Dean's
Research & Career
Resources &
Awards,
Department
CNS/UT
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 60 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. |
Awards and Events
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.
Sarah Miller accepts the George Mitchell Undergraduate Award for Academic Excellence, 2008.
Left to right: University of Texas President William Powers Jr.,
Sarah Miller, Astronomy Undergraduate Advisor Dr. Shardha Jogee, College of Natural Sciences Associate Dean David Laude
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, "Binary Quasar Candidates in SDSS," can be seen outside Prof. Greg Shields office, RLM 15.224.
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).
High School Education Outreach
at the Houston Museum of Natural Science!
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