Undergraduate Program in Astronomy
The Department of Astronomy at UT Austin is one of the top 10 astronomy research programs in the United States. Our faculty members are among the worldwide leaders in cosmology, galaxies, stars, the interstellar medium, planets, the solar system, and instrumentation. With twenty-two active teaching faculty, seventeen research scientists, a number of research associates and postdoctoral fellows, 45 graduate and 90 undergraduate students, the department fosters a stimulating and friendly atmosphere that promotes intellectual development and diversity.
Our undergraduate students have the rare opportunity to take classes from, and conduct research with, some of the world's top astronomers. After students complete some core courses, our faculty/staff offer them exciting research opportunities, where they work with data taken by NASA's telescopes and with ground-based telescopes all over the world, including our own McDonald Observatory in West Texas.
We reward excellence in our students through a Freshman Prize for Excellence and numerous merit and research awards for advanced undergraduate students including the Karl G. Henize endowed scholarship, the Board of Visitors scholarship, and the Outstanding Senior Award. We provide financial support for our students to travel to conferences and observatories, including our McDonald Observatory in West Texas, where they benefit from the world's largest telescopes, advanced instrumentation, and dark skies. (Undergraduate Awards)
The Astronomy program helps to prepare undergraduate students for further education in graduate school or/and many career paths spanning education, research, computing, government and journalism. And above all, it gives students the opportunity to join the great intellectual adventures and explorations of astronomy.
If you have questions, please contact us at:
Student Coordinator
Department of Astronomy
RLM 15.202AA
Austin, TX 78712
phone: (512) 471-3350
fax: (512) 471-6016
hours: M-F: 8-12, 1-5 PM
Freshman Research Initiative (FRI) 'Astronomy Stream' Students Work in Research for Publication
Undergraduate Freshmen are conducting independent research designed for publication through the University's Freshman Research Initiative (FRI). One of the program's 'Astronomy Streams', supervised by Professor Don Winget and Research Scientist Mike Montgomery, conducts research on White Dwarfs, objects at the spectacular end of stellar life. A myriad of interesting problems can be explored with White Dwarfs, says Dr. Montgomery, such as the age of the Milky Way disk, and how dense, stellar plasma crystallizes. While leading edge, FRI students are not a small group. 25% percent of the College of Natural Sciences freshman class participates. The astronomy group has worked in ground breaking published research. Says Mike, "When you expect a lot of students, that's when you get a lot back." A second 'Astronomy Stream', "Cosmic Dawn," uses one of the world's largest computers to simulate the early universe. Freshman can work with Professor Paul Shapiro to analyze how the first galaxies formed, using visualizations of the large scale structure of the universe.
1st Annual Texas Astronomy Undergraduate Research Symposium to be Held September 23, 2011
The University of Texas at Austin Department of Astronomy will be hosting the first annual Texas Astronomy Undergraduate Research Symposium on Friday, Sep. 23, 2011. Undergraduates from central Texas are invited to give 10 minute talks on their astronomy research, based on either their summer or academic year research projects. Other students, postdocs, and faculty are invited to attend and hear about the first-rate research being done by these undergraduates.
Undergraduate Research Symposium
Krista Smith Wins Outstanding Senior Award
Binary Quasar
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. Krista is co-author on two other published papers, one submitted paper, and has given scientific seminars at UCSC, UC Berkeley, and Rice University.
Caroline Caldwell
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. She is now working on Jupiter exoplanet analogues with Michael Endl. Michelle developed analysis software to investigate the chemistry of young stars and protoplanetary systems with Neal Evans and Joel Green. 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.
...see more at in the News
Astronomy Students Association
Freshman Research Initiative
Exploring the Universe with White Dwarf Stars
ASA Trip to McDonald Observatory
Fern Bluff Elementary Outreach
Awards & Events
In addition to the recent Board of Visitors award, George Miller has been awarded a 2011/2012 Unrestricted Endowed Presidential Scholarship. The UEPS program is considered one of the most notable scholarship offers for UT students.
Harrison Stinnet, a second-year astronomy student, was awarded the McDonald Observatory's Summer Student Internship. He spent his summer in the mountains of Ft. Davis hosting tours, staffing the telescope during Star Parties, and working with the astronomers at our world-class resesearch observatory.
Caroline Caldwell and James Diekmann received 2011/2012 grants from the Walton Endowment to conduct research at McDonald Observatory.
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