Call for applications to doctoral program 2021B in UST-KASI

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) via the University of Science and Technology (UST) is offering doctoral scholarships (direct and integrated) starting from September 2021. PhD scholarships are provided with a competitive salary of about $1500-$2000 per month. KASI is located in Daejeon, a high tech, educational and research oriented city. Convenient accommodation would be provided to students for the first 3 years in the campus.

KASI is actively involved in various fields of astronomy and astrophysics, from astronomical instrumentation to observation and theory, and participates in international collaborative and stand-alone projects including GMT, ALMA, SDSS4, DESI, LSST, KMTNet, and KVN. This semester KASI is accepting applications for the following research areas:

• Cosmology I (supervisor: Prof. David Parkinson, davidparkinson@kasi.re.kr)

• Cosmology II (supervisor: Prof. Arman Shafieloo, shafieloo@kasi.re.kr) 

and for the detailed description of the specific research topics, see the list attached or in our major homepage (https://kasi.re.kr/eng/pageView/140).

We encourage qualified international students to apply. Competent students with BSc degrees can apply for an integrated PhD program. Students with MSc degrees may apply directly to the PhD program.

Questions on each research area should be sent to each assigned professor, while other questions are sent to the Chief Major Professor (Sang-Sung Lee, sslee@kasi.re.kr). For more information of application, please see the UST web page (https://ust.ac.kr/admission_eng.do). Applications are considered only if they are submitted during March 18 to April 8 (17:00 KST).

Best regards,

Sang-Sung Lee

Chief Major Professor

1. Prof. David Parkinson (davidparkinson@kasi.re.kr)

In the cosmology group we are looking for enthusiastic and competent PhD candidates to undertake research in the area of cosmological and theoretical astrophysics. The next generation of large-area astronomical surveys will provide new and accurate data for answering such important questions as “what is the nature of the mysterious dark energy?” and “what were the initial conditions of the Universe?” A successful candidate will have the opportunity to become involved in two of these surveys, DESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument) in the optical, and EMU (the Evolutionary Map of the Universe) in the radio. The project will involve analysing data from these surveys and testing these cosmological models (such as dark energy theories and alternative models of gravity) against this data. The project will also involve developing advanced statistical methods of data analysis (such as Bayesian methods, and machine learning approaches), providing training in the area of big data analysis, which will be useful both inside astrophysics and external industrial sectors. This project is for a PhD or integrated PhD student.

2. Prof. Arman Shafieloo (shafieloo@kasi.re.kr)

We are looking for competent and enthusiastic PhD candidates to work on physical cosmology. A successful candidate will become officially involved with SDSS-IV (Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Stage 4), DESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument) and LSST (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope) surveys and the project will include studying and performing research on different aspects of physical cosmology such as testing early universe scenarios and studying dark energy using large scale structure and other cosmological data. Developing advanced statistical methods of data analysis (data mining, machine learning, regression approaches) might be a major part of the research during the PhD project or integrated-PhD.