Undergraduate Program in the News
Krista Smith Wins Outstanding Senior Award
Binary Quasars
10 May 2011
Krista Smith is the winner of the Outstanding Senior Award for 2011. Krista began a search for binary quasars in 2008 with Dr. Greg Shields, visually inspecting 25,000 candidates and identifying 150. Her work, published in the June 2010 Astrophysical Journal, on which she is the first author, has received many citiations in the refereed literature. Several groups are conducting studies of her objects. Krista has presented the work at three meetings of the AAS. Krista is co-author on two other published papers, a submitted paper, and has given scientific seminars at UCSC, UC Berkeley, and Rice University. A mulitple award winner, she won the hightly competitive George Mitchell Award for Academic Excellence in 2010.
Top: Ellis, Caldwell
Bottom: Miller, Rascati
5 May 2011
Caroline Caldwell and Michelle Rascati are winners of the Karl G. Henize Endowed Scholarship for 2011. Caroline, a summer intern at McDonald Observatory's Visitors Center, worked with Beverley Wills on the optical polarization of blazars, presenting a poster at the January AAS meeting. She is now working on Jupiter exoplanet analogues with Michael Endl. Michelle Rascati developed analysis software to investigate the chemistry of young stars and protoplanetary systems with Neal Evans and Joel Green, participating in a paper published in ApJ Letters. The Board of Visitors Scholarship has been awarded to George Miller and Jennifer Ellis. George is co-author of two refereed papers on long period planets orbiting binary stars, a surprising discovery by an international team, with Don Winget and Mike Montgomery. Jennifer Ellis, working with the same team, developed a statistical model using white dwarf pulsation modes, that is the foundation for follow-up observations in a planet hunt.
Krista Smith
16 August 2010
Daniel Oppenheimer profiles award winning Astronomy Undergraduate Krista Smith for Texas Science, the news magazine of the College of Natural Sciences.
27 May 2008
The University of Texas features outstanding students from the Class of 2008. Sarah Miller is profiled by Daniel Oppenheimer, "Rhodes Scholar explores mysteries of space and faith".
Astronomy Undergraduate Award Winners Among Top UT Science Talent
13 May 2008
Kyle Penner and Sarah Miller have been selected as two of 18 Dean's Honored Graduates across the College of Natural Sciences for 2007-2008. Dean's Honored Graduates are selected from the top 1% of the graduating class, for academic excellence and outstanding contributions outside the classroom. Sarah Miller was also selected in 2008 as one of 32 Rhodes Scholars from the United States from a field of 764 applicants.
Astronomy Undergraduate Selected as Rhodes Scholar
20 November 2007
Astronomy undergraduate Sarah Miller has been selected as one of 32 Rhodes Scholars from the United States for 2008. The winners were chosen from 764 applicants. The scholarship selects outstanding students, on the basis of character, academic achievement and leadership potential, to study at Oxford University for up to three years. Previous Rhodes Scholars include Edwin Hubble and U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Sarah is a Dean's Scholar pursuing Honors degrees in Astronomy and Physics.
Astronomy Undergraduates Win Awards Across the University
4 May 2007
The Department of Astronomy has awarded Alexander Fry, Sarah Miller and Ross Falcon the Karl G. Henize endowed scholarship for academic excellence, the Board of Visitors scholarship for overall performance and the Outstanding Senior award for overall performance, respectively. Sarah Miller and Kyle Penner were awarded best oral presentation at the College of Natural Sciences research forum, by a panel of non-astronomy faculty and industry scientists. Kyle Penner has also won the R.W. and Kathleen Lindsey Unrestricted Endowed Presidential Scholarship from the University of Texas.
Q&A with Astronomer Shardha Jogee: Cuttting Edge Galaxy
Surveys and Education Outreach (PDF)
Insight - Newsletter of the College of Natural Sciences
Spring 2007
The last few years have been exciting ones for Shardha Jogee, an assistant professor of astronomy and one of the investigators on several of the largest and deepest surveys of galaxies conducted to date using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Her research has demonstrated, among other things, that "barred" galaxies (like the Milky Way) have been around for billions of years longer than was previously thought. Jogee, relying on science grants from both NASA and the National Science Foundation, has also started an educational outreach program entitled "Building a Bridge to Texas High School Science Teachers and Students," to entice high school students into the study of astronomy and astrophysics...
High School Education Outreach at the Houston Museum of Natural
Science in January!
27 January 2007
The University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences and Department of Astronomy join forces today with the Houston Museum of Natural Science to deliver a program for High School Students in the Houston Area. The special event is designed to match the rich resources of the University of Texas with students looking for opportunities in Science. A portion of the program will survey some of the most exciting areas in Astronomy, "The Search for Extrasolar Planets, Structure and Evolution of Galaxies, Dark Matter and Dark Energy."
