Our honors program is designed for students in the B.S. degree who plan to pursue graduate studies in astronomy and astrophysics. Students wishing to participate in the honors program should contact the undergraduate advisor in the Department of Astronomy during the second semester of their sophomore year or first semester of their junior year.
To be admitted to the honors program, you must have an overall GPA of 3.3 and a GPA of 3.3 in Astronomy, Mathematics, and Physics courses. You must maintain these GPAs to receive a degree with honors in the B.S. degree in Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Students in the honors program complete the same requirements as the regular B.S. in Astronomy and Astrophysics, with the addition of Astronomy S499 Honors Research. Astronomy S499 is taken one or both semesters during the senior year, earning 3 credits each time it is taken.
Honors students conduct research supervised by a department faculty member. During the second semester of the senior year, honors students write a research report and present this work in a department mini-colloquium. Recent senior theses include research on a wide range of astronomical problems, carried out in close collaboration with faculty.
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