Congratulations on surviving your second year of graduate school! So what does the Astronomy Department have in store for you next? Well, first you are all cordially invited to the annual and very exclusive Qualifier Event that we host each August. The Qualifier will be graded and the results discussed at a Faculty meeting that will occur this year in late August. You should each receive a personalized letter discussing your results shortly thereafter. I presume that you already know about the Qualifier; if not, now would be an excellent time to start studying :).

During the third year you should all be doing full-time directed thesis research with the advisor of your choice. During the academic year, you should register for ASTR898 (for 8 credits if you are a TA and 3 credits if you are an RA) with your research advisor. In special cases, you may need a different number of credits; if so, we will contact you. Ideally you will continue on with your second-year project advisor, but moving on to something new is also OK. Please come talk to me if you are uncertain about what sort of research you want to do next. And if you don't like research and/or don't have a research advisor yet definitely come talk to me!

Once you pass your qualifier, the Astronomy Department will be pleased to offer you all Master's Degrees at the end of the fall semester. You need a total of 30 credits of 600-level courses (eight 3-credit classroom classes, and your ASTR699 and ASTR695 classes will do it if you have taken the recommended number of credits for 699 along the way). You also need a scholarly paper (your second-year project writeup counts; you knew it would be good for something!). While the Master's Degree is not a necessary prerequisite for a Ph.D., the extra effort to get the Master's is minimal, and I strongly recommend that you all go for it! There are a couple of forms that you need to fill out early in the semester so that the degrees can be conferred at December graduation. If one of you can locate the deadlines and forms (ask a Fourth-Year!) and let me know, I'll pass the info on to the rest of the group.

This spring, and for all future springs while you are with us, you'll be giving a short 20-min presentation and a 2-3 page research summary to your thesis committee detailing your research progress to date and your plans for the next year. Those of you who have your Ph.D. theses reasonably scoped out already may, with your advisor's approval, substitute your Thesis Proposal Defense for this annual update. A conference presentation would also count, as long as at least two committee members are present.

Cheers,
Cole Miller
Graduate Director

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