Undergraduate Student Awards 

Every Spring semester the Department of Astronomy awards one exceptional senior with the Outstanding Senior Award. Candidates for the Outstanding Senior Award excel in their studies, as evidenced by having a GPA of 3.5 or better, are involved in research/internship, and are recognized as a leader within the campus or the larger community. The balance between these different aspects will vary, but every nominee is typically strong in all three areas. The department’s awardee will receive the departmental Outstanding Senior Award at the Spring Awards Ceremony which is held the morning of Reading Day. The College of Science awards committee will then select the College of Science overall outstanding senior from among the departmental outstanding seniors.

The Department of Astronomy also awards one graduating senior with the Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award who has shown outstanding achievement in undergraduate research. In general, the student’s work is a significant contribution and shows originality, creativity, and a level of independence appropriate to the discipline. The College of Science awards committee will select the overall Undergraduate Research Award recipient from the departmental nominees. The overall College winner will also receive a Galileo Circle Scholarship and receive the honor of presenting their research at our Galileo Circle Scholars event in the Spring.

Graduate Student Awards

The Department of Astronomy Graduate Student Awards (in Scholarship, Service, and Teaching) are awarded annually. Each selected student will receive a departmental award as well as a nomination for the College Award in that category. In 2021 we also recognized exceptional departmental service contributions as well as the older College and Departmental Awards.

Criteria

• Scholarship: Outstanding research publications, presentations at meetings, and scholarship awarded.

• Service: Attention to broader impacts and involvement in activities outside of academic responsibilities that benefit the department, university and the larger community.  For example, this student may represent graduate student interests on councils or committees, organize graduate student events, assist departmental recruitment, participate in K-12 outreach, etc.

• Teaching: Teaching or mentoring that goes above and beyond what is required; positive evaluations or other feedback from students, willingness to help junior graduate students, development of new course material or experiments, etc.