Astronomy

1
Astronomy Astrophysics Research at Macquarie
University

• Astronomy and astrophysics research has grown
  rapidly at Macquarie over the last 5 years
• There are now 20 group members 2 academic staff,
  2 associates, 3 postdocs, 9 PhD students, 2
  masters students and an RA.
• Outputs 2003-2007
• 130 papers inc. 50 in refereed journals
• 4 ARC DPs 3 ARC LEIF, 1 ARC Linkage
  international, 1 DEST ASISTM numerous other
  RIBG, MURDG, ASNTO grants (total value 2m)
• Major facility access won to worlds most
  prestigious observatories (HST, SPITZER, CHANDRA,
  GEMINI, ESO VLT) equivalent to 4.2m of facility
  access
• 5 PhD completions since 2005 most go in to
  industry!

2
Postgraduate studies PhD

• A variety of options are available for PhD
  graduates wishing to pursue a research or
  industrial career it is not just astronomy!
• Astronomy graduates have gone into a broad range
  of careers including remote sensing, medical
  physics, conservation science, financial
  modeling, defence industries, teaching, even
  insurance some even stay on in Astronomy.
• Students leave equipped with a wide range of
  sophisticated and useful skills. These include
  but are not restricted to
• high level analytical skills including data
  processing, manipulation, interpretation,
  assessment and evaluation
• Experimental design, testing against data, image
  processing, spectral analysis
• Computational physics, software development,
  modeling, scientific writing, science proposals
  persuading someone to part with money/resources!
• PhD projects are available in observational,
  theoretical and in instrumentation projects that
  can equip students with a very broad range of
  capabilities
• Cutting-edge instrumentation PhD projects with
  advanced photonics in collaboration with the AAO
  are available now

3
Links with the AAO

• Macquarie is an active, growing centre of
  astronomical research and is in close proximity
  to both the AAO and ATNF and there are already
  established links (jointly supervised masters and
  PhD students) while the AAO is a customer of the
  laser micromachining facility
• These links offer additional synergies and
  opportunities for co-supervision and
  collaborations with international partners
  including industry, particularly in the area of
  cutting edge photonics as used in astronomical
  instrumentation
• Two 5000 AAO/Mac.University astronomy-instrumen
  tation honours scholarships have been set up to
  encourage further links.
• These would be jointly supervised projects
  between an AAO instrumentation scientist and
  Macquarie.
• Other honours/Phd projects are offered in
  collaboration with AAO research astronomers from
  within their areas of expertise
• Jointly supervised PhD projects in
  instrumentation or direct astronomical research
  are available and studentd can apply for AAO PhD
  top-up scholarships too.