CONTENTS Chiang Was Appointed As the New Director for from the Chair

Home , Andrew Siemion, Christopher McKee

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 regional NASA 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). Marcy and his team It will employ an octagonal fiber, split into computer science funded by a $60 will use the new spectrometer to identify and four smaller fiber optics, which will delicately million award from the Simons survey Earth-sized planets in the habitable slice the star image in half. This innovation Foundation. The newly created Institute, zones of 50 of the nearest, brightest stars, will shrink the size of the spectrometer by housed on campus in Calvin Hall, will located within 20 parsecs – about 65 light fifty percent, making it small enough to fit explore the mathematical foundations years. “With the new spectrometer, we hope in a vacuum chamber, while still achieving of computer science and extend them to to discover the diversity of planetary systems, optical efficiency, stability, and high spectral tackle challenges in a variety of fields, with goals of learning how our Earth formed resolution. Completion and installation is such as astrophysics, genetics, health and determining how many habitable planets estimated for year-end 2014. care, and economics. Since natural are in the Milky Way Galaxy,” he states. phenomena in fields such as astronomy Marcy’s research group will also identify are intrinsically computational in nature, the architecture of any planetary systems the Institute aims to explore these discovered. This will include the spacing through a computational lens. between the planets, the non-circular shapes Astronomy Professor Josh Bloom has of the planet orbits, and the preferred orbits been integrally involved with the for small and large planets. These structural Institute from the earliest stages of features constitute key clues about the planet- proposal development. His research formation mechanisms that must conspire to provides an ideal example of the need produce the array of architectures. for big data analytics: He has automated Once these nearby planets are detected, A high resolution spectrum of a solar-type star, repre- the process of identifying interesting Marcy’s team will conduct further research sentative of those to be observed by the new Habitable events in the night sky, a continually to measure host star properties. According to Worlds Spectrometer. The multiple bands extending changing decision process that requires left-to-right represent brightness with increasing wave- choosing what to track from the Marcy, “The mass and chemical composition length. Attaching each band to its neighbors produces of the host star may correlate with the the entire spectrum of colors from far blue to far red. millions of options available. He will properties of the planets such as their mass, The Doppler effect will be measured by the displace- lead an astronomy-focused workshop orbital distance, or their occurrence rate. ments of the hundreds of dark spectral lines that are on Big Data in one of the Institute’s first Such correlations inform the theories of scattered at various colors. Earth-size planets can be offerings in Fall 2013. revealed by periodicities in those Doppler shifts. B E R K E L E Y A S T R O N O M Y 3 Theoretical Astrophysicist chosen as a new 2012 Simons Investigator Eliot Quataert, Astronomy Professor and Times announcement, the Simons Foundation also observational and experimental Director of the Theoretical Astrophysics stated, “The goal of the Simons Investigators astrophysicists. This award will free up Eliot Center at Berkeley, was recently selected as a Program is to provide a stable base of support to pursue bolder, higher‐risk work. The 2012 Simons Investigator. for outstanding scientists in their most Simons Foundation has made a wonderful Quataert was among 21 productive years, enabling them to undertake choice here.” mathematicians, theoretical long‐term study of fundamental questions.” With the funding provided by this program physicists and theoretical As with the MacArthur Foundation “Genius Quataert is interested in tackling research on computer scientists across Awards,” the recipients were unaware they the formation of galaxies and the behavior the country chosen for this were being considered for the award, and of matter very close to black holes. He plans prestigious award in its the money comes with no strings attached. to use the funding to support a group of inaugural year. “As Director of the Theoretical Astrophysics postdocs and graduate students to work on Through the Simons Eliot Quataert Center, Eliot has been a driving force in a range of different problems. He will also Investigators Program, continuing UC Berkeley’s leadership in purchase a cluster of computers to carry out support will be provided to Quataert for an this field,” said Mark Richards, Dean of the large-scale numerical simulations. Perhaps initial period of five years, with an anticipated Physical Sciences and Professor of Earth and most importantly, according to Quataert, the renewal of an additional five years, according Planetary Science. “Eliot’s brilliance extends unrestricted Simons Foundation funding to Elizabeth Roy, program manager for the across the full spectrum of astrophysics will give him the freedom and flexibility to Simons Foundation’s Division of Mathematics theory, and through this breadth of vision explore new ideas and branch out into new and the Physical Sciences. In its New York he inspires not only our theorists, but research areas.

