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General Information

Getting Here

Housing

Sources for Sublet Listings

Summer Schedule

Local Information

Information for Summer Students coming to Socorro

We are pleased that you have accepted our offer of a summer appointment, and look forward to having you join our astronomical community. We are conducting exciting research at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and we trust your summer here will be a rewarding one. This document contains information to help make your transition to Socorro as pain- and worry- free as possible. Please do not hesitate to contact Amy Mioduszewski (phone: (505)-835-7263 or email: amiodusz@nrao.edu) with questions or concerns.

General Information

General information of interest for all summer students, regardless of assigned site, is collected in a separate document (
http://www.nrao.edu/students/NRAOstudents_summer.shtml). This includes information on stipends, travel reimbursement, your research assignment and schedule, and the opportunity to present your research at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

Getting Here

Socorro, NM is the location of the Very Large Array (VLA) and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) Array Operations Center (AOC) where you will be working during the summer. Socorro is located about 75 miles south of Albuquerque, NM just off of I-25. Maps to the Array Operations Center in Socorro, NM can be found at http://www.nrao.edu/about/usa_west.shtml. The VLA site is about 45 miles west of Socorro on the plains of St. Augustin.

Please review the NRAO travel reimbursement policy before arranging your travel plans. Details are given in your acceptance letter, and can be found on-line at http://www.nrao.edu/students/NRAOstudents_summer.shtml#Travel.

Housing

You will need to secure a place to live over the summer. It is often advantageous to do this remotely, however, if you prefer to secure housing after you arrive, the NRAO will reimburse you for up to 7 days at the NRAO guesthouse. If you need more than 7 days to find housing, you may be able to longer at the NRAO guesthouse (pending availability), at the rate of around $20 per day.

Several students stayed in the New Mexico Tech student housing and seemed to like it, particularly since they are furnished, come with complete kitchens and are within easy walking distance of the AOC. We will provide more information on whether the Tech studnent housing will be available this year soon. In years past some students have opted to rent houses together to share resources and expense. The names and email addresses of all of this years students will be posted in case you would like to contact them. Housing in Socorro is generally cheap compared to metropolitan areas, with two bedrooms typically around $500. Also note that NRAO has a small supply of used furniture etc. which can be borrowed for the summer on first come first served basis. If you find a place remotely via one of the Realtors listed below that you want to know more about, we can arrange to go by and check out that it meets some minimum level of acceptability.

Sources for Sublet Listings:

Some local Realtors you might like to call are listed below. NRAO does not endorse or guarantee services of any provider on the list.

  • Gallagher Realty: (505) 854-2240
  • Home & Country Realty: (505) 835-1687 or toll-free (888) 466-3355
  • Meyer Realty: (505) 835-2208
  • Middle Rio Grande Realty: (505) 835-0888 or toll-free (800) 687-2615
  • Priority Realtors: (505) 835-3210
  • Tony Jaramillo Realty: (505) 835-1030

Local Information

You can find on-line information about Socorro, and things to do in Socorro, at the following websites:

Last modified: Thu Feb 24 17:04:24 EST 2005