If your organization is interested in becoming an LSST Discovery Alliance (LSST-DA) member institution, we welcome your application. Please contact us if you have any questions about the membership process.
Why join LSST Discovery Alliance?
As a member, your institution will be well informed about all aspects of the Rubin LSST ecosystem, positioning your faculty and students for pivotal leadership roles, training, and funding opportunities. For details on why you should join, view membership benefits below and download the complete LSST-DA membership policy.
Member Benefits
LSST-DA’s deep and broad connections throughout the entire Rubin LSST ecosystem provide an opening for researchers at LSST-DA member institutions to have a transformational impact on Rubin LSST science. As a member, your institution will be well informed about all aspects of the Rubin LSST ecosystem, positioning your faculty and students for pivotal leadership roles, training, and funding opportunities.
Preferential access to resources
- Priority access to LSST Discovery Alliance programs, including early career training, LSST data workshops and hack days, and software incubators
- Build faculty, staff, and student networks in a thriving, interdisciplinary, global community
- Eligibility to request grants for LSST-related science and funded student travel
- Eligibility to host a postdoctoral fellow
Increased influence and visibility
- Attract faculty, staff, and students by demonstrating commitment to LSST science
- Show your support for democratizing science
- Participate in creating a model through which other global, big-data science projects can thrive.
- Shape programs and priorities through your Institutional Representative
Is your organization eligible to join LSST-DA?
Our members are engaged in activities that closely relate to Rubin LSST’s mission. They can be academic, scientific, educational, data-oriented, and/or philanthropic institutions. Examples of such activities include, but are not limited to:
- Conducting scientific research using Rubin LSST data and including students in Rubin-related research
- Providing unique scientific, technical, or other expertise that will add value to Rubin LSST’s scientific and/or societal impact
- Providing scientific or other support to the Rubin Observatory LSST Science Collaborations
- Providing support for LSST-DA programs (i.e., promoting access to resources such as computational infrastructure and hosting meetings and supporting workshops)
Membership Categories
Standard Membership
Applications for a Standard Membership can be submitted by single institutions (often high research activity universities or equivalently active research labs) or consortia of institutions. Consortia can be:
- a group of small schools, none of which are R1 research universities
- a network of already associated (e.g., by country or state) R1 or equivalent institutions
- a mix of the two
Expansion Membership
Small and under-resourced institutions (e.g., those for whom membership dues are an insurmountable barrier and that would diversify voices in the LSST-DA community) may be eligible for an Expansion Membership, with full member standing and benefits. Visit the Expansion Partnership Program page for more information.
LSST-DA Membership Dues
Membership dues for standard members come in increments, where a single R1 institution, or equivalent, is expected to pay one increment. Increments are $26K (USD) per year USD in 2023 and will increase by $1K (USD) per year until it reaches $30K (USD) per year in 2027. Starting in 2023, the legacy $75K (USD) catch-up costs are permanently waived.
We may require consortia of R1 or equivalent institutions to pay membership dues in integer multiples of increments. For consortia, the dues will be determined by a combination of the number of institutions and the number of faculty actively involved in Rubin science. The amount is agreed at the application stage through conversations with the LSST-DA Executive Board and CEO. Consortia in place prior to 2023 (institutions or country-wide memberships) will maintain their existing increment level for dues (e.g., INAF and LIneA).
LSST-DA Membership Application Process
Step 1 | Application
Prospective members prepare a one to two-page document that addresses how their organization would contribute to the LSST-DA mission. This includes a list of relevant individuals with their interests, likely contributions, and relevant activities. Before submitting, applicants have a preliminary conversation with the LSST-DA CEO and/or Membership Committee Chair.
Step 2 | Board Approval
The Membership Committee reviews the proposal and associated input, consults with the LSST-DA CEO, Chair, or other Board members as needed, and makes a recommendation to the full Executive Board. The Executive Board must approve membership with a two-thirds affirmative vote. Membership is immediate upon an affirmative vote or starting on a later date of the member’s choosing.
Member Responsibilities
While members are offered many optional ways to participate in developing and implementing Discovery Alliance programs, there are only a few responsibilities:
- All members must abide by the LSST-DA bylaws, including the requirement to provide six months of notice to withdraw membership.
- All members must assign an Institutional Representative to attend a monthly meeting and share information about LSST-DA programs and opportunities with the institution. Each Institutional Member will have one vote for the Executive Board.
- All standard members must pay dues each calendar year to support LSST-DA operations costs. Dues during the first calendar year will be prorated.