Filippenko Flies with the Blue Angels Professor Alex Filippenko had the thrill of as weightlessness at 0 G and even going along for the ride in one of the Navy’s negative Gs, all perfect conditions elite Blue Angels fighter jets during Fleet for experiments that later impressed Week. Filippenko flew as part of the Blue Filippenko’s Astro 10 students. Angels’ Key Influencer Rider Program; he As he banked and rolled over the was chosen in part because of his role in the Bay Area, Filippenko took the research that led to the 2011 Nobel Prize in opportunity to videotape in-flight Physics and in part because of his extensive physics lessons for his community efforts in public education and outreach. outreach work. It was an “out-of- Filippenko’s jet was piloted by Navy Lt. Mark this-world experience,” he wrote Tedrow, who took Berkeley’s well-known in an email. “We broke the sound black hole expert through rolls and turns barrier and did all kinds of sharp where he felt the effects of 6.2 Gs — more turns… It was incredible!” than six times the force of gravity — as well Astronomer Alex Filippenko shows he’s ready for take-off.

Exploring the Boundary Between Science and Science Fiction Astronomy Professor Geoff Marcy is one of 20 of evidence for civilizations advanced enough first opportunity for us humans to hunt for innovative researchers who will share more to have built massive orbiting “solar” power other intelligent species that may have evolved than $4 million awarded through the 2012 stations. on them.” New Frontiers in Astronomy & Cosmology According to Marcy, the Kepler data being Marcy’s grant—$200,000 for two years International Grants Program. The grants collected could possibly reveal stars with —will also pay for time on the enormous are funded by the Pennsylvania-based John orbiting power stations called Dyson Spheres: Keck telescopes in Hawaii to take spectra of Templeton Foundation as a way to encourage megastructures that orbit a star and capture 1,000 planet-hosting stars, in search of laser scientists and students worldwide to explore a large proportion of its energy. They were emissions from advanced civilizations. fundamental, big questions in astronomy and proposed by physicist Freeman Dyson “Technological civilizations may cosmology that engage groundbreaking ideas more than 50 years ago as a likely way for on the nature of the universe. communicate with their space probes advanced civilizations to fuel their power- located throughout the galaxy by using laser Marcy, who kicked off the search for extrasolar hungry societies. Marcy will look at 1,000 of beams, either in visible light or infrared planets 20 years ago, is a member of the Kepler’s extrasolar systems in search of solar light,” he said. ”Laser light is detectable Kepler space telescope team that is observing arrays that pass in front of stars and make from other civilizations because the power the light from 160,000 stars in our galaxy them wink on and off. is concentrated into a narrow beam and the in search of the ones that dim periodically “Kepler has now discovered over 2,000 new light is all at one specific color or frequency. because of a planet passing or transiting worlds around other stars, most of them The lasers outshine the host star at the color in front of them. With this funding from smaller than twice the size of Earth, and many of the laser.” the Templeton Foundation, Marcy plans to probably having water,” Marcy said. “This rummage through data from Kepler in search flood of nearly Earth-size planets offers the 4 B E R K E L E Y A S T R O N O M Y

NEW CAMPBELL HALL

New Campbell Hall will house Berkeley’s famed programs in astrophysics and cosmology. Featuring highly interactive laboratories, classrooms and meeting spaces, it will help ensure Berkeley’s continued preeminence in research and teaching in the physical sciences. The new building will include state-of-the-art underground nanoscience laboratories, facilities for a vast spectrum of research in astronomy and cosmology, and a rooftop teaching observatory that will inspire and educate undergraduate students as well as the general public. The facility will be vastly superior to its predecessor—not simply larger and seismically sound, but also equipped to accommodate the current and future needs of astrophysics and cosmology at Berkeley. The building’s design will encourage collaborations across disciplines, enabling informal interactions that spark breakthroughs and further discovery. The building’s many features will also include: • interaction spaces for faculty and New Campbell hall rising. students • modern, expanded laboratories with Support for New Campbell Hall A new Student Observatory Fund is being instrumentation designed for use with and the Student Observatory Fund created. Our goal is to have it fully funded by the time the Astronomy Department remote telescopes The State of California and the National moves into New Campbell Hall. Its • classrooms with state-of-the-art Institute of Standards and Technology purpose is two-fold: multimedia technology (NIST) are the largest funders of the • a lobby with active displays to engage $80 million New Campbell Hall facility, • Maintain and operate the New Campbell building visitors but additional donations are essential Hall rooftop observatory over the long • a bridge connecting New Campbell Hall for optimal use of the building by our term, and with LeConte Hall Astronomy faculty and students. • Upgrade the undergraduate lab and telescopes used by our majors. In addition to the new rooftop observatory, these telescopes include the radio facility on the roof of New Campbell Hall and our off-site Leuschner Observatory. For further information on how to donate to the Student Observatory Fund or to discuss how you may wish to contribute to New Campbell Hall, please contact Barbara Hoversten at [email protected] or 510-642-8678.

