PhD in Astronomy
Flagstaff, USA
DURATION
4 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
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EARLIEST START DATE
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TUITION FEES
USD 41,571 / per year
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* Priority deadline: December 1. Final deadline: January 1.
Key Summary
Scholarships
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Introduction
The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Northern Arizona University (NAU) will launch a new Ph.D. program in Astronomy and Planetary Science in the Fall of 2016. The Department is now recruiting new faculty members and Ph.D. students.
Superb Access To Large Telescopes
Faculty members and their Ph.D. students have full competitive access to facilities run by the University of Arizona including the 2 x 8.4-meter Large Binocular Telescope, 6.5-meter Magellan Telescopes, 6.5-meter MMT telescope, 2.3-meter Bok telescope 1.8-meter Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, and the 1.5-meter Kuiper Telescope. NAU researchers have access to the 4.3-meter Discovery Channel Telescope, 1.8 Perkins telescope, and 0.8-meter NURO telescope through partnerships with Lowell Observatory. Faculty and students also have access to the 0.5-meter Lutz telescope on the NAU campus.
Admissions
Curriculum
Ph.D. students in the program will build skills and knowledge through formal class work and an original research project. Students will take ten core classes during their first two years in the program. Five of the core classes will focus on the development of essential skills Ph.D. astronomers and planetary scientists need upon entering the workforce in an academic or industrial setting (instrument design and fabrication, optical design, computational physics, big data, and techniques of observational astronomy). Five classes will focus on advanced topics in astronomy and planetary science that students need for a solid foundation upon which to build their own postdoctoral research (formation and evolution of solar systems, atmospheres, interiors, and surfaces of planetary bodies, astrochemistry, exoplanet science, and special topics). Students will perform their own original research, write a dissertation, and make an oral, public presentation of their results. In the original research component, students will learn how to collect and analyze data, write up their results, and communicate their results to others in a manner consistent with professional standards in the astronomical and planetary science communities.
Program Outcome
Current and Future Faculty Expertise
Current faculty members use ground-based and space-based telescopes to study small bodies in the Solar System and the formation and evolution of other planetary systems; spacecraft imagery to study planetary surfaces; and a state-of-the-art laboratory to study astrophysical ice analogs. NAU faculty members have close research collaborations with scientists at local institutions including Lowell Observatory, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Science Center, and the United States Naval Observatory. In the next few years, the Department will hire tenure-track faculty members with expertise in exoplanet science, astrochemistry, astroinformatics, astronomical instrumentation, and observational astronomy specializing in Solar System objects, exoplanets, or related topics.
Scholarships and Funding
Facilities
English Language Requirements
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