Information for Spitzer Visiting Graduate Students
Students for 2007
1. Ms. Amelia Bayo-Aran from the University of Madrid, working with John Stauffer on "Studies of low mass stars and brown dwarfs in young open clusters" .
2. Mr. Mark Frost from the University of Sussex working with Jason Surace on "Search for high-z Supernovae and other Transients in the IRAC Dark Field".
3. Mr. Jack Hewitt from Northwestern University, working with Jeonghee Rho on "Spectroscopy Survey of Supernova Remnants in the Inner Galaxy: Interactions with Molecular Clouds and Shock Processing of Dust."
4. Ms. Jillian Meyer from the University of Washington, working with Patrick Ogle on "The nature of the quasar central engines".
5. Ms. Hyunjin Shim from the University of Korea, working with Harry Teplitz on "Multi-wavelength study of galaxy evolution in GOODS and other deep fields"
Visiting Grad Students (officially, not part of the program but already in Pasadena)2006
Ms. Sonali Shukla (Vanderbilt Uni): with Patrick Lowrance on Disks around Brown Dwarfs
Ms. Agnes Kospal (Konkoly Observatory, Hungary): with David Ardila on Circumstellar Disks
Mr. Greg Brunner (Rice Uni) - with Kartik Sheth on IRS Spectral Maps of M51
Mr. Nicolas Flagey (IAS, Orsay, France) - with Alberto Noriega-Crespo/Sean Carey on the Eagle Nebula
Visiting Grad Students (Officially, not part of the program)2005
Ms. Carrie Bridge (Univ. of Toronto, Canada), to be a postdoc at the SSC
Ms. Andreea Petric (Columbia Univ, NY), to be a postdoc at the SSC
Ms. Maria Morales-Calderon (LAEFF-INTA, Spain)
Ms. Basmah Riaz (Delaware)
Mr. David Salaman (Sussex)
Ms. Ivana Damjanov (Belgrade)
2004
Mr. Adam Muzzin (Univ. of Toronto, Canada)
Mr. Eric Murphy (Yale), to be a postdoc at the SSC
Mr. Ian McNabb (Denver)
Visiting Grad Students (Officially, not part of the program)2003
Ms. Carolyn Brinkworth , Now a staff scientist at the SSC
Ms. Anna Sajina, Now a postdoc at the SSC
Mr. Mike Kelley, Now a postdoc at the University of Central Florida
Local Resources
Technique: This online magazine tells you everything you need to know about CaltechArrival
Caltech is located at 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125. The Spitzer Science Center is on the South-East Corner of California Blvd and Wilson Blvd on the Caltech campus. The scientists are on the second and third floor of the Keith-Spalding Building. Mary Ellen Barba is in the Morrisroe Astrophysics Lab on the East side of Wilson, about 300 yards south of the California-Wilson intersection. She will help you with employment related paperwork. If you arrive after work hours, you should probably go directly to your hotel or make prior arrangements with your apartment complex.
To and From the Airport
From LAX, you can either take either a cab, the Blue Supershuttle or the Red Van to Pasadena. Alternately, you can take the Blue Flyaway Bus to Union Station. From Union Station, the Gold Line will bring you to Pasadena. You can get off at Allen Station and take Bus Number 10 to campus.From Burbank Airport, you can either taken the Supershuttle or a cab to Caltech.
Local Activities
Taxes
You are required to file tax returns in the U.S. for every calendar year (Jan-Dec) you are here - irrespective of whether you are a U.S. citizen or an International visitor. These are due April 15. This is particularly important for you because in general, you will get money back from the government.
For foreign visitors, you will be required to file form 1040NR-EZ for the Federal Taxes and 540NR-EZ for the CA State Taxes. The "EZ" is supposed to indicate the "Easy" version of these forms while "NR" indicates that you are a non-resident of CA. There are more extended versions which are called 1040NR and 540NR which might be more applicable to you.
U.S. Citizens of course will file 1040 and 540NR for the Federal and State Taxes respectively. Note that U.S. Citizens might have to file state tax returns in more than one state if they are visiting CA from out of state.
In general, for U.S. Citizens, electronic filing using software like H&R Block or Turbotax are the quickest and most painless way of filing a return. Foreign visitors unfortunately will have to do this by hand.