Graduate Program Results

The national median time to obtain an Astronomy PhD has remained at 7.0 ± 0.2 years since 1982. At Columbia over the last ten years, the median time to degree has been 6 years, with a range of 4 to 8; only three students have taken seven years or more. There is, however, no strict time limit — the only criterion for continued support is that the student be making satisfactory progress toward the degree.

Since their inception fifteen years ago years, five of our graduates have won Hubble Fellowships, two have won the Sagan Fellowship, four have won Chandra Fellowships, two have won Jansky Fellowships, and two have won the annual Trumpler Award for the Outstanding Dissertation by a Student in North America. Others have gone on to postdoctoral fellowships at institutions such as Berkeley, Harvard, Princeton, Caltech, SAO, Washington, and Munich.

Careers Paths of our Alumni

2010
  • Emily RauscherSagan Fellow, Univeristy of Arizona
  • Cien ShangKITP Fellow, UCSB
  • Sephanie TonnesenLyman Spitzer Fellow, Princeton University
  • Sarah TuttlePostdoc, University of Texas
  • Jessica WerkIMPS Postdoctoral Fellow, UCSC
2009
  • Antara Basu-ZychPostdoc, NASA / Goddard, Maryland
  • Sasha HinkleyCarl Sagan Fellow, Caltech
  • Ian McGreerPostdoc, University of Arizona
  • Maria PereiraPostdoc, University of Arizona
  • Jennifer DonovanPostdoc, Stony Brook
2008
  • Steven MuchovejNSF Fellowship, Caltech
  • Tony MroczkowskiPostdoc, University of PA
  • David SpiegelPostdoc, Princeton University
  • Pietro ReviglioArtist
2007
  • Benjamin JohnsonPost Doc, Cambridge
  • Andreea PetricPost Doc, Caltech
  • Michel ZamojskiPost Doc, Caltech
2006
  • Moo Kwang (Ryan) JoungPost Doc, Columbia
  • ... Post Doc, Princeton
  • Andrei MesingerHubble Fellow, Princeton
  • ... Post Doc, Yale
  • Aeree ChungSMA Fellow, Harvard CfA
  • ... Jansky Fellow, UMass
2005
  • Eliat GilkmanNSF Fellow, Yale
  • ...Post Doc, Caltech
  • Suvi GezariHubble Fellow, Assoc. Research Scientist, Johns Hopkins
  • ... Post Doc, Caltech & Marsellies
  • Yuexing LiAsst. Prof of Astronomy, Penn State
  • ... Post Doc, Harvard
  • Mark DijkstraPost Doc, Harvard
  • ... Post Doc, Melbourne & Harvard
  • Miranda JacksonPost Doc, Univ. of Manitoba
2004
  • Jacob Noel-StorrAsst. Research Scientist, Rochester Inst. of Technology
  • ...Post Doc, University of Arizona
  • Nestor MirabelPost Doc, Columbia University
  • ... Post Doc, University of Michigan
  • Tzu-Ching ChangPost Doc, CITA (Toronto)
  • ... Post Doc, University of California, Berkeley
  • Benjamin SugermanAsst. Prof., Gaucher College
  • ... Post Doc, STScI
  • Don Neill IIIResearch Scientish, Caltech
  • ... Post Doc, University of Victoria, British Columbia
2003
  • Akimi Fijutaleft field
  • ... Post Doc, University of California, Santa Barbara
2002
  • Robert UglesichResearch Scientist, Center for Biomathematical Sciences
2001
2000
  • Edgar SmithFinancial Services
1999
  • Elizabeth BlantonAssistant Professor, Boston University
  • ... Chandra Fellow, University of Virginia
  • ... Post Doc, University of Virginia
  • ... Post Doc, Carnegie Mellon (SDSS)
  • ... McKinsey and Company Ari Buchalter
  • ... Caltech Prize Fellowship
1998
  • Catherine CressSr. Lecturer, University of the Western Cape
  • Lecturer, Natal University
  • ... Post Doc, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Munich
  • ... Lecturer, Oxford University, UK Adrianne Slyz
  • ... Post Doc, Oxford University, UK
  • ... Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg
  • Karl FosterResearch Scientist, Caltech
