Dear First Year Students,

Welcome to UMD Astronomy! I've talked to several of you already about courses, and thought that it would be useful to introduce myself to the rest of you -- Doug Hamilton, Graduate Director (formerly Doug Hamilton, Graduate Admissions Committee) -- and give you some information about registering for courses in the fall. The great thing about graduate courses is that they do not ever fill up, so you can register as late as the end of August as the semester is beginning. There are some good reasons to register early (potential VISA issues, access to the gym and pool on campus) and some reasons to delay (student fees are due immediately after you register).

In any case, you do want to be thinking about which courses to take. In Fall 2010, the Astronomy Department offers the following courses:

ASTR601 Radiative Processes
ASTR610 Instrumentation
ASTR630 Planetary Science
ASTR695 Introduction to Research

All of you are required to sign up for ASTR695, which is a one-credit course that covers some basic computer programming skill and where you'll learn about the research that we do in the department. The course meets once a week and there are no assignments or tests. See http://www.astro.umd.edu/~hamilton/ASTR695/ for more details (there are some useful links there too).

You also need to take Radiative Processes (ASTR601), which is a prerequisite for all of our other courses.

Taking two solid courses, along with ASTR695 and a TA-ship, is a pretty full load. So you need just one more course to add to ASTR601! How should you decide? Choose the course of greatest interest to you, but also pay attention to our requirements. At some point in your studies, you will need to take either Instrumentation (ASTR610) or Computation (ASTR615). Similarly, you are also required to take either Planetary Science (ASTR630) or Galaxies (ASTR620). All five of these courses cover content that will appear on the qualifying exam that you will take at the end of your second year. Computation and Galaxies will both be offered next fall. Many students take both courses of a given pair, counting one toward the requirement and the second as an elective.

Most of you will take one of the following combos in Fall 2010: (ASTR601, ASTR610, and ASTR695) or (ASTR601, ASTR630, and ASTR695). But you might also want to consider taking a class from another department (e.g. Physics) - many of these count as an elective class toward your degree. You might also consider taking three classes, although I recommend starting with two in the fall semester.

Drop me an email when you start thinking about classes; I need to hear from you before you will be cleared to register. And I'll see you when you arrive in the fall!

Cheers,

Doug Hamilton
Graduate Director