MCDONALD OBSERVATORY
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
Research Experience for Undergraduates
in Astronomy and Engineering
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The Program Observatories are more than just places where astronomers go to conduct observations and then forgotten when they return to their home universities; they are unique mixtures of pure and applied science. Observatories rely on engineers and astronomers with unique sets of skills: engineers with knowledge of astronomical techniques and astronomers with knowledge of engineering. But where could anyone develop such skills? University of Texas McDonald Observatory, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope and the National Science Foundation are proud to present a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site that will bridge this gap and provide undergraduates a unique experience that will encourage them to pursue careers in instrumentation, astronomical engineering and support astronomy.
There will be a broad range of projects from observational astrophysics to engineering projects. Students choosing
pure research projects will spend some of their time working with the engineering students on their projects. A strong
background in astronomy is not required, even from those wishing to do astronomy research projects, because on-site
introductory astronomy, instrumentation lectures and weekly scientific seminars will be provided. Regardless of
the project that the student chooses, all students will spend time observing with the queue scheduled 9.2-m Hobby-Eberly
Telescope and several of the other McDonald Telescopes. At present, there are five operating telescopes:
9.2-m Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET), the 2.7-m Harlan J. Smith Telescope, 2.1-m Otto Struve Telescope, the 0.9-m
Telescope and the 0.8-m Telescope. The Observatory is equipped with a wide range of state-of-the-art instrumentation
for imaging and spectroscopy in the optical and infrared.
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