Former dome before demolition. Ground-breaking Celebration, May 2012. B E R K E L E Y A S T R O N O M Y 5

New Campbell Hall rooftop: dome and meeting rooms. (above and right)

Pedestrian bridge linking New Campbell Hall with LeConte Hall.

Who was ‘Campbell’? Campbell Hall is named for William Wallace Campbell, who served as the tenth President of the University of California from 1923 to 1930. Campbell was, by training and avocation, an astronomer. Educated at the University of Michigan, he came to the University of California’s Lick Observatory in the 1890s and served as Director there for more than twenty years. “Campbell maintained the Lick Observatory in the front rank of the world’s observatories. His achievements and publications in astronomical research were awarded wide recognition” (Centennial Record, p. 16). When he was offered the University’s presidency, he made his acceptance contingent on the opportunity to continue a formal connection to Lick Observatory. Campbell retired as President of the University and as Director of the Lick Observatory in 1930. In 1931, he became President of the National Academy of Sciences and guided it through the early years of the Depression. When Campbell Hall was planned, Astronomy Professor Harold Weaver suggested naming the building after him. The Regents agreed and named the building in Campbell’s honor, continuing a tradition of assigning the names of leading University administrators and faculty to academic buildings on the Berkeley campus. New Campbell Hall lobby. 6 B E R K E L E Y A S T R O N O M Y

digital instrumentation workshops at the accelerating expansion of the universe, 2012 AWARDS Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Academia presumably as the result of mysterious Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Dark Energy. Pober expects to complete Astrophysics in Taiwan, and the National his Ph.D. in 2013. Astronomical Observatories in China. Michael McCourt, a 5th-year graduate MARY ELIZABETH UHL PRIZE He currently holds a joint research student at Berkeley, worked with his position with UC Berkeley and ASTRON, The Mary Elizabeth Uhl Prize is awarded advisor, Eliot Quataert, to understand the Netherlands Institute for Radio each year to a graduate student for the hot, tenuous gas filling clusters of Astronomy. outstanding scholarly achievement. In 2012, galaxies. He led a number of studies on Nicholas McConnell and Andrew Siemion the physics of this gas, how it cools to were both chosen to receive the award. ROBERT J. TRUMPLER form galaxies and fuel black hole growth, and how measurements of the gas can be Nicholas McConnell’s research measured GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD stellar motions in the Brightest Cluster used to infer the mass of the underlying Galaxies (BCGs) and compared them to The Robert J. Trumpler Graduate Student dark matter halo. Michael is expected to models of galaxies to determine the mass Excellence Award recognizes academic graduate in spring 2014. of the central supermassive black hole excellence in the field of Astronomy. in each galaxy. Working in collaboration Jonathan Pober and Michael McCourt DOROTHEA KLUMPKE with advisors Chung-Pei Ma and James were chosen as co-recipients of this award Graham, he discovered two black holes in 2012. ROBERTS PRIZE IN with record-breaking masses of at least 10 “Jonathan Pober lost his original research ASTRONOMY billion suns. After completing his Ph.D. at advisor, Don Backer, midway through his Berkeley, McConnell accepted the Beatrice Pierre Christian was the 2012 recipient graduate student career, but surmounted Watson Parrent Postdoctoral Fellowship of the Dorothea Klumpke Roberts Prize adversity to become a leading expert at the University of Hawai’i, where he is for outstanding scholarly achievement by in the science and techniques of 21cm continuing his research. an upper-level undergraduate student. As cosmology” according to Aaron Parsons, an astronomy student at Berkeley, Andrew Siemion’s research focused on Pober’s current advisor. He played Christian studied the early-time infrared designing instruments and experiments to a key role in presenting the PAPER afterglow of GRBs using PAIRITEL, a detect rare and novel radio phenomena, (Precision Array for Probing the Epoch robotic telescope located at Mt. Hopkins, specifically the detection and analysis of Reionization) experiment to the NSF, AZ, and also conducted research on of coherent sources of electromagnetic helping secure funding for the project. the cosmic microwave background. emission. Andrew is heavily involved He adapted techniques pioneered by Christian is currently a graduate student in developing new computing the PAPER project to a new science at Harvard University. technology and has organized and taught application, seeking to measure the

