Bloomington is a progressive, engaging city surrounded by state and national forests and state parks offering diverse opportunities for recreation. The city hosts strong international communities, and we enjoy high-quality, affordable restaurants. IU’s outstanding Jacobs School of Music hosts many free concerts every month. Public transportation is excellent, and the cost of living is relatively low. And our campus is among the most beautiful in the world!
We are a small, friendly department where students get personalized attention and close interaction with faculty. We respect and support a wide range of career objectives for our students.
Graduate students in the Department of Astronomy play a significant role in making the department successful and for improving the participation of graduate students in department affairs. Graduate students elect their peers to leadership roles according to a living Governance Document included in the Graduate Student Handbook. These leadership roles include the following positions:
The Graduate Student Liaison represents the graduate students within the department and coordinates with department administration to improve communication and to provide graduate student perspectives on key issues.
The Chair of the Accessibility and Belonging Committee fosters community, well-being, and belonging in the department.
The External Representative represents the department on graduate affairs external to the department, including to the Graduate and Professional Student Government.
The Undergraduate Research Coordinator organizes activities that support undergraduate research engagement in the Department.
Internal Events Coordinator plans and hosts social events to foster faculty, staff, and student engagement.
Graduate Student Mentor guides first-year graduate students to help their successful integration into the department and graduate program.
Our students are guaranteed financial support as long as they are making good academic progress. The department offers travel support for observing and conferences, and students can get teaching experience to prepare for academic careers. Our professional development seminars help students learn the skills needed for success beyond grad school.
Our program emphasizes research on galaxies, stellar populations, the structure of the Milky Way, and the chemical evolution of stars and stellar systems. Astronomy graduate students hold weekly computational, stellar and extragalactic research groups, and present current research summaries during weekly AstroCoffee gatherings keep us up to date on new research publications.
IU astronomers observe on the WIYN (Wisconsin-Indiana-Yale-NOAO) 3.5-m telescope at Kitt Peak, and students can propose for telescope time in their own names.
IU is a leader in high performance computing, with free access to IU’s outstanding computing, visualization, and data storage facilities and professional staff.
The College of Arts