  • ... Post Doc, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
  • O. Matt UmurhanAdj. Prof of Astronomy, City College of San Francisco
  • ... Post Doc, Technion, Haifa, Israel
  • ... Post Doc, Stanford University
1997
  • Alexandre RefregierTenured Faculty, Saclay, Paris
  • ... Post Doc, Cambridge University
  • ... Post Doc, Princeton University
  • Eugene Thomasleft field
  • ... Assistant Professor, St. John's College, Santa Fe
  • David SchiminovichAssistant Professor, Columbia University
  • ... Post Doc, Cal Tech
  • Ilana HarrusPost Doc, Goddard Space Flight Center
  • ... Post Doc, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
1996
  • Yihu FangFinancial Services
  • Sophia YancopoulosPost Doc (Biology)
  • ... Visiting Asst. Prof., Vassar College
  • Hayley RichmanFederal Reserve Bank of New York
  • ... Moore Capital
  • ... Goldman-Sachs
  • John HibbardStaff Scientist, NRAO
  • ... Jansky Fellow, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
  • ... Hubble Fellow, University of Hawaii
  • *** Winner of the Trumpler Award, given annually for the best Ph.D. Dissertation in North America
  • Robert OllingScientific Staff, US Naval Observatory
  • ... Post Doc, Rutgers University
  • ... Post Doc, Southampton University, UK
  • Xiaoming FanComputing industry
  • Edward MoranAssociate Professor, Wesleyan University
  • ... Assistant Professor, Wesleyan University
  • ... Chandra Fellow, University of California, Berkeley
  • ... Post Doc, University of California, Berkeley
  • ... IGPP Fellow, University of California
  • Philip YeckoAssostant, Montclair State College, NJ Philip Yecko
  • ... Biosphere2, Columbia University
  • ... Lecturer, Dublin
  • ... Post Doc, Paris
  • ... Post Doc, University of Florida (Physics)
1994
  • Hongsheng ZhaoAssistant Professor, St. Andrews University, Scotland
  • ... Post Doc, Cambridge, England
  • ... Post Doc, Leiden University, Netherlands
  • ... Post Doc, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Munich
1993
  • Eric GotthelfResearch Scientist, Columbia University
  • ... Staff Scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
  • Kun XuAssistant Professor, Hong Kong University
  • ... Post Doc, Princeton University
  • James Termanleft field
  • ... Post Doc, Northwestern University
  • Pauline McMahonPsychological Services
  • ... Post Doc, MIT
1992
  • Elsevier PublishersPublishing Editor
  • ... Science Editor, Kluwer Publishers
  • Sandip GhosalPost Doc, Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Labs
  • ... Post Doc, NASA Ames Research Center
  • Michael EracleousAssociate Professor, Penn State University
  • ... Assistant Professor, Penn State University
  • ... Hubble Fellow, UC Berkeley
  • ... Post Doc, Space Telescope Science Institute
  • Binbin HuEngineering
1991
  • Neil TysonLecturer, Princeton University
  • ... Director, Hayden Planetarium
  • ... Post Doc, Princeton University
1990
  • Xioayi Wuleft field
  • ... Post Doc, University of Washington, Seattle
  • ... Staff Scientist, Center for EUV Astrophysics, Berkeley
  • Q. Daniel WangProfessor, University of Massachusetts
  • ... Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts
  • ... Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts
  • ... Assistant Research Professor, Northwestern University
  • ... Lindheimer Fellow, Northwestern University
  • ... Hubble Fellow, University of Colorado
  • *** Winner of the Trumpler Award, given annually for the best Ph.D. Dissertation in North America
  • Saeid ZoonematkermaniResearch Staff, UCLA
  • ... Staff Scientist, SUNY Stony Brook
  • ... Post Doc, SUNY Stony Brook