Rensselaer’s department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy prepares undergraduate students to contribute to new concepts and technologies through innovative teaching methods that combine student-faculty interactions, computer-based education, and “hands-on” experience in modern laboratories.
Our graduate programs lead to the M.S. and the Ph.D. in physics. These degrees are available in several research areas.
For graduate students specializing in Astronomy and Astrophysics, the M.S. degree is available either in astronomy or physics with specialization in astrophysics.
The department conducts both fundamental and applied research, often in collaboration with researchers from other Rensselaer departments, other universities, industry, or the National Laboratories.
As an important part of their education, graduate students collaborate with faculty members to make original research contributions in their area of specialization.
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Prof. Newberg Named Fellow of American Physical Society
4/24/13—Galactic astronomer Heidi Newberg has been selected as a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). Election to fellowship in the APS is limited to no more than one-half of 1 percent of membership.
In making the announcement, the APS cited Newberg for “her contributions to our understanding of the structure of the Milky Way galaxy and the universe and for the development of software and hardware infrastructure for measuring and extracting meaningful information from large astronomical survey data sets.”
Newberg’s research is primarily related to understanding the structure and evolution of our own galaxy, using stars as tracers of the galactic halo and disks. These stars in turn are used to trace the density distribution of dark matter in the Milky Way. She has been a participant of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and is currently head of Participants in LAMOST U.S., a partnership allowing U.S. astronomers to take part in a survey of more than 7 million stars by the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope in China (LAMOST).
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