Department Fact Sheet


(September 2009)

Department Overview

  • UCSC astronomy researchers are the most highly cited in US space science, according to the recent Kinney study (2008arXiv0811.0311)
  • UCSC Physics is most highly cited physics faculty in US in the latest ISI study
  • Leading program areas
    - Galaxy formation and cosmology
    - Extra-solar planets, solar system formation, star formation
    - High-energy astrophysics: GRBs, compact objects, supernovae
    - Instrumentation: adaptive optics, optical/near-IR spectrographs
  • Sample key discoveries:
    - Comprehensive Cold Dark Matter theory for galaxy and structure formation
    - The largest distance galaxies surveys at z~1 and z <6
    - The "collapsar" theory for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)
    - UC Berkeley and UCSC perfected the Doppler technique for finding extrasolar planets. Over half of all known extrasolar planets were discovered by this team
    - Co-invention of the laser guide-star for adaptive optics
    - Conceptual design for Thirty-Meter telescope project
  •  World-class facilities (Keck, Lick, Adaptive Optics Lab, Pleiades super-computer)
  • Partnerships with Physics, Applied Math and Statistics, Earth and Planetary Sciences
    - Theoretical Astrophysics Santa Cruz (TASC): a theory institute uniting 18 faculty in Astronomy, Physics, Applied Math, and EPS, the largest computational astrophysics group in the world
  • Major projects and research groups (e.g., DEEP/AEGIS, First Galaxies, SEGUE, Fermi/GLAST, SciDAC, SCIPP, Via Lactea)
  • Science educator and teacher-training programs (CfAO, ISEE, PIE)
  • Moore Foundation granted $250 M to start Thirty-Meter Telescope project, sited on Mauna Kea; first-light spectrograph MOBIE is based at UCSC
  • Fermi/GLAST gamma-ray satellite was started by UCSC Physics  and launched in May 2008; UCSC programs feature GRBs and dark-matter detection/annihilation
  • Kepler satellite to detect transiting extrasolar planets was launched Mar 6, 2009; UCSC programs feature models of hot jupiters, neptunes, and super-earths

Selected awards and honors from 2008-09

  • Claire Max was elected to the NAS and received the Madison Medal of the Princeton Graduate School
  • Sandra Faber received the Bower Award and Prize for Science from the Franklin Institute in April
  • Jonathan Fortney was a Kavli Fellow in 2008
  • Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz won a Packard Fellowship
  • Mark Krumholz won a Sloan Fellowship
  • Greg Laughlin directed the best UCSC undergraduate thesis, for second time

Science highlights from 2008-09

  • Laughlin et al. made the first computation of “weather” on an exoplanet, the hot Jupiter HD 80606b, published in Nature
  • Krumholz et al. resolved the mystery of how massive stars manage to form despite radiation pressure, in Science
  • Lin summarized current wisdom on the genesis of solar systems in the May issue of Scientific American
  • Prochaska’s group announced the first detection of a star-forming region of a distant galaxy using spectroscopy of a GRB afterglow
  • Fortney’s paper on classifying the atmospheric signatures of hot jupiters was the most-cited theory paper in planetary sciences in 2008
  • Madau’s group computed the highest-resolution dark-matter simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy (Via Lactea) and used it to predict that self-annihilation of dark-matter particles would be detectable with Fermi/GLAST
  • Faber gave AAS plenary talk on new “main sequence” model of galaxy evolution

The Graduate Program

Recent graduating PhD’s 2008-09

  • Three graduating PhD’s (out of five this year) won Hubble Fellowships; one also won a Miller Fellowship at UC Berkeley;  prize fellowships offered at Caltech, Princeton,  LLNL, CfA, NASA, Plaskett, U Texas, Yale, OCIW
  • Mark Ammons (black holes, instrumentation): Hubble Fellow at Arizona for 18 months, then Lawrence Fellow at  LLNL for three years
  • Genevieve Graves (galaxy formation, stellar populations): Miller Fellowship at UC Berkeley (also Hubble Fellow at Princeton, declined)
  • Evan Kirby (galaxy formation, Local Group): Hubble Fellow at Caltech
  • Sally Robinson (PhD 2008) accepted tenure-track position at UT Austin

