Amgen Scholars: Announcements of Opportunity

Below are Announcements of Opportunity posted by Caltech faculty for the Amgen Scholars program.

Announcements of Opportunity are posted as they are received. Please check back regularly for new AO submissions! Remember: This is just one way that you can go about identifying a suitable project and/or mentor. For additional tips on identifying a mentor click here.

Please remember:

Students pursuing Amgen must be U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, or students with DACA status.
Students pursuing Amgen must complete the 10-week program from June 21 - August 25, 2023. Students must commit to these dates. No exceptions will be made.
Accepted students must live in provided Caltech housing.

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Project:

An interdisciplinary project aimed at developing effective solutions and implementations for future challenges and opportunities

Disciplines:

Environmental Science and Engineering, Astronomy

Mentor:

Yuk Yung, Professor, (GPS), yly@caltech.edu, Phone: 626 395 6940

Mentor URL:

https://www.gps.caltech.edu/people/yuk-l-yung (opens in new window)

Background:

Many challenges and opportunities lie ahead in the near future: (1) recent studies have concluded that global warming could exceed 1.5 to 2°C over the preindustrial period in the next 20-50 years (Ma et al., 2022); (2) The NASA Artemis program plans to send astronauts back to the moon in 2028 and development of a lunar base would start soon after; (3) The number of exoplanets discovered in the next few years will exceed 10,000, increasing the search for habitable planets and potential signatures of life (Cai et al. 2021).

Description:

This SURF program prepares students for these changes through strategic planning, simulation, and data analysis projects. Potential students should choose one of the following three programs:
(1) Analyze strategic options for climate change mitigation and adaptation, including industrial, energy, political, economic, agricultural, atmospheric, geological and social measures (e.g. Zhang et al. 2022).
(2) Simulate the development of a lunar base, which can be used to develop a moon-based earth observation station for climate and weather research and take a step forward for future human expansion into the solar system.
(3) Develop effective methods for detecting and communicating with extraterrestrial civilizations (e.g. Jiang et al. 2022) among exoplanets, tasks including to help updating the Voyage’s Golden Record for future interstellar missions.

References:

Ma, N., J.H. Jiang, K. Hou, Y. Lin, T. Vu, P. Rosen, Y. Gu, K. Fahy, 21st century global and regional surface temperature projections, Earth and Space Science, 9, doi:10.1029/2022EA002662, 2022.
Zhang J, Zhang KK, Zhang M, Jiang JH, Rosen PE and Fahy KA, Avoiding the “Great Filter”: An assessment of climate change solutions and combinations for effective implementation, Front. Clim. 4:1042018, doi: 10.3389/fclim.2022.1042018, 2022.
Jiang, J.H., H. Li, M. Chong, Q. Jin, P. Rosen, X. Jiang, K. Fahy, S. Taylor, Z. Kong, J. Hah, Z. Zhu, A Beacon in the Galaxy: Updated Arecibo Message for Potential FAST and SETI Projects, Galaxies, 10, 55, 2022.
Cai, X., J.H. Jiang, K. A. Fahy, Y. L. Yung, A Statistical Estimation of the Occurrence of Extraterrestrial Intelligence in the Milky Way Galaxy, Galaxies, 9, 1, doi:10.3390/ galaxies9010005 2021.

Student Requirements:

Preferred candidates should have at least one of these backgrounds: computer sciences, climate science, planetary science, astrophysics.

Programs:

This AO can be done under the following programs:

		Program	Available To
		Amgen Scholars	Non-Caltech students only
		SURF	both Caltech and non-Caltech students

Click on a program name for program info and application requirements.

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