Research Opportunties

If you are interested in an independent research position with a professional scientist in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (A&A), please complete the following application by clicking this link (please note that there is a deadline every quarter).

We recommend you write your short answer questions in a separate document and copy and paste them into this form when you are ready.  There is a limit of 800 characters per long answer question.

ALL STUDENTS: Please read and refer to this document when requesting a Special Studies course.

Undergraduate students may request to enroll in a Special Studies course under the supervision of a faculty advisor. Students are encouraged to initiate contact with faculty in their interested area of research to see if they would be willing to act as an advisor for their reading or research project. You can see a list of research areas and who the lead faculty are for each one here.

Please sign up for Special Studies courses term by term only after  you and a faculty member have discussed all of the details about the project. If approved, these students will then make a Special Studies request in the Enrollment Authorization System (EASy) for their faculty advisor to review and approve.

98s, 99s

• You must have completed between 30 and 90 units and you must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0.
• Are available for 2 units, only, and you must commit to at least 6 hours of work per week.

199s are intended for students who are looking to do an undergraduate reading or research project with a faculty member in a particular area of study and would like to earn academic credit for this work:

• You must have completed more than 90 units and you must have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5. (You can request a 199 if you have less than 90 units, but approval is not guaranteed.)
• Are available for 2, 3, or 4 units and you must commit to at least 6, 9, or 12 hours of work per week, respectively.
• ASTR 199 can be taken up to three times and for a maximum of 12 units, overall.
• A single 4-unit ASTR 199 can be applied as a restricted elective for your A&A major, as long as a ASTR 199H is not also applying.

199Hs

• Are only open to students who have applied and been accepted to the Astronomy Honors Program.
• Requires prior completion of all required lower-division astronomy courses, nine upper-division astronomy courses, and a GPA of at least 3.30 in the astronomy major to recieve honors distinction.
• Include 8-12 units of ASTR 199H enrollment (2-3 terms @ 4-units each / 1 term @ 4 units and at least 2 terms @ 2-units each).
• A single 4-unit ASTR 199H can be applied as a restricted elective for your major, as long as a ASTR 199 is not also applying. More on the honors program below.

Special Studies 98, 99, 198, 199, and 199H courses are not included in the campus’ 25% limit of P/NP coursework. When checking to make sure that no more than 25% of your UCSD courses were taken for P/NP credit, do not include any of your 98s, 99s, 199s, or 199Hs.

Undergraduate students may enroll in graduate level courses with the consent of the instructor. We recommend that this consent only be given to exceptional undergraduate students who have shown mastery of their undergraduate coursework.

Undergraduate students requesting to enroll in graduate level courses must use the Enrollment Authorization System (EASy). 

These requests may be placed on hold until Astronomy PhD students have first had an opportunity to enroll in their core graduate coursework.

The Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (A&A) offers an A&A Honors Program for those students who have demonstrated excellence in the major. Successful completion of the A&A Honors Program entitles the student to graduate with departmental honors (see Department Honors in the Academic Regulations section of the UCSD General Catalog). Application to the A&A Honors Program should be made at least two quarters prior to the quarter of the Honors presentation; in particular, students who will present their projects in Spring quarter should submit their application prior to the start of Fall quarter. Please note that the latest a student can apply for the Honors Program is two quarters before they graduate.

Requirements for admission to the A&A Honors Program are:

1. Junior Standing.
2. An overall GPA of 3.3 or higher.
3. A GPA in the major of 3.5 or higher.
4. Agreement from a A&A Department faculty professor to be your A&A Honors Program Advisor.

Completion of the A&A Honors Program requires the following:

1. Completed two quarters of ASTR 199H (eight units).
2. The minimum 3.5 GPA in the major must be maintained.
3. An Honors Thesis. The research and writing of the thesis will be conducted over at least two quarters of the junior/senior years under the supervision of your A&A Honors Program Advisor. This research will be credited as eight units of ASTR 199H. The completed thesis must be approved by the department’s Vice Chair of Undergraduate Education, and presented orally at the Undergraduate Research Conference or another appropriate occasion.
4. Thesis presentation.  The student will present the results of their research as a poster or talk at a conference venue.  The preferred venue is the UCSD Undergraduate Research Conference, held annually in the Spring.  Other presentation venues are acceptable but require pre-approval from A&A Student Affairs and the department’s Vice Chair for Undergraduate Education.

Before applying to the program, you must identify a faculty member who agrees to serve as your honors thesis advisor.  We suggest that you do this well in advance of the program deadline.  Please see the research areas of faculty in A&A in order to identify mentors of interest and their contact information.  The department’s Honors Committee will determine if Honors will be awarded, and if so, at which level (Honors with Distinction, Honors with High Distinction, or Honors with Highest Distinction); the student’s GPA in the major and the quality of both the thesis and the presentation will all be taken into account.

If you meet the above requirements and would like to be considered for the A&A Honors Program, complete an application. If you have any questions, please email astro-advising@ucsd.edu.

Researchers in Astronomy & Astrophysics participate in the Summer Training Academy for Research Success (STARS) program.  More information can be found at this link.