CONGRATULATIONS RETIREMENT to our students who received their Ph.D.s this past academic year! Christopher McKee, a theoretical astrophysicist and distinguished Katherine Alatalo Eric Huff Advisor: Carl Heiles Advisors: David Schlegel and Uros Seljak faculty member at Berkeley since 1974, Molecular Gas in Early-type Galaxies Seeing in the Dark: A Cosmic Shear Measurement retired in 2012. McKee held a dual Alatalo is now a postdoc at the California Institute in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey appointment in Astronomy and Physics. of Technology. Huff is now a postdoc at Ohio State University. He was instrumental in establishing Amber Bauermeister Nicholas McConnell the Theoretical Astrophysics Center Advisor: Leo Blitz Advisors: James Graham and Chung-Pei Ma at Berkeley and served as its first Galaxies through Cosmic Time: The Role of Black Hole Masses in Nearby Brightest Cluster director in 1985. Shortly thereafter, Molecular and Atomic Gas Galaxies he relinquished that position to McConnell is a Beatrice Watson Parrent become Director of the Space Sciences Statia Luszcz-Cook, Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Hawai’i. Advisor: Imke de Pater Laboratory at Berkeley, a position he Millimeter and Near-Infrared Observations of Andrew Siemion held until 1998. He was Chair of the Neptune’s Atmospheric Dynamics Advisors: Geoff Bower and Dan Werthimer Physics Department from 2000-2004 Searches for Exotic Radio Sources and Intelligent Luszcz-Cook is currently a postdoc at the and co-chaired the 2000 decadal survey American Museum of Natural History. Life on Other Worlds Siemion currently holds a joint research position of astronomy and astrophysics for the Mohan Ganeshaligham with UC Berkeley and ASTRON, the Netherlands National Academies. McKee is known Advisor: Alex Filippenko Institute for Radio Astronomy. for his research on the physical processes The Photometric Properties of Nearby Type Ia Supernovae Peter Williams that occur in the interstellar medium, Ganeshaligham is a Principle Research Associate at Advisor: Geoff Bower particularly in the mechanisms of star Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Exploring the Dynamic Radio Sky with the Allen formation. Telescope Array Williams is now a postdoc at the Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. B E R K E L E Y A S T R O N O M Y 7

DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA WE WELCOME YOUR GIFT! o Enclosed is my tax-deductible gift of: BERKELEY o $5,000 o $2,500 o $1,000 o $500 o $250 o $100 o Other $______Please direct my gift to: The Department of Astronomy wishes o The New Campbell Hall Student Observatory Fund to thank the alumni, parents, students, o The Friends of Astronomy (Chair’s Discretionary) Fund faculty, staff and friends who so o Designate my gift to (other) ______generously support us! Please make your check for the Department of Astronomy payable to UC Regents. In addition to my donation, a matching gift form from my employer: o Is enclosed or o Will be mailed to the Astronomy Department separately Please return this form o Please send me information related to giving through my estate. Send this information to with your check to: my address listed below or contact me at the e-mail address or telephone number shown: Barbara Hoversten University of California Name______Dept. of Astronomy Address______B20 Hearst Field Annex City/State/Zip: ______MC 3411 Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 Email: ______Phone number: ______You can also donate to the Astronomy Department online at: http://givetocal.berkeley.edu/search/?s=astronomy A portion of all gifts is used to defray the costs of administering the funds. All gifts are tax-deductible, as prescribed by law.

