School Registration

Applications for the 2022 Submillimeter Array are now being accepted, and can be found here. Please read the instructions below before proceeding to the application.

Applications will close on October 24th, 2021 at 2359 UT. Admitted and wait-listed students will be notified the weekend of November 19th, 2021. There is no registration fee for the school, and no letters of reference are required for the application. Students will be expected to have access to a computer with the Common Astronomy Software Applications (CASA) software package installed. Further details on CASA, including links for downloading the software, can be found here.

Only students who are intending on participating in the full set of activities -- including the observing and data reduction sessions -- need to put in an application. Students who are only interested in accessing the lecture material do not need to put in an application, and can instead e-mail sma-school@cfa.harvard.edu to request to be notified when the lecture material becomes available.

Application Instructions

When first logging in to the application system, you will need to create an account with the CfA Application service. To do so, simply enter your e-mail address and click the 'Update Account' button, then the 'Register' button. This will allow you return to an in-progress application later on. Any and all documents uploaded to the application (i.e., the personal statement and observing proposal) must be in PDF format. Note that letters of reference are neither required not accepted for the school (the portal makes mention of them because it is also used for other student/job opportunities).

The application requires a brief, personal statement on why you are interested in attending the school, briefly outlining what you hope to get out of your participation. Ideally, this statement should only be a paragraph or two in length, not to exceed a page in total length. You may enter this in either as plain text on the application form, or as a 1-page PDF (use of both formats is not required).

The application also requires submission of a limited, 1-page proposal (text, figures, and bibliography included) for an observation to be potentially conducted during the school. The proposal should include a scientific justification, and provide a brief technical justification that includes the total requested observing time, the frequency setup, the configuration required, and the target sensitivity. Proposals should not include polarization or triggered/ToO observations, and should not exceed 6 hours in total length.

As each student will be awarded one hour of observing time, students wishing to maximize the chances of their projects being observed should utilize the following setup:

• One hour of total time on source
• Utilize dual-polarization observations with the "standard" 230 GHz tuning (frequency coverage of 209.5-221.5 and 229.5-241.5)
• Be able to use any configuration (approximate resolution estimates: 4 arcsec for SUB, 2 arcsec for COM, 1 arcsec for EXT, 0.5 arcsec for VEX).
• Target a continuum sensitivity of 0.6 mJy/beam, or a line sensitivity of 11 mJy/beam for a 100 km/s channel (estimates approximately matched to the parameters above).

Advanced uses may use configurations beyond the recommended setup -- you can use the SMA Passband Visualizer and the SMA sensitivity calculator, but be aware that your observational setup will be checked for validity. Note that while weather conditions on Maunakea year-round are generally good, the proposed observations are more likely to happen if they can make use of 4mm PWV weather (i.e., weather suitable for 230 GHz observations).

Admitted and wait-listed students will be selected based on their applications. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration without regard to race, color, creed, national origin or gender. We particularly encourage applications from individuals belonging to historically underrepresented groups.