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TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary 5 Faculty and Staff 6 Teaching 6 Undergraduate Programs 6 Observatory and Facilities 8 The Boston University Astronomical Society 9 Graduate Program 10 Colloquium Series 12 Alumni Affairs/Public Outreach 12 Research 13 Future Plans/Departmental Needs 14 APPENDIX A: Faculty, Staff, and Graduate Students 18 APPENDIX B: 2007/08 Astronomy Graduates 20 APPENDIX C: Seminar Series 21 APPENDIX D: Sponsored Project Funding 23 Cover photo: Part of the interior structure of a telescope mounted on the PICTURE rocket. PICTURE, scheduled to launch in March 2009, will be making observations of the dust rings from which planets are born. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY volcanic moon Io and interacting with Jupi- ter’s intense magnetic field. In the second, The Department of Astronomy teaches Prof. Alan Marscher and collaborators con- science to hundreds of non-science majors firmed a theory of the formation of high- from throughout the university, and runs one speed plasma jets from the centers of active of the largest astronomy degree programs in galaxies. His optical and radio observa- the country. The faculty’s substantial grant tions show that such jets arise from twisted activity, scientific productivity, and profes- magnetic fields surrounding a massive black sional service demonstrate the Depart- hole. Prof. Marscher was also featured on ment’s excellence. the Nature and CNN websites as a scientific singer-songwriter. The Department graduated a class of nine undergraduates, all with a major concentra- tion. Currently, 43 undergraduates major in astronomy. While our program is small by CAS standards, among astronomy pro- grams it is among the largest in the US. In our graduate program, three students completed a PhD. Our graduate recruiting for next year was successful: we have an incoming class of eight new students, bring- ing our total of new and ongoing astronomy graduate students to 45. The Department’s infrastructure was greatly enhanced by a long-needed renovation of its graduate student offices. The Department Part of an image from a Nature article on Jupi- also purchased and installed a new tele- ter’s moon Io, published this year by Professor scope dome on the roof of the CAS building Mendillo’s group. The red coloring in the bottom which will be used to train both undergradu- left-hand corner shows a “wake region” around Io ate and graduate students in modern astro- that may be the source of heavy ions in Jupiter’s nomical observing techniques. magnetosphere. The Astronomy Department had a spec- All three of the Department’s main research tacular year in securing research funds centers: the Center for Space Physics, through grants. Last year, our best ever, the Center for Integrated Space Weather faculty in the Astronomy Department raised Modeling, and the Institute for Astrophysi- $19,655,540, or about $1,200,000 per cal Research, passed significant external teaching faculty. Our faculty and research reviews with enthusiastic endorsements by associates authored or co-authored a total the review panels. of 65 refereed, scholarly papers in the disci- plines’ most prestigious journals. In summary, the Department continues to thrive, serve, lead, and prosper with a strong The Department had several noteworthy sci- educational programs and an outstand- entific achievements. Research highlights ing research program. We look forward to for 2007/08 include two papers published in working with the College to find solutions to Nature. In the first, Prof. Michael Mendillo the Department’s pressing needs for more and collaborators took detached images of space, more faculty, and a state-of-the-art sodium atoms arising from Jupiter’s highly research telescope. FACULTY AND STAFF level courses provide a rigorous technical education for students wishing a career in The Department of Astronomy currently astronomy or a related field. About 1/3 of has twenty-four faculty members: sixteen our majors go on to graduate school in academic faculty and eight research faculty. astronomy or physics. Those who enter the The full list of the Department’s faculty and workforce instead have gained important staff is provided in Appendix A. This com- skills in problem solving, mathematics, and ing fall, we plan to conduct a search for a physics. Many of these students find jobs new faculty member. The astronomy faculty where skills in analysis are highly sought. continues to provide outstanding service to the nation and profession by serving on . Graduate-level astronomy. Our gradu- advisory committees for NASA and NSF, ate program trains the next generation of as- national observatories, learned societies, trophysicists and space physicists. Because and professional journals. This activity not of our department’s strong concentration in only keeps our faculty informed of national space physics research, our students are and international developments, but it also all required to take elementary courses in allows us to form and influence national both astrophysics and space physics. After research