From the Chair’s Desk… retirement event, its scope was expanded to career-building and public outreach activities. celebrate the trio of 70th birthdays for Chris For example, two of our students made it The Astronomy Department is a vibrant, McKee, former faculty member Frank Shu, through to the finals of the regionalNASA evolving community. It’s hard to fully capture all and David Hollenbach, research scientist FameLab competition, where budding that is happening here in a few brief paragraphs, and frequent collaborator. In October we scientists are judged on their ability to but I’ll try to provide some highlights! hosted our annual Raymond and Beverly present their research and science. Based Our faculty continue to Sackler Distinguished Lecture in on his final placement in the competition, receive recognition at the Astronomy, a public talk that one of our graduate students, Josh Shiode, highest levels for their featured Nobel Laureate and is still in the running for a wild card spot research. Eliot Quataert Berkeley alum Adam Riess. His at the national NASA FameLab competition was named a Simons inspiring lecture was followed held in Washington DC in 2014. In today’s Investigator, a five-year by a lively reception and media-intensive environment, the ability of award and a prestigious dinner. astronomers to communicate their science honor in its inaugural year. is essential and this lively, fun competition In addition to pursuing not only recognizes those who can do Geoff Marcy remains at innovative new research, our the epicenter in the search this well, but also enables participants to faculty remain devoted to attend a communications workshop, led for extrasolar planets; he teaching. Alex Filippenko was received a $1M grant from by professionals, to further develop their chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime presentation skills. the W.M. Keck Foundation opportunity to fly with the to build a state-of-the-art Blue Angels through their I’d like to conclude this letter by talking about spectrometer to observe Chair Imke de Pater wears many different hats in the department. “Key Influencers” program; New Campbell Hall—our new home that will Earth-sized exoplanets. He he used that experience to have an enormous impact on virtually all we also received a grant from the Templeton teach physics concepts to his students. Josh do, every day. Construction of New Campbell Foundation to search for intelligent life Bloom organized his second annual Python Hall is on schedule and proceeding as planned. outside our solar system, which dovetails Scientific Computing Language Bootcamp. Final completion of the building is slated for nicely with his appointment last year as the This three-day summer workshop has been September 2014, although efforts are underway Watson and Marilyn Alberts Chair in the immensely popular, with over 400 past to have the facility ready for occupancy by the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). attendees, including students, postdocs and start of classes in August of that year. Josh Bloom’s research in the development of researchers from different departments across statistical and machine-learning techniques It’s exciting to see the new building take campus. Burkhard Militzer, joint Earth & shape. We’re eagerly anticipating all the design has enabled him to be integrally involved with Planetary Science / Astronomy Professor, is Continued on page 2 the exciting, new Simons Institute for the once again pioneering online education at Theory of Computing, established by a $60M Berkeley, offering a summer online course, grant from the Simons Foundation. Eugene The Planets. CONTENTS Chiang was appointed as the new Director for From the Chair ....................................1 Our undergraduate, graduate, and Astronomy’s Center for Integrative Planetary Habitable Worlds Spectrometer ...........2 Science (CIPS), replacing Geoff Marcy who postdoctoral programs continue to thrive. In stepped down after eleven years at the helm. 2012, 26 students graduated with a Bachelor’s Simons Institute established ................2 degree in Astronomy, and eight students Quataert named Simons Investigator ...3 We’ve held a number of engaging events were awarded their Ph.D. Six new students Filippenko flies with Blue Angels ........3 over the past year: In May, Josh Bloom from across the country joined our graduate Marcy receives Templeton Grant .........3 hosted the workshop Data to Knowledge: program this year. Two dozen postdoctoral Machine-Learning with Real-time and Streaming New Campbell Hall .............................4 fellows worked in the department, including Student Awards ...................................6 Applications which attracted a wide audience those holding the Friends of Astrophysics from academia and industry, including many Postdoctoral Fellowship and other coveted Ph.D.s in 2012.....................................6 Silicon Valley participants. In the early fall, we prize fellowships. Farewell ...............................................6 commemorated the retirement of Chris McKee Giving Opportunities ..........................7 In addition to the rigorous research they with a three-day workshop, Star Formation Coming Events ...................................8 and the Interstellar Medium: Thirty-five Years pursue, our students and postdocs also find Astronomy T-Shirts .............................8 Later. Rather than hosting an exclusive time to get involved in other interesting 2 B E R K E L E Y A S T R O N O M Y highlights—a new state-of-the-art rooftop the funding to rebuild New Campbell Hall, we Chair’s Desk from page 1 observatory to be used for teaching and are now looking to individual donors to help features that promise to facilitate research public outreach events. us realize the optimum potential for our new collaboration, enhance teaching and learning, The Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory facility. In particular, we seek donors for our and engage the public. The new building is another exciting component of the new Student Observatory Fund, a fund that will includes numerous open interaction spaces building. In addition to a cluster of computers, enable our students, the astronomers of the for informal meetings and discussions, with it will have direct access to the radio telescopes future, to have full observational capabilities the hopes of bringing together those involved on the roof of New Campbell Hall, as well as via the new rooftop observatory and other in theory, instrumentation, observations, computer links to Leuschner Observatory’s on- and off-site facilities, together covering and numerical modeling. The marvelous optical/infrared and radio telescopes. Our the entire visible-to-radio wavelength range. suspended pedestrian bridge on the south demanding core lab courses held in this space For full details, see page 4-5. Your gifts are side of the building, linking New Campbell immerse our undergraduates in the world of welcome—and essential—to realize our vision. Hall with LeConte Hall, will fulfill a long- astronomical signals, from the optical to the We gratefully acknowledge the commitment of standing dream to promote interaction radio, and the modern instrumentation used all those who demonstrate their support with a between astronomers and experimental to measure these signals. The new lab will contribution or a pledge. physicists. On both sides of the bridge, open provide all the components needed to learn If you would like to learn more about how areas will be available for relaxed, informal about the statistical nature of astronomical you can contribute, please contact me at discussions; other glassed-in rooms nearby signals, the filtering effects of instrumentation, [email protected] or call the department at will provide more private settings to meet. noise and errors, data analysis and display, 510-642-8678. The building’s roof will feature both inside report writing, presentation, and teamwork. and outside spaces. Inside, a fully equipped Our Teaching and Learning Center (TALC), Imke de Pater is a planetary scientist, specializing room will serve both as boardroom and as a study space designed for freshmen and in radio and infrared observations of planets, an intimate space for small lectures. This sophomores taking introductory courses in including their magnetic fields, satellites and ring enclosed space will open up on another Astronomy, will be housed on the ground systems. During her summer break from Chair space with floor to ceiling windows, offering floor along with two large classrooms. responsibilities, she was able to find time to teach at the 2012 Alpbach summer school in Europe, guiding sweeping views of the Bay. The outside While the proceeds from state bonds and a upper deck will house one of the building’s students to design a spacecraft mission concept to grant from NIST have provided the majority of one of the giant planets. Marcy Receives Keck Foundation Grant To Build Simons Foundation ‘Habitable World Spectrometer’ Chooses Berkeley Professor Geoff Marcy was recently awarded a planet formation, allowing us to weed out UC Berkeley was chosen to host the three-year $1M research grant from the W.M. incorrect theories and support correct ones.” Simons Institute for the Theory of Keck Foundation to design and commission The Habitable World Spectrometer will build Computing, an exciting new venue for a state-of-the-art “Habitable Worlds on the novel design of the Levy Spectrometer. collaborative research in theoretical Spectrometer”(HWS).