A Graduate Student's View

Social

The astronomy department has an excellent student to teacher ratio and enjoys a small, family atmosphere while having a wide breadth of research topics. We are very lucky to have such a friendly and close-knit department. Virtually every day, a group of us have lunch together to discuss either galaxies or the ISM or to confer on various grad student issues.

The department holds at least two science lunches a week: an ISM lunch and a Galaxies lunch. These lunches provide excellent opportunities for graduate students to talk about cutting edge science in very informal atmospheres, discuss results from their own research, and gain a broader appreciation of astronomical research. —A. Kepley

On Thursdays we discuss current and historic journal articles over lunch at Journal Club. Thursdays, we also have a departmental tea and coffee break to catch up on the goings-on for the week. Every Friday, the whole department gets together for lunch, and, whether we are exploring specific departmental issues or just chatting, it is always a warm and amiable environment. After work on Friday, the grad students go to "Beer" on the Terrace and generally some of us go out to dinner afterwards. We also traditionally hold a department spring and fall pot-luck picnic at our Pine Bluff Observatory where in years past we have played soccer and cricket, sat around and talked, and ate some delicious food.

I live out at Pine Bluff Observatory, and I love it. I can watch the turkeys, bluebirds, possums, foxes and beautiful sunsets. It's on 13 lovely acres of prairie, which are full of peace and quiet. I try to have the grads out regularly for bonfires and barbecues, and everyone in the department knows that they can enjoy this open space, if they feel like they need to escape the city for an afternoon or evening. —L. Chomiuk

Ties to Physics

The Astronomy Department also has close ties with the Physics Department both professionally and socially. Many of the astronomy grad students choose to fulfill their minor requirement with physics classes. There are also quite a few physicists whose research areas overlap with astronomy. For this reason, physics and astronomy colloquia are generally attended by members of both departments. The physics and astronomy grad students hang out quite a bit as well.

Public Outreach

Our department places great importance on public outreach. We are very fortunate to have access to many telescopes both for public usage and of science quality. The Washburn Observatory houses a 125 year-old 15-inch refractor that was used as a major research facility for 50 years in the late 1800s and early 1900s. We open this observatory up to the public on Wednesday nights for sky viewings hosted by an astronomy grad student. We also have telescopes on the roof of our building that are used as teaching tools in our undergraduate classes or for simply checking out the sky any night of the week. One is a refractor of similar design to Washburn (though scaled down), and the other is a new reflector hooked up to a CCD. There are also a few telescopes at the Pine Bluff Observatory including a 1-meter class reflector that we are working on refurbishing. We also have portable telescopes that we use for Universe in the Park talks. The Universe in the Park program is a great way to see the state parks while introducing astronomy to the public. Every weekend (and some weekdays) during the summer, astronomy grad students travel to state parks to give a short presentation and set up a telescope giving people a chance see the seasonal objects in the sky. There are also opportunities to give public talks at the University of Wisconsin Space Place, and a group of astronomy grad students are currently organizing an after-school program through the Space Place to get middle-schoolers interested in astronomy. Also, there are always several grad students participating in the various tutoring programs offered through the University or through the Madison public school system.

Classes & TA Responsibilities

Generally a grad student in this department is expected to take two years of classes and then typically conduct three to four years of research culminating in the PhD thesis. The classes are meant to cover all important areas of astronomy and are followed by a prelim exam in which the students are tested on the knowledge they have learned while here. The prelims are a two-part exam consisting of written and oral questions, and are usually administered to the second-year students about a month after completion of the second year of classes. Grad students are also expected to complete a minor in either one approved subject or distributed over a few approved areas. As mentioned above, most astronomy grad students choose to minor in physics, but the department is open to most justifiable subjects. We have had quite a few distributed minors containing science education, math, statistics, atmospheric sciences, numerics classes, and others. Along with classes and research, the grad students are expected to TA for two semesters over the course of the program. We normally lead discussion sections for a large undergraduate lecture course for non-majors or run sections of the intro Astronomy lab courses for non-majors. We generally have a grader for these courses so we're not expected to write or grade homework assignments, quizzes, or tests, which is often not the case in other departments.

Money

The pay from our department allows grad students to live comfortably in Madison. Generally an astronomy grad student is paid out of their advisor's grant while a Research Assistant (RA), and through the University while a Teaching Assistant (TA) (with some supplement from the advisor's grant so no drop in pay is experienced while TAing). All astronomy graduate students have their tuition paid for. In 2005 the incoming students received $1,450 per month after taxes. Once we pass prelims, we get a raise of $200 per month, and after defending our thesis proposal we get another $200 per month raise. In addition to the stipend, there are opportunities to supplement this income with other jobs like grading, tutoring, or UiTPs. We also have a relatively large number of grads who have applied for and received their own grant money. The Wisconsin Space Grant partially funds many of us, and some of us are fully funded through NSF grants.

Other Useful Links

Great TA resource: Guidance Online for Astronomy Teachers (GOAT)