NRAO Post-Baccalaureate Fellowship

Post-Baccalaureate Program

Deadline May 4, 2026

The NRAO Post-Bacc Program provides recent graduates an opportunity to strengthen their applications to graduate school by gaining research experience in radio astronomy or a related field.

NRAO is currently inviting applications for a student to work with Dr. Marcel Neeleman at the NRAO Headquarters in Charlottesville, VA. The award offers a stipend for up to one year as well as a moving allowance and funding to attend a AAS meeting.

Students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents are eligible to apply. Applicants should have recently completed their undergraduate degree, and should have the intention of applying to Ph.D. programs in astronomy or a related field during the year of their appointment.

Applications received by May 4, 2026 will receive full consideration, and applications will continue to be accepted until the position is filled.

Applications for the Post-Bacc program consist of:

  • a statement describing research interests and future goals (<1000 words),
  • a resume,
  • an academic transcript (unofficial is OK), and
  • one or two letters of recommendation from people who can address the student's potential for a career in research.
Application materials should be emailed directly to Jim Braatz.  The email should include confirmation that the applicant is a US citizen or permanent resident, and should list the names of people who the student has asked to provide reference letters.  The recommendation letters should be emailed directly to Jim Braatz by the letter writers.

The research project is as follows:

Using JWST and ALMA to study a Disk Galaxy in the Early Universe

The project is focused on understanding how the first disk galaxies formed and evolved. To be specific, the PostBacc will help analyze new JWST/NIRSpec Integral Field Unit (IFU) observations of one of the earliest known main-sequence disk galaxies to-date. The PostBacc will help reduce this data set, analyze the emission from this galaxy, and compare it to data already taken with other telescopes such as HST, ALMA and the VLA. The goal of the project is to understand the distribution and kinematics of the ionized gas and compare it to the distribution and kinematics of the cold gas. This project will further our understanding of what processes are shaping the formation of this disk galaxy.

The personal statement of research interest may refer to this project, but general statements of research interest are also appropriate.

We anticipate notifying outcomes of the application review by May 18, 2026.

Connect with NRAO

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