Today, Columbia offers a graduate program in astronomy and astrophysics designed to develop creative and independent scientists and teachers for the 21st Century. Our lively community includes faculty, researchers, and students in Astrophysics (Dept. of Physics), Astronomy, Barnard College, and the American Museum of Natural History; there are twenty-six faculty, thirty-five post-doctoral researchers, and thirty-seven graduate students pursuing a wide range of theoretical, observational, and experimental research, details of which can be found below. If you might be interested in joining us in exploring the Universe, please peruse the following description of our graduate program and contact us for further information or to arrange a visit.


Degrees Awarded


The Departments of Astronomy and Physics each offer programs of research in astronomy and astrophysics leading to the Ph.D. degree (see Physics Programs for information on that degree's requirements). The degrees of Master of Arts and Master of Philosophy in Astronomy may also be obtained after one or more years of course work, but students are not normally admitted to pursue these degrees only. Advanced standing can be granted for students admitted with post-bachelor's degrees, based on individual evaluation.


The Program Philosophy


The PhD is awarded for independent, original research. As such, it is qualitatively different from all other degrees and, for most students, from anything they have encountered in their first sixteen years or so of schooling, where the knowledge base was already established, the choice of topics was the teacher's, and success was defined by achievement on papers and exams. Thus, the Astronomy Department has designed its program so that incoming students are engaged in research beginning in the very first week they are on campus. The year begins with ASTROFEST, a day-long event at which all the faculty, post-docs, and current graduate students (and even a few senior undergrads) present talks and posters on their research (accompanied by a generous allocation of comestibles and libations). The following week, first-year students participate in a series of one-hour meetings as a group with each faculty member designed to showcase the range of reasearch projects available; all students must have chosen a project by the end of September. To ensure all students have adequate time to devote to this project, they are exempted from most teaching responsibilities during the first year. This project, along with two, or at most three courses per semester, constitute the work of the first year.

Over the course of the first two years and the two summers following them, students are expected to complete at least two research projects, each with a different faculty member in a different area of astronomy. Both a written report (either an article for publication or something written in the same style) and an oral presentation on the project results are due each September. Often, one of these projects then evolves into the dissertation project, a written proposal for which is to be presented in the first semester of the third year. A three-member faculty committee is assigned to each student to monitor his or her progress throughout the student's time at Columbia.

Coursework includes five required graduate courses (3 points each) plus three additional electives in Astronomy, Physics, or some other department in the Graduate School. Thirty points must be accumulated to obtain the Master of Science degree (3 credits each year for the required research projects accumulate toward this total). By the end of the second year, it is expected that students will have completed the Master's course requirements which includes the 30 points of graduate credit and the two years of residence as a full-time student in the program. Students entering with a Master's degree may be granted advanced standing depending on their performance; this action waives the point and residence units requirements, although most such students still take courses from the curriculum.

The Graduate Student Handbook provides more details on the program and the department.

There is no qualifying examination for PhD candidacy; the final exams of the five required courses fulfill this requirement along with successful completion of the two research projects. Students admitted to candidacy are expected to complete a written dissertation proposal in their third year, present it to their faculty committee, and begin the project. At the end of the third year of residence, the Master of Philosophy Degree is awarded.


The 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.

In 2007 we had positions for six students from an applicant pool of 88. Of the 48 students who have entered the program in the last ten years (1998-2007), 18 have already received the PhD and 28 are still enrolled in the program. Complete, up-to-date statistics for our program in the format sanctioned by the American Astronomical Society can be found here.

Since their inception fifteen years ago years, three of our graduates have won Hubble Fellowships; four have won Chandra 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, Princeton, Caltech, SAO, Washington, and Munich.


Facilities




The Astronomy Department is a partner in the MDM Observatory Consortium and has a 25% share of the 1.3-meter McGraw-Hill telescope and the 2.4-meter Hiltner telescope. Graduate students doing observational research receive a large fraction of the 150 nights per year of observing time on the two telescopes. In addition, the Observatory provides the opportunity for designing, building, testing, and using innovative optical and near-IR instrumentation developed in our laboratories.

The Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, a joint endeavor involving the Astronomy and Physics Departments, has extensive experience in the design and construction of new astronomical instruments for rocket, satellite and Space Shuttle missions as well as ground-based telescopes. Facilities at our Nevis site include laboratories and equipment for testing and assembling experiments, an electronics shop and a well-equipped and highly-skilled instrument machine shop. A fully-equipped machine shop available for student use as well as additional laboratories for instrument development are located in the Department's space in Pupin Labs. Current projects include the X-ray spectrometer on the ESA Newton X-ray Observatory mission, two hard X-ray/gamma-ray telescope balloon payloads, millimeter receivers for Cosmic Microwave Background experiements, instrumentation for the Laser Interferometer Gravity-wave Observatory, UV instrumentation, and CCD cameras for optical astrometry.

The Physics and Astronomy library contains over 40,000 volumes, including essentially all journals relevant to astronomy. The Astronomy Department also has its own supplemental collection of reference books and current major journals.

We hold weekly meetings at which the most important recent papers are discussed. Every week, both Physics and Astronomy colloquia are given by invited speakers. Each Tuesday we meet for Pizza Lunch, at which short communications from visitors, faculty and students keep everyone apprised of the research activities in astronomy and astrophysics in the two Departments.

The Astrophysics Laboratory and Astronomy Department maintain a large network of Linux Workstations, three linux clusters, 100 terabytes of disk storage, high density tape drives, monochrome and color laser printers, PC's and graphics terminals. All offices have connections to these machines through an Ethernet network, and all students are provided with a workstation on their desks. Full versions of AIPS, FIGARO, IRAF, XTOOLS, IDL and other standard astronomical packages are supported.

In addition to MDM, we regularly observe with telescopes at KPNO, CTIO, Lick, and Keck observatories as well as with the VLA and other radio facilities. Faculty have current active programs using past, present, and future space missions including RXTE, Chandra, XMM-Newton, HST, GALEX, and Spitzer. The systems administrator on the staff of the Astrophysics Lab maintain all the data analysis systems used for these facilities.


Financial Aid


Admission to the Ph.D. program in Astronomy carries with it a commitment of full financial support subject only to the condition that the student is making satisfactory progress toward the doctoral degree. This position carries a stipend of $28,000 (in 2007-2008) for twelve months plus full waiver of tuition and fees. Consistent with our emphasis on early research involvement, first-year students are not required to assume formal teaching obligations, although to provide useful exposure to the scope of their future educational role, they are expected to provide some assistance to the regular teaching fellows in setting up laboratory sessions (this amounts to less than 5 hours per week for eleven weeks each semester). The principal activities of first-year students are course work and the vigorous pursuit of the initial research project. In the next two years, most students act as laboratory instructors and graders for professors teaching the introductory astronomy courses (10-12 hours per week). During the first two summers, students are expected to concentrate on their research projects in preparation for their presentations in September. Some students will spend some or all of a summer at a national observatory or some other research facility, while many will remain in New York to work with their faculty mentors.

Some students receive fellowships carrying no specific duties which are awarded by federal agencies and private foundations; information concerning such awards is available in your department or by contacting the Department of Astronomy at Columbia. Foreign students are invited to apply; they receive the same level of support throughout as US students.


Housing


The University provides housing near campus for graduate students who are registered full time. There are two types of housing: traditional dormitory facilities through University Residence Halls, and University- owned apartments managed by Columbia Real Estate Management. The dormitory facilities include single rooms as well as suites and apartments for single and married students; furnishings and utilities are included. Rates vary according to size of room, type of accomodation, and length of stay (9 months versus 12 months). The University-owned apartments are leased on an annual basis. Rents vary according to size and location and whether furnishings are included. Housing is guaranteed for the first five years; beyond five years of study it is continued at the discretion of the Dean's office and is determined by availability and by timely progress towards the degree. This guarantee of nearby, subsidized housing makes living in New York City on a graduate student stipend both practical and convenient, and helps foster the sense of community on which our Department prides itself -- most of the faculty also live in University housing within six blocks of campus.


Further Information


For further information about Astronomy at Columbia, the University, and its surroundings please consult the following resources.


Addresses


  • Department of Astonomy

    1328 Pupin Physics Laboratories
    Mailcode 5246
    550 West 120 Street
    Columbia University
    New York, NY 10027

    (212) 854-3278
    (212) 854-8121 FAX

    mgarcia@astro.columbia.edu

  • Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

    107 Low Memorial Library
    Mailcode 4304
    535 West 116th Street
    Columbia University
    New York, NY 10027

    (212) 854-4737
    (212) 854-2863 FAX



2006 November 30 djh@astro.columbia.edu