policies. This high level of external passing the qualifying exams, a student may activity demonstrates our stature among the choose advanced courses in either field. first rank of the nation’s research depart- ments. UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS TEACHING Director of Undergraduate Studies: Professor Kenneth Janes Approximately 700 – 900 undergraduate students and 25 – 30 graduate students Divisional Studies Courses per year enroll in astronomy courses. The In terms of number of students, the depart- Astronomy Department has three distinct ment’s largest teaching mission by far is to suites of courses to serve Boston University offer courses designed to satisfy College students: divisional study requirements and similar requirements within the other undergraduate 1. Astronomy for non-science majors. schools and colleges of the University. Undergraduate non-science majors at Boston University usually take our 100-level We offer five such 100-level courses. Two courses to fill the natural science distribution of these, AS 101: The Solar System, and requirement. Since astronomy is rarely part AS 102: The Astronomical Universe, pro- of the high school curriculum, these courses vide surveys of solar system astronomy and offer an attractive opportunity for students extra-solar system astronomy and carry wishing to experience a new field of science. laboratory credit. The other three, AS 100 Cosmic Controversies, AS 109 Cosmology . Core Curriculum. The Astronomy and AS 117 Cosmic Evolution, are more Department plays a key role in the Core focused topical courses which do not carry Curriculum Natural Sciences course CC105 laboratory credit. This year we offered eight by providing three faculty members each sections of these courses: three sections year, more than any other CAS department. of AS 101, two of AS 102, and one each About 300 students per year enroll in this of AS 100, AS 109, and AS 117. AS 100, course. Cosmic Controversies is a new course this year. Instead of a survey of astronomical . Astronomy for majors. Our 200-400 knowledge, AS 100 focuses on a few key, unresolved issues in modern astronomical tinued the strong presence of Department research. This course demonstrates to non- of Astronomy faculty and leadership in this science majors that astronomy is a vibrant, important program. The Astronomy Depart- evolving discipline. In addition, we offered ment provides as many additional faculty two honors sections, which were run as ad- members to this course as our other teach- ditions to regular courses. ing commitments allow. Typically, the As- tronomy Department commits three faculty The total 100-level enrollment was 456 in per year to CC105, more than any other 2007/2008. Of the students taking these department. courses, approximately 73% (327) were CAS students and 27% (126) came from This year, Professors Brainerd, Jackson, other schools and colleges (see chart). and Marscher staffed the Core Curriculum course. We anticipate an- other strong representation of astronomy faculty and leadership in CC105 next academic year. Undergraduate Majors The Department continues to have one of the largest and strongest undergradu- ate majors programs in astronomy in the country. In terms of bachelor’s degrees awarded in astronomy, Boston University ranks fifth in the US with an average of 11 graduates per year, behind U.C. Berkeley (18), Arizona (13), UCLA (12) and the University of Wisconsin Madison (12). The Core Curriculum In the spirit of promoting a true liberal arts During the 2007/08 academic year, 43 education, the Department is committed to students (some of whom have declared an providing excellent science education to stu- additional concentration) were declared in dents not concentrating in science. Since one of the Department’s concentrations, and an increasing number of CAS students many additional students who expressed a choose to meet this component of their strong interest in astronomy were being ad- education through the Core, the Department vised by an astronomy faculty member. The provides a major commitment the physical most popular concentration is Astronomy science component of the Core Curriculum, and Physics (31), followed by Astronomy (8) CC105. and Geophysics and Planetary Sciences (5). These numbers are distributed fairly evenly One of our own faculty members, Profes- over the freshman to senior classes and sor Alan Marscher, developed and coordi- remain comparable with last year’s distribu- nated CC105 for many years. Professor tion. James Jackson has since served for seven years as course coordinator, and has con- This year’s graduating class consisted of nine students; 6 received BAs in Astronomy advising challenges, but the numbers are and Physics, 2 in Geophysics and Planetary small enough that each case can be dealt Sciences, and 1 in Astrophysics and Space with carefully on an individual basis. Science (through the BA/MA program). As has been the case now for many years, this We attempt to assign as many students as class represents a significant fraction of the possible to their advisor from the previous total number of Bachelor’s degrees awarded year.