Graduate Information

The Department of Astronomy at the University of Florida, Gainesville offers graduate programs leading to the M.S. or Ph.D. degrees in Astronomy, which includes coursework in astronomy, physics, and related physical sciences. The Astronomy Department currently consists of approximately twenty faculty, five research staff, six postdoctoral fellows, five instrumentation engineers, a full-time computer systems manager, and approximately thirty funded graduate students, making it one of the largest departments in the country. Research is an integral part of the graduate program. Students have opportunities to work with faculty and staff on a broad range of astronomical problems. Support for the graduate studies is available through fellowships, research assistantships and teaching assistantships.

The University of Florida is a partner with Spain in the 10 m telescope now being built in the Canary Islands—Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). This partnership will provide the students, faculty and researchers at the University of Florida with direct access to a premier observing facility.

Departmental research programs will also continue to use a variety of ground-based and space-borne observatories, such as Arecibo, BIMA, Cassini, Chandra, CSO, CTIO, COBE, ESO, FCRAO, Galileo, HST, IRAM, IRAS, IRTF, ISO, Keck, KPNO, La Palma, NRAO, OVRO, SIRTF, UKIRT, Ulysses, XMM and the Whipple Observatory. Through our infrared instrumentation program, the department has further guaranteed access to the Kitt Peak 4 m and 2 m telescopes, and the Gemini North and South 8 m telescopes.

Students can also use the University of Florida's Rosemary Hill Observatory which houses 76 cm and 46 cm reflectors. The Astronomy Department maintains a large network of about fifty high performance work stations. In addition, supercomputer access is provided to all faculty and graduate students. A full-time systems manager maintains the local network and a wide range of software applications packages.

The Master of Science in Astronomy (M.S.) requires successful completion of 10 graded lecture courses, one research project and an oral exam.

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) requires completion of at least 90 semester hours of approved coursework beyond the bachelor's degree. Program requirements include completion of core coursework, 10 graded lecture courses, one research project, a comprehensive written exam and an oral candidacy exam. A maximum of 30 hours of previous graduate coursework may be applied toward the Ph.D. requirements with approval of the supervisory committee.