The Astronomy group would like to increase interactions with our undergraduate majors and minors. This page lists resources (both local and national) available to undergraduates with an interest in astronomy.
Information on the undergraduate major and minor can be found on the academics page.
Seminars and Journal Club
Anyone with an interest in Astronomy is welcomed to attend our (semi-)weekly Journal Club and Seminars.
In Journal Club, faculty, grad students, and sometimes undergraduates present an overview of a recent research paper to the rest of the Astronomy group. There are typically 1-2 presentations per week, and these are very informal. This is a good way to learn about the latest developments in all fields of Astronomy.
For our Seminars, we bring guest speakers from around the country to talk to us about their research. Typically, we pick speakers with research interests aligned with those of the different researchers in our group.
The current schedules for both Journal Club and Astronomy Seminars can always be found from the links off the main Astronomy group webpage.
Colloquia
Undergrads are also encouraged to attend the weekly Physics and Astronomy Departmental Colloquia, every Tues. starting at 4:15pm in Harriman 137 (cookies and coffee begin at 3:45pm). There are typically several astronomy-related talks each semester. (Don't worry if you don't understand everything in the talk—not all the faculty present will either! You will certainly pick up something new from the talk.)
Local Research Opportunities
There are often opportunities for undergraduates to participate in research with local faculty. This can be done informally, or for major-credit.
The following faculty have indicated that they are interested in working with undergraduates currently:
| faculty member | project description |
| Jim Lattimer | Research on Neutron Stars |
| Stan Metchev | Research on Brown Dwarfs and Extrasolar Planets |
| Michal Simon | Research on Young Single and Multiple Stars |
| Mike Zingale | Reading Course on SNe Ia |
External Research Opportunities
There are a number of programs available for undergraduates interested in doing summer research in astronomy. Here we provide links to the application pages for these programs as they become available.
- NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)
- The National Science Foundation (NSF) provides various astronomy
programs across the country with funding to provide paid summer
research internships for undergraduates. This is a great opportunity
to spend your summer in another part of the country performing
astronomy research. Note that the deadlines for applications are in
early 2009.
You may also want to look over the list of Physics REU sites
- Caltech Summer Undergrauate Research Fellowships
- Summer research opportunities at Caltech and JPL