Departmental Degree Requirements

We encourage students to become involved in research as early as possible. A student is expected to work closely with members of the faculty on research topics in an arrangement rather like an apprenticeship, since this allows the student to gain competence and independence in a relatively short period of time. Most student research projects produce published papers. First and second year students ordinarily take three credits of research each semester under ASTR 995.

The requirements for the M.A. degree are that the student (1) successfully complete 24 graduate course credits, including six credits of ASTR 995; (2) pass the qualifying examination for the M.A. degree, given in January of the first year; and (3) submit a written description of the completed research. This last requirement is waived if the student's research is accepted for publication by a refereed journal, and the student is a principal author. Normally, the M.A. degree is awarded at the end of the first year of studies.

The Doctor of Philosophy degree requires successful completion of 54 graduate credits. The qualifying examination for the Ph.D. is given in January of the second year. The student's entire record, including the qualifying examinations, course work, and indications of research potential, is considered by the Graduate Committee when recommendations for Ph.D. degree candidacy are made in February of the second year. There is no language requirement for either the M.A. or Ph.D. degree. Ph.D. students are expected to complete their dissertations by the end of their sixth year, and financial aid is generally not continued beyond the sixth year.

Facilities   Local observing facilities include a 100-cm Schmidt-Cassegrain reflecting telescope and a conventional 75-cm reflector at Fan Mountain, 25 km to the southwest of Charlottesville. These are equipped for CCD imagery, photometry, spectroscopy, and direct photography. On the Grounds is the Leander McCormick Observatory 66-cm refractor, which began operations in 1885, and its collection of 140,000 astrometric photographic plates, which represents a major astronomical resource. A computer-controlled PDS microdensitometer for analysis of photographic plates is available. The department also operates a cooperative astrometric observing program at Mt. Stromlo Observatory in Canberra, Australia.

The Department provides excellent computing and image processing facilities based on a local network of Sun UNIX workstations and the University's IBM workstations. Supercomputer access at national laboratories is readily available via faculty sponsorship.

The offices of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory are located on the University Grounds, and it is possible for students to be jointly supervised by University and NRAO scientific staff members. Faculty and students often collaborate with astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute, NASA-Goddard, the Naval Observatory, and other conveniently accessible research centers in the Washington-Baltimore area.

For further information, please write Astronomy Graduate Admissions, P.O. Box 3818, University Station, Charlottesville, VA 22903-0818; or contact us by e-mail.

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