Sample grad science highlights and activities 2008- 09

  • We think that UCSC has the highest number of NSF graduate fellowhsips of any astronomy porgram in the US - last year, four more grads won fellowships
  • Genevieve Graves decoded stellar populations on the early-type fundamental plane and gave ten invited talks at conferences and leading astronomy departments
  • Evan Kirby discovered the long-sought metal-poor stars in Milky Way dwarf satellites
  • Javiera Guedes determined that a habitable planet likely exists and could be detected around Alpha Cen; featured widely on ABC news, Space.com, etc.
  • Karrie Gilbert developed a technique to identify red giants in the outer reaches of M31; this work was featured in Astronomy magazine and the Discovery Channel
  • Kirsten Howley was awarded prize sabbatical for collaborative work at LLNL
  • Mark Ammons got the first optical AO system to work on the LAO 10-m testbed

Grad program facts

  • Vision statement: The Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at UCSC aims to provide an intellectually rich, vibrant, and challenging graduate student program that uses forefront astrophysics research as the main training tool to prepare and support its students for a range of career options.
  • Composition: 38 students; 50-50 male-female; 1/3 theory, 2/3 observational and/or instrumental.
  • Grad funding: Standard first-year grad stipend is $27,900 including 100% summer
  • Revised academic requirements: two years of classes (on quarter system), 7 required courses plus 4 electives; First-Year Rresearch Project spanning Years 1 and 2; written Prelim Exam at end of second year; Board Review covers overall performance in classes+research at end of first two years; thesis topic exam (Qual), final thesis defense. See: http://astro.ucsc.edu/degree_requirements.
  • Courses: Required courses alternate each year; this year was a Stars year, next year will be a Galaxies year. Reworked, streamlined curriculum starting 2009. Wide choice of electives. Courses in Physics, Applied Math, Earth and Planetary, and Computer Sciences are available and encouraged.
  • Research: Research is a major focus of grad program - interact with distingquished world-class faculty starting right away. Fall Research Seminar (AY 205) helps you find topic, GSR provides support for your first summer and second year.
  • Unique teaching/training/outreach experiences: CfAO Institute for Science and Engineering Educators (ISEE), Program for Inmate Education (PIE), community college classes, COSMOS summer high school program, CfAO Professional Development Workshops in Hawaii, and more. Nearly all grads particpate.
  • Female Friendly: 5 (out of 22) faculty, 50% female grads, illustrious at all levels
  • Milestones: Department timeline sets guidelines for courses, research, papers, meeting attendance, external talks, external letter writers, and future research goals. The blueprint is at Timleine 2009 - 10.
  • Weekly events for grads: Daily AM coffee (colloquium coffee, Journal Club coffee), CosmoClub seminar, CODEP seminar, Physics colloquium, Astro colloquium (grads take speaker to lunch and dinner), FLASH seminar more.....
  • Time to degree: Median is 5.5 years; goal is 5 years, with 6 years max
  • Where our grads go: 85% remain in Astronomy…most are faculty or staff at leading institutions, some at teaching colleges, support astronomers, government and public-service, a handful in business and industry.

Affliated units and facilities

  • University of California Observatories (UCO): 2/3 of Astronomy faculty are UCO astronomers, 1/3 are 100% in Department (mostly theorists)
  • Center for Adaptive Optics (CfAO) and Moore Laboratory for Adaptive Optics (LAO): instrument theses, teacher-training programs
  • Other units:
    - Physics, including Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics (SCIPP): Fermi-GLAST, VERITAS, dark-matter, GR, LHC, particle-astrophysics, early Universe
    - Earth and Planetary Sciences, including Center for the Origin and Development of planets (CODEP): Solar System bodies (asteroids, Mars), space experiments
    - Applied Math and Statistics (AMS): computational astrophysics, stellar convection, protosolar nebulae, Bayesian statistics
    - Theoretical Astrophysics Santa Cruz (TASC): 18 faculty in Astronomy, Physics, Applied Math and Statistics, and Earth and Planetary Sciences in computational astrophysics
    - Institute for Scientist and Engineering Educators (ISEE): a new institute founded by CfAO to train science and engineering graduate students as future educators
  • Facilities whose data and equipment you can use:
    - Keck (twin 10 m telescopes), Lick (3 m, 1 m, Automated Planet Finder (APF))
    - Competitive access to Hubble, Spitzer, Chandra, GALEX
    - Fermi/GLAST, VERITAS in Physics; NUSTAR (high-energy X-ray) in planning
    - Pleiades mini-supercomputer on campus, competitive access to world’s best supercomputers off campus
    - UCO instrument shops, Moore Adaptive Optics Lab on campus

Useful web pages

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