Vera C. Rubin Observatory announces an opportunity for members of the US and Chilean science community to join the Rubin Observatory Commissioning Team and contribute to an efficient and successful transition to Operations. This commitment requires a high level of engagement in return for direct experience with—and a deep understanding of—the full chain from observations to final data products and data access tools that will be released to the science community, including the hardware, image properties, and Science Pipeline algorithms.
The anticipated total value-added contribution through this program is approximately 15-20 FTE of effort. This effort will likely be distributed across a larger number of individuals and preferably organized into discrete groups of similar interests and skills, and performed over a roughly two-year period that includes calendar years 2022 and 2023. Financial support associated with this program is limited, and non-Rubin-staff members of the Commissioning Team are generally expected to have other sources of support (limited travel and local accommodation support to enable on-site work at key activity centers in Tucson, SLAC, and Chile can be made available).
Rubin Observatory is committed to providing opportunities for diverse and traditionally underrepresented groups. Letters of Interest (LOIs) should indicate how proposed contributions will align with this commitment (e.g., intent to provide training experience to early career scientists, a staffing profile that will contribute to the diversity of the Commissioning Team, and/or how an inclusive workplace culture will be implemented).
More details, including examples of value-added contributions, the terms and conditions for participation, and the process for submitting LOIs, are available in the Announcement of Opportunity (AO).
