallery
List of past fellows
Other REU sites [NSF listing, AAS listing]
For students writing symposium papers

Information for KNAC faculty

including contact info, schedule of upcoming meetings

This material is based in part upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AST-1005024. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Partial support for this work was provided by the U.S. Department of Defense's Awards to Stimulate and Support Undergraduate Research Education (ASSURE) program in collaboration with the National Science Foundation's Research Experiences for Undergraduates program.