The Department of Astronomy at the University of Florida, Gainesville offers graduate programs leading to the M.S. or Ph.D. degrees in Astronomy & Astrophysics. 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 (see below). All of the current graduate students are fully funded through fellowships, research assistantships or teaching assistantships.

Research programs use a wide range of national and international ground and space-based observing facilities. Through our infrared instrumentation program, the department has guaranteed access to the Kitt Peak 4m and 2m telescopes, the Gemini North and South 8m telescopes and the 10m Grand Telescope of the Canary Islands. Students can also use the University of Florida's Rosemary Hill Observatory which houses 76 cm and 46 cm reflectors. The Astronomy Department has a large network of high performance workstations, maintained by a full-time systems manager. Supercomputer access is also available.

Naibi Marinas and Steve Novotny (Ph.D. Students) in Chile

Research Areas

Solar System - Researchers are active in studing the origins and orbital evolution of interplanetary dust and small bodies in the Solar System (and around nearby stars). The properties of cosmic dust are studied using a Microwave Analog-to-Light Scattering facility. The UF Radio Observatory (UFRO) is one of the largest observatories in the world dedicated to the study of decametric radio emission from the giant planets.

Stellar Populations - Observational studies concentrate on resolved stars in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies. Studies of particular classes of stars include various types of binary stars and blue stragglers. The goal of these studies is to apply our theoretical understanding of stellar structure and evolution to the properties of stars in a variety of environments

Origins of Stars & Planets - Observational studies focus on the properties of giant molecular clouds, the collapse of molecular cloud cores, the formation of stars in clusters and in isolation, and the formation and evolution of circumstellar and protoplanetary disks. Theoretical studies emphasize the influences of thermodynamics, velocity fields and interface instabilities upon star formation.

Structure & Evolution of Galaxies - Some observational programs use multi-wavelength photometry of stars and star clusters in galaxies throughout the Local Group, including the Milky Way, to study Local Group evolution. Observations focus on the structure and dynamics of galaxies using HI and CO. Theoretical studies model galaxies, using N-body and hydrodynamical codes. Non-linear dynamics and chaos theory are applied to problems in galactic dynamics.

Extragalactic Astronomy & Cosmology - Observational programs investigate the nature of ultra-luminous galaxies, active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and the formation and chemical evolution of distant galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Theoretical investigations focus on the emission/absorption features in AGN spectra, the star formation and chemical evolution properties of galaxies, and applications of general relativity and particle physics to conditions in the very early Universe.

Instrumentation Programs - The UF Infrared Astrophysics Laboratory is a world leader in the design and construction of advanced near-infrared and mid-infrared instrumentation for major telescopes around the world, including the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, the International Gemini 8m Telescope Project and the 10m Grand Telescope CANARIAS. The Laboratory for Astrophysics is a leading developer of satellite instruments for NASA and international space agencies to measure the optical properties of dust particles in diverse environments.

Extrasolar Planets - Observations studies include radial velocity planet searches, transit searches (NASA's Kepler mission), ground-based transit follow-up observations, and statistical analysis of many types of exoplanets observations. Theoretical investigations include modeling planet formation and the orbital dynamics of multiple planet systems.

Dr. Scott Fisher (UF graduate), Dr. Chris Packham (UF Scientist), Naibi Marinas (Ph.D. student) at Mauna Kea, Hawaii