2019 CASPER Workshop & PIRE DSP School

Logistics

Venue

The main venue will be the Center for Astrophysics (60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138) on the campus of Harvard University.

Travel

Most attendees will fly into Boston Logan International airport. Cambridge is a accessible from the airport by taxi, rideshare or public transportation.

  • taxi (20 minutes, approximately $35 with tip)
  • Uber/Lyft are both allowed to pick up passengers from Logan at designated meeting points
  • the Silver Line bus is free of charge and takes you from from Logan to South Station, where you can transfer to the Red Line subway inbound toward the Harvard Square station. Operating hours are limited, so passengers arriving later than about 11:30 pm should plan to taxi.

Most visitors will probably not want to rent a car. For many, driving and parking in the Boston area is an intimidating prospect; however, during work hours, paid parking close to the the radio astronomy offices and labs at 160 Concord Avenue can be arranged. Please let us know in advance of plans in this regard.

Lodging

Participants are responsible for securing their own lodging accomodations. Boston can be expensive. We have negotiated a reduced rate with the Hyatt Cambridge. That hotel is 40 minutes away from the Workshop venue by a combination of walking and public transportation but may be preferred by some attendees for its proximity to the Charles River, Fenway, and Backbay neighborhoods. The reduced rate we had negotiated for the Freepoint Hotel (20 minutes walk to the Workshop venue) is now expired, but booking subject to availability can still be arranged through the Freepoint webpage.

If you plan to make your own arrangements to share accomodations with another CASPER attendee, please check with the hotel to reserve a room with multiple beds. As alternatives, attendees could also consider bed and breakfast accomodations through, for example, Bettina's Network or vacation rentals arranged through homeshare websites.

A map of Cambridge and Boston including the Freepoint and Hyatt hotels is embedded below. The Workshop venue is the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. Click on an icon to obtain more information about the location. Harvard Square (closest), Porter Square, and Central Square (farthest) have concentrations of restaurants, coffee shops and things to do.