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Astronomy was first taught at Columbia in 1757 and, during the intervening 247 years, has formed an important part of the University's curriculum, both as a discipline in which new scholars are trained, and as an introduction to the methodologies and perspectives of science for students pursuing other areas of inquiry. Columbia's first telescope was lent to George Washington for use in the Battle of Long Island; both the telescope and the battle were lost. It was thus not until 1857 that the first Professor of Astronomy was appointed. Early research highlights included the the first applications of photography to stellar astrometry and spectroscopy (1863), and the first use of "modern" computing engines for calculations and data reduction (1934).
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, and the American Museum of Natural History; there are twenty-four faculty, eighteen post-doctoral researchers, and thirty-four 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.
Topics
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.
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).
First-year students are expected to talk with faculty before and
immediately following this event, and to choose their first research
project. 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, and preferably three
research projects, each with a different faculty member. 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
semster 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 in the first year consists primarily of an intensive
two-semester sequence: Astrophysics
I/II plus additional electives in Astronomy, Physics, or some other
department in the Graduate School. The first-year courses typically
comprise 15 of the 30 points that must be accumulated to obtain
the Master of Science degree (3 credits each year for the required research
projects also 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.
A written PhD qualifying exam consisting of a four-hour test in physics
and a similar exam in astronomy is administered to all first-year students
in June of each year. Students failing to pass one or both parts of this
exam are given an opportunity to retake it in January of their second
year. Successful completion of the exam is required for admittance to PhD
candidacy. Other requirements include successful completion of the
Master's degree course work, and demonstrated success in research.
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 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 2004, we had positions for five new students from an applicant pool of
55. Of the 33 students who have entered the program in the last ten
years (1994-2003), nine have already received the
PhD and 17 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 thirteen years ago years, three of our graduates have won Hubble Fellowships; in addition,
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.
The Program
Philosophy
The Program Results
Facilities
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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 SUN and Linux Workstations, 6 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 CGRO, ASCA, ROSAT, RXTE, Chandra,
XMM-Newton, HST, GALEX, and Spitzer. Systems
programmers on the staff of the Astrophysics Lab maintain all the data
analysis systems used for these facilities.
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 $25,333 (in 2005-2006) 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 4 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.
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.
For further information about Astronomy at Columbia, the University, and
its surroundings please consult the following resources.
Financial Aid
Housing
Further Information
Addresses
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| 2004 August 1 | djh@astro.columbia.edu |