IRIS-HEP Fellows Program
Applications for the Undergraduate Fellows program in Summer 2023 are now open. The final deadline for applications is Sunday, 16 April, 2023 (end of the day, any time zone).
People are the key to successful software. IRIS-HEP aims to promote the development of advanced research software skills by providing opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to connect with mentors within the larger High Energy Physics (HEP) and Computational/Data Science community. At the same time, we aim to promote software as a collaborative activity and encourage collaborations which engage individuals in ways that maximize their potential and their potential impact on the community. To accomplish these goals, IRIS-HEP has created a Fellows program. IRIS-HEP Fellows will spend some number of months working with a mentor to build their skills while working on a research software project relevant to the Institute.
Who should apply to the Fellows program? - Are you reasonably comfortable with basic programming through skills acquired (for example) from coursework or dedicated training activities? Are you interested in building on those skills to gain experience through contributions to cutting edge open source research software projects? Then the IRIS-HEP Fellows program could be for you. Prior physics knowledge is helpful, but not required. We will also offer dedicated training activities to help you improve specific software skills. Applications from women and members of underrepresented groups in STEM activities are particularly encouraged.
We are currently accepting applications for IRIS-HEP Undergraduate Fellows for Summer 2023:
- Undergraduate fellows work with a mentor to develop research software relevant in one of the R&D areas listed below. Undergraduate fellows will receive a training stipend, paid monthly, during their fellowship. In most cases, they will in general remain in their home location and work remotely with their mentor.
- Eligibility:
- You must be enrolled in an undergraduate program at an accredited University or College and have completed at least 1 academic year by the start of the Fellowship.
- For Summer 2023, the IRIS-HEP Fellows program will support (1) students of all nationalities that are associated to U.S. academic institutions (U.S. citizenship is not required) and (2) students of Ukrainian nationality. Students from India should consider applying instead to the Trainee program of the HSF-India project.
- Duration of fellowship and total stipend: An IRIS-HEP Undergraduate fellowship will pay up to 12 FTE-weeks (full time equivalent) at $600/week (paid monthly) during Summer 2022. (International Fellows will be paid a training stipend scaled for Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).) We have some flexibility to accommodate different summer schedules and lengths. Fellowships should in general last 10-12 weeks (2.5 or 3 months).
- It is expected that the Fellow is available full time during the Fellowship period and will not have another significant activity (such as classes, another trainee position or a job) in the same time period.
- Applications are now open - deadline Sunday, 16 April, 2023 (any time zone)
How does it work? - After you apply, we will make a first selection of Fellow candidates and reach out to you for a short interview and to discuss a possible research software project which you will turn into a short 2-page project proposal and timeline (with some help from your mentor). Based on that, we will make a final Fellows selection. It is not necessary to fully prepare a project proposal in order to apply, however including information on your potential interests as part of the application will help us match you to the right mentor/mentors for the 2nd step.
During the Fellowship, you will work with your mentor and likely other collaborators using Slack, Zoom, GitHub and other similar tools. You will also make a short presentation about your project to other Fellows and Mentors as you start your Fellowship, another midway through the project to show your progress and a final presentation about your results at the very end. You will also have an opportunity to attend training activities to help you improve specific software skills.
Which R&D areas are relevant for IRIS-HEP? - We are particularly interested in software R&D areas where IRIS-HEP personnel are active, but may also consider proposals for other software R&D topics of larger relevance to the HEP community. The IRIS-HEP activities include:
- Analysis Systems
- Innovative Algorithms
- Data Organization, Management and Access
- Scalable Systems
- Tools and Material to support Training activities
- Service containerization, DevOps, security, service monitoring, and accounting
- Network monitoring and analytics
(Click through the links below to see the specific projects on which we are working.) It is not required that the mentors are IRIS-HEP team members, or that a specific project be one for which IRIS-HEP personnel are active. Any appropriate mentor from the larger community working in one of these areas can be part of the program.
Projects: Research software projects should in general be in the R&D areas listed above or (in some cases) be projects of more general interest to the HEP community. How do you find a project? There are several possibilities:
- Examples of currently open IRIS-HEP Fellow projects can be found on a separate webpage. These projects are of interest to IRIS-HEP researchers (who may then act as mentors). You can write to the mentor listed to discuss or reach out to fellows@iris-hep.org for more information. This page may be updated from time to time, so check back and reload.
- Additional example projects of interest in the wider HEP community can also be found on the HEP Software Foundation Google Summer of Code (HSF GSoC) webpage. While GSoC is a separate program, funded by Google, many of the projects could also be appropriate for IRIS-HEP Fellows if they are related to the R&D areas listed above.
- Recent Fellows and links to descriptions of their projects can be found below in the list of current and past Fellows. In some cases, there may be continuations of those projects.
- Some additional projects can be found on the open projects page of the Compiler Research project
- You can explore the links above to the IRIS-HEP R&D research activities. Most IRIS-HEP active projects list contacts with whom you can discuss to bring your own ideas.
Applying: Prospective fellows can apply using this Application Google Form. You will need to provide:
- Your full name, email address, the name of your university or college and your current or planned major and/or area of study
- A resume/CV (in pdf format) with contact information
- An academic transcript - this can be unofficial, but should include course titles and overall GPA. At the time the Fellowship starts you must have completed at least 1 year of university/college. [If you cannot obtain your transcript, e.g. due to the war in Ukraine, please just upload a pdf with a statement noting that it is not possible.]
- A short essay describing your interest in the internship program (maximum 1 page, pdf format). For example, you may wish to expand on 3 or 4 topics from the following list: your background, your skills, and strengths; what software, computing or scientific topics appeal to you; previous research experience, if any; what you may want to pursue as a future career; and what benefits you would like to gain from this program. If you already have a potential mentor and/or particular projects which interest you from the project lists above, you can also mention them here. It is however not required to have a mentor/project finalized to submit an application. Successful applicants will be connected to mentors to select and define their projects in a 2nd step following this application
- [Optional] The full name and email address of a reference. This is optional. Ideally it would be someone with whom you have interacted in a STEM context (e.g. a course or a previous research activity). You should contact the person in advance to confirm that they will write a letter for you and simply provide their name/email in the application form. After you submit the form, we will contact them to request the letter.
Timeline:
- Sunday 16 April, 2023 - final deadline for applications (applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis as they arrive)
- Friday 21 April, 2023 - end of first selection period for applications. Those selected will be matched to work with mentors on developing a proposal - this may involve a short interview and other follow-up
- Wednesday 3 May, 2023 - deadline for submission of proposals
- By 15 May, 2023 - final selection of undergraduate Fellows for summer 2023
- May-Sep - Fellows work on projects (exact dates may depend on specific academic year constraints)
Funding: The funding support for IRIS-HEP Fellows associated with U.S. academic institutions is provided by the National Science Foundation through Cooperative Agreement OAC-1836650 as well as private foundation support. Funding for Fellows associated with international academic institutions has been provided by a combination of university, industry and private foundation support.
Current IRIS-HEP Fellows
Jul – Sep, 2023
Jul – Sep, 2023
Dec, 2022 – Feb, 2023
Jul – Sep, 2023
Jun – Sep, 2023
Jun – Sep, 2023
Jun – Sep, 2023
Jun – Sep, 2023
Jun – Sep, 2023
Former IRIS-HEP Fellows
May – Jul, 2022
Jun – Aug, 2021
University School of Information, Communication and Technology, GGSIPU, New Delhi, India
Jan – Jul, 2021
Jun – Sep, 2019
