Policies & Procedures

Pre-Travel

• Mandatory Pre-Approval: All university-funded travel and reimbursements must be pre-approved in Concur prior to travel. 
• For Admin Assistance: Submit the online Pre-Travel Request Form at least 3 weeks in advance if you need administrative support.

For Students and Individuals with PI Supported Travel

•  Seek Approval First: Students, staff, and scholars must consult their faculty/PI before submitting a travel request. 
• Digital Routing: Funding faculty/PIs will receive an approval request via DocuSign (no hard signatures required). Contact the PI before submitting so the DocuSign request is not their first notice.

The admin team will continue to route the request to the designated fund manager to ensure adequate funding is available on the provided project prior to booking.

Faculty ALAS form requirement

•  Dean’s Approval Required: Faculty business travel exceeding 7 calendar days requires an Academic Leave & Sabbatical Form (ALAS) per policy.
• Admin Support: Your designated admin will initiate the ALAS form upon receiving your travel request.

 Travel Insurance

Obtaining travel insurance is only required when not booking through Concur. All travel booked through Concur will have travel insurance automatically applied to the trip.

Travel Insurance Information

Post-Travel

• PI approval: 
  • For students and individuals with PI supported travel, complete the Post Travel Expense Form and sending to the funding PI for approval before submitting to the admin team.
• 21-Day Deadline & Admin Submission:
  • Email the a brief expense summary, itemized receipts, and the completed Post Travel Form (not required for PIs) to your designated admin for processing within 21 days of the last travel day.

Helpful Links

Travel Expenses and Reimbursement Information

University of California San Diego Business Travel Policy Highlights (Nov 2024)

Travel Receipts: Reimbursement Requirements

If you have any questions or concerns about this information, please either reach out to your assigned admin or to the A&A Admin Email (astroadmin@ucsd.edu). 

Travel and procurement expenses are posted and processed through the Concur System. All travel and procurements must have an associated receipt. 

Purchasing can happen either through a Procurement card (Express Card) or for travel (T&E Card). Other changes are also possible through the UC San Diego Oracle system.

Please submit all reimbursements to your assigned Fiscal Assistant.

Pre-Award: 

The A&A department has several internal commitees for departmental governance. The committees and committee chairs for the 2026-27 academic year are:

• Awards: Chair S. Boggs
• Communication: Chair E. Lee
• Donor & Industry Relations: Chair S. Wright
• Graduate Admissions & Recruitment:  Chair K. Arnold
• Graduate Advisory: Chair P. Diamond
• Outreach: Co-Chairs F. Broekgaarden and J. Roberts
• Seminars: Co-Chairs K. Kremer and E. Nadler
• Space: Chair D. Keres
• Undergraduate Advisory: Chair K. Sandstrom
• Academic Senate Representative: S. Boggs (Representative), P. Diamond (Alternate)
• Department Postdoc Mentor: E. Nadler 
• Astronomy Graduate Council Represenatives: Ilyse Clark and Lindsey Hands

The space used by the Astronomy & Astrophysics department is governed by the A&A Space Policy.

Space Requests

Space Requests for yourself or for a visitor should be submitted by a member or affiliate of the department through the Astronomy & Astrophysics Space Request Form. If possible, please give at least two week's notice of an upcoming need for space. If you need a space more urgently, do fill out the form but also email astroadmin@ucsd.edu directly to notify of the urgent need. You will get a response with a proposed space within 10 days. 

If you would like a change in the space allocated to you within the department, for any reason, please submit the request through the Astronomy & Astrophysics Space Transfer Request Form and a member of the department administration will respond to discuss the request.

All requests for room reservations should be submitted to the A&A Room Reservation Form.

Before submitting a form, please check the room calendars for your desired room below to ensure that the room you are requesting is available on the proposed time/date: 

• SERF 383 - Seminar Room
• SERF 329 - Seminar Room
• SERF 308 - Conference Room
• SERF 408 - Conference Room
• Tea Room

A&A faculty, research members, graduate and undergraduate students can be issued keys for both office and laboratory space. This key policy is in place to safeguard and secure the assets of A&A including computers, equipment, supplies, etc. Keys will be issued to authorized personnel who are responsible to conduct research activities within the assigned space. Personnel should not loan keys to others nor should keys be duplicated. Doors must be locked upon leaving the area to maintain security.

Key Policy

1. Please send an email to AstroAdmin@ucsd.edu for key pick-up coordination. A mandatory $20.00 key deposit is required for all issued keys. Alternatively, personnel can now provide a project/task number in place of a cash key deposit.
   
   
2. Building keys will not be issued since the Omnilock system is in place on the outside doors. The lock code can be provided by the MSO with a four digit key code to access the building after hours.
   
   
3. A $20.00 fee will be charged for all lost or misplaced keys and a new key will be issued.
   
   
4. When an employee separates from Astronomy and Astrophysics, all assigned keys must be returned. If a person transfers to another position within the University and possesses assigned keys that are no longer needed in the performance of their duties, these keys must be returned to the business office within five days. The key deposit will be reimbursed to the employee when keys have been returned. If an employee departs CASS and fails to return their keys then their deposit will be forfeited.

 Please email AstroAdmin@ucsd.edu for a key request with your specified PI.

Astronomy and Astrophysics Department Generative AI (GenAI) Policy Fall 2024

Following campus AI and Academic Integrity guidelines (see also Generative AI and Using ChatGPT), each instructor/advisor will set GenAI policies for their classes and include a policy in their course syllabi, and for their research group, and will discuss expectations for GenAI usage for classwork and research with students and all research group members. For undergraduate student honors theses, graduate student qualifying exam reports, and PhD theses submitted to the department, GenAI tools can at most be used for light editing and, if so, must be cited appropriately following the AAS guidelines.

In general, the responsibility for any work product, including writing and coding, rests with the student or research group member. Beyond properly citing the usage of these tools, students and department members who use GenAI should always critically assess and reflect on its contribution to their work (see helpful resources below).

Some external AI-related academic integrity resources:

• AAAI reproducibility checklist for academic papers (for AI, but also applies more generally).
• Guidelines of how to use AI with integrity for academic work by Lamar University

The Department logos for major programmatic activities should use the official campus A&A logo. 

Download here: digital media A&A logo