The department of Astronomy & Astrophysics is involved in a variety of observational, experimental and theoretical activities, covering almost the entire gamut of modern astronomy and astrophysics research. These range from extra-solar planet studies, thorough investigations of stellar systems, high energy astrophysics, the most distant galaxies to the Universe as a whole. With its depth and breadth in research opportunities, Penn State offers an attractive pathway leading to a career in research and teaching in this field.
The Astronomy and Astrophysics department offers most of the graduate courses in this field, complemented by related courses in the other physical science departments. The department has twenty five faculty members, including affiliated members in Physics, and more than twenty five additional PhD level researchers. There are a further dozen faculty pursuing related activities in other Departments and Colleges; the Astrobiology program being one example. One measure of the impact and level of our activities is indicated by Penn State ranking fifth in space science citations per paper over the previous five year period, as reported recently by Thomson Scientific ISI .
Departmental facilities include the 8-meter Hobby-Eberly telescope, the Chandra ACIS experiment, the Swift multi-wavelenght GRB mission, the Center for Gravitational Wave Physics, Center for Astrostatistics, Center for Particle Astrophysics, and the Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry, all at Penn State, and major roles in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, the IceCube neutrino detector, the Pierre Auger cosmic ray observatory, and various other space and ground-based projects.
The Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics has one of largest undergraduate service course programs for non-majors in the country along with a highly competitive Astronomy & Astrophysics undergraduate majors program that regularly sends our graduates on to the top graduate programs in the country. We are particularly proud of the opportunities we offer for undergraduates to participate in front line research.