Department of Astronomy Award Winners: Kyle Penner, Chad Gardner, Justin Lowrey and Douglas Steimle
2 May 2006
The Undergraduate Studies Executive Committee has announced the winners of four Department of Astronomy Awards. The Karl G. Henize endowed scholarship, for excellent academic performance, goes to Kyle Penner. For excellent overall performance, the Board of Visitors (BoV) scholarship is awarded to Chad Gardner. The Outstanding Senior Award, recognizing outstanding overall performance, is awarded to Justin Lowrey. The Astronomy Freshman Prize for Excellence is awarded to Douglas Steimle.
Astronomy Undergrads Use Research Opportunities
13 April 2006
Four Astronomy Undergraduates recently presented research at the College of Natural Sciences Undergraduate Research Forum 2006. Liz Hill-Aiello, Ashley Davis, Ross Falcon and Kyle Penner found opportunities with Astronomy Department researchers studying black holes, galaxy mergers and the local interstellar medium. Undergraduate students are encouraged to explore the opportunites and funding still available.
College of Natural Sciences Recognizes Three Astronomy Undergraduates with Research Awards
2 December 2005
Three Department of Astronomy Undergraduates have applied and won awards from the College of Natural Sciences Undergraduate Research Program. Liz Hill-Aiello, Ashley Davis and Allen Kyle Lake each have received funding to support projects on different aspects of the evolution of galaxies and black holes. They will work under the direction of Professors Shardha Jogee and Greg Shields. Their projects involve radio, optical, and X-ray data from ground-base telescopes and the space-based Hubble Space Telescope.
New Awards Available to Undergraduate Astronomy Students
1 November 2005
Four new categories of awards have been established for undergraduate majors in Astronomy. The new funds will offset travel expenses for undergraduates conducting research, reward the most outstanding High School applicant to the program, and recognize undergraduate excellence in research. The new opportunities supplement existing awards available to 3rd, 4th and final year students.
Falcon, Irwin, Vicenek, Ramirez Win
Astronomy Department Awards for
3 June 2005
Three undergraduates and one graduate student have won awards from the Department of Astronomy for 2004-2005. Ross Falcon was awarded the Karl G. Henize Memorial Scholarship, Sierra Irwin the Board of Visitors Undergraduate Scholarship, and Chad Vicenek the Outstanding Senior Award. This year, all three awards carried a $500 prize. In a strong field, Ivan Ramirez won the Board of Visitors Outstanding Second Year Research Defense, for "Oxygen Abundances in Nearby Disk Stars." Advisors to Ramirez are Carlos Allende Prieto and David Lambert.
Astronomy Ceremony Honors Five Undergraduate Degree Recipients
16 May 2005
Five undergraduates were honored Friday, May 5 at a Department of Astronomy graduation ceremony. Two will receive the Bachelor of Arts, and three the Bachelor of Science in Astronomy. The graduates are Christian Iverson Johnson, Karen Leigh Menezes, Diana Elizabeth Smith, Chad Joseph Vicenik and Jocelly Marie Guie Wong. Astronomy faculty and students comprised a string quartet for the program, which included a recitation in Latin, and remarks from Chair Don Winget, Undergraduate Advisor Karl Gebhardt, Undergraduate Studies Chair Greg Shields and Observatory Director David Lambert.
Other Awards & Events
Krista Smith, winner of the 2010 George Mitchell Under-graduate Award for Academic Excellence, is a 2010-2011 Dean's Honored Graduate.
Aditi Raye Allen, a Dean's Scholar and Plan II Honor's Student, is the winner of the Floy Agnew Endowed Presidential Scholarship for 2009-2010.
Krista Smith is the winner of the United Space Alliance Award for Excellence in Astronomy Research at the College of Natural Sciences 2009 Research Forum. Her winning poster was "Binary Quasar Candidates in SDSS."
Sarah Miller accepts the George Mitchell Undergraduate Award for Academic Excellence, 2008.
Left to right: Univ. of Texas President William Powers Jr., Sarah Miller, Astronomy Ugrad Advisor Dr. Shardha Jogee, CNS Associate Dean David Laude. [click to enlarge]
Astronomy Undergraduates present their research at the College of Natural Sciences Undergraduate Research Forum, 2006.
Left to right: Liz Hill-Aiello (Awakening the Central Black Hole in Galaxies) Ashley Davis (The Biggest Black Holes in the Universe), Ross Falcon (Through the Thick and Thin: Density Measurements of the Local Interstellar Medium) and Kyle Penner (Characterizing Mergers of Galaxies at Early Cosmic Epochs). [click to enlarge]
High School Education Outreach at the Houston Museum of Natural Science!
