Early Science with the LSST
Forecasted
Supports early-career interdisciplinary teams to pursue innovative, collaborative research using LSST data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory to advance foundational discoveries in astronomy and related fields.
Funder: Research Corporation for Science Advancement
Due Dates (Anticipated): November 2026 (Full team proposal) | May 2027 (Scialog Fellow application)
Funding Amounts: $60,000 direct costs per team member for one year; teams of 2–3 Fellows; total annual funding ~$1.2M across all awards
Summary: Supports interdisciplinary, early-career teams to catalyze foundational discoveries using data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s LSST.
Key Information: Eligibility limited to early-career faculty (within 8 years of first appointment) in the US, Canada, or Chile; proposals must be formed at the annual Scialog meeting.
Description
This initiative provides seed funding for collaborative, cross-disciplinary research teams to maximize the scientific impact of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). The program is structured as a multi-year Scialog series, bringing together approximately 50 early-career astronomers, cosmologists, theoretical physicists, astrophysicists, computational modelers, data scientists, and software engineers. The goal is to foster new collaborations and innovative approaches to harnessing the unprecedented volume and complexity of LSST data, addressing bottlenecks and catalyzing high-risk, high-reward research on fundamental questions about the Universe.
Teams are formed during the annual Scialog meeting, where participants engage in intensive dialogue, brainstorming, and proposal development. Successful teams receive one-year awards to launch novel projects, with a focus on interdisciplinary work that would not be possible within a single field or existing collaboration.