GIVING OPPORTUNITIES As state funding has declined over the past decade, the Astronomy Department has increasingly relied on the generosity of alumni and friends to maintain excellence in research and teaching. Your support will ensure that Berkeley Astronomy continues to thrive in the years to come. We invite you to make a gift to one of our funding priorities, listed below, or to a priority of your choice: INCREASING THE IMPACT OF YOUR GIFT Student Observatory Fund New Campbell Hall Corporate Matching Gift Program The new Student Observatory Fund is a Though the building itself has been Many employers of all sizes will match your vitally important investment in our future. funded, additional donations are gifts to UC Berkeley. Consult the employer It will sustain our new teaching observatory needed for programmatic and facility matching-gift search page: http://givetocal. on the rooftop of New Campbell Hall and enhancements. The new building will play berkeley.edu/browse/?u=172 for further also upgrade our undergraduate lab and a key role in inspiring and educating the details. associated telescope facilities for our majors. next generation of astronomers. See page 4 for further details. New Alumni Challenge Donations made by any undergraduate or Research graduate alumni from the Classes of 2008-09 Friends of UC Berkeley to 2011-12 are eligible to be matched at a Astronomy Until the Student Observatory Fund is fully 1:1 ratio up to $1,000. Donations made by This unrestricted fund gives the department funded, it remains our highest priority. We new alumni from the class of 2012-13 will be Chair the flexibility to allocate spending and realize, however, that some of our donors matched at an even higher 2:1 ratio. resources on the highest priorities and new are inspired to give to research. Please opportunities that arise. The fund supports contact us if you would like to explore the Endowment Matching Programs: important initiatives that benefit both option of supporting a faculty member or a Endowments created for student support students and faculty, including mentorship specific line of research. can be named in recognition of the donor programs, conferences, technology upgrades, or another honoree and may be eligible for department activities and much more. matching through the following programs: • The Graduate Fellowship Matching Program for gifts of $50K or more For further information, please contact: • The William and Grace Ford Barbara Hoversten Undergraduate Scholarship Matching [email protected] • 510-642-8678 Program for endowments of $100K University of California, Berkeley Department of Astronomy Hearst Field Annex MC 3411 Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 Upcoming Events: Science@Cal Monthly Lectures 3rd Saturday of each month 11:00 a.m., UC Berkeley Campus location changes each month Consult website for details http://scienceatcal.berkeley.edu/lectures CalDay 2013 Saturday, April 20 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. http://calday.berkeley.edu Raymond & Beverly Sackler Distinguished Lecture in Astronomy Please see the Astronomy website for updated information in the Fall: http://astro.berkeley.edu

All Astronomy Astronomy T-Shirts Department students, staff, Another “Starry Night at Cal” true stars faculty, postdocs, The Annual Departmental T-Shirt Design or find the and researchers Contest continues to provide distraction perfect gift for are welcome from the rigors of astrophysics and an their dearest to submit their opportunity to explore hidden artistic stargazers, designs for and creative talents. with all profits consideration. supporting Last year’s winner was “Starry Night at The winning Astronomy design is Cal,” submitted by staff member Barb graduate Hoversten. Her colorful new design, as determined by student departmental vote. More well as previous designs, are all available activities. for purchase online: information can be found The design contest is held each on the department website, http://qmorgan.com/tshirts/ year at the start of the Spring http://astro.berkeley.edu. $16 plus shipping Semester, with the winning Alumni and other friends of astronomy design selected and printed can now select a design to show their in time for Cal Day in April.

Astronomy News 2013 Banner photographs, L-R: 1. Sather Gate, University of California, Berkeley, 2. University of California, Berkeley Keck Telescopes, Laser Guide Star, 3. Graduate student Ryan Foley and Professor Alex Filippenko in Keck II Control Room, 4. Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope Newsletter Contributors: Imke de Pater, Rayna Helgens, Barb Hoversten, (KAIT), Lick Observatory, 5. The full moon above one of the CARMA antennae. Robert Sanders. Banner photography provided by Laurie Hatch (www.lauriehatch.com), Keck Newsletter photography and graphics: Steve Croft, Noelle Filippenko, Laurie Observatory, and Steve Croft. Hatch (www.lauriehatch.com), Barb Hoversten, Judey Miller, STUDIOS Architectural Design, Jim Wert Editor: Barbara Hoversten, [email protected] Design: Lisa Krieshok, [email protected]