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Penn State Astronomy Places High in National Rankings

27 September 2010

Credit: Marty Harris/McDonald Obs./UT-Austin Penn State Astronomy and Astrophysics is one of the most productive astronomy departments in the United States, according to a multi-year study released on 28 September 2010 by the National Research Council. One of the department's many achievements is its role in the design, construction, operation, and scientific use of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which is among the world's largest, most powerful, and most economical optical telescopes. The Hobby-Eberly Telescope is designed for spectroscopy--the collection and analysis of light from astronomical objects such as comets, planets, stars, galaxies, and quasars. Astronomers from Penn State and the other telescope partners (the University of Texas, Goettingen University, Munich University, and Stanford University) use the telescope for a variety of research programs, from searches for planets in orbit around nearby stars to investigations of the most distant known objects in the universe.

Penn State Astronomy and Astrophysics is one of the most productive astronomy departments in the United States, according to a multi-year study released on 28 September 2010 by the National Research Council. One of the department's many achievements is its role in the design, construction, operation, and scientific use of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which is among the world's largest, most powerful, and most economical optical telescopes.  The Hobby-Eberly Telescope is designed for spectroscopy--the collection and analysis of light from astronomical objects such as comets, planets, stars, galaxies, and quasars. Astronomers from Penn State and the other telescope partners (the University of Texas, Goettingen University, Munich University, and Stanford University) use the telescope for a variety of research programs, from searches for planets in orbit around nearby stars to investigations of the most distant known objects in the universe. Credit: Marty Harris/McDonald Obs./UT-Austin

 

Penn State Astronomy and Astrophysics is one of the most productive astronomy departments in the United States, according to a multi-year study released today by the National Research Council.

The Data Based Assessment of Graduate Programs, produced by the NRC for a consortium of universities, used a broad range of measurements to rank the performance of thousands of graduate programs across hundreds of U.S. universities — its first such rankings in 15 years.  The Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State jumped into the top 10 of astronomy departments, ranking #1 in the nation in the category of number of publications per faculty member per year — a crucial measure of scientific productivity. Penn State ranks in the top eight programs in three significant categories: publication rate, citations per publication, and fraction of faculty supported by grants.  In an average of these three key aspects, Penn State astronomy has a rank of third, trailing only the California Institute of Technology and Princeton University.

The NRC study evaluated programs using two techniques: 1) Objective rankings, based solely on data collected by the NRC, and 2) Reputation rankings, based on the perceptions of programs by faculty at other universities.  Rather than assigning a single number to a program, the NRC reported a range of possible rankings.  In the objective rankings, Penn State astronomy was rated as between 2nd and 7th of the 33 astronomy departments reviewed; the program's reputation was estimated to lie in the range of 6 to 23. Department Head Larry Ramsey stated that the NRC study accurately reflects the current stature of Penn State astronomy, saying "It is widely known that a program's reputation is a lagging indicator.  The significant discrepancy between the objective and the reputation rankings is a striking indication of the rapid increase of the scientific impact of Penn State astronomy over the past decade."

NASA's Swift satellite, whose science and flight operations are controlled from Penn State University's Mission Operations Center near the University Park campus, has detected since its launch in 2005 more than 500 gamma-ray bursts -- a type of explosion that is the biggest and most mysterious in the cosmos. Swift's X-Ray Telescope and Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope were developed and built by international teams led by Penn State. Swift has revealed previously unknown information about our universe by detecting gamma-ray bursts as close to Earth as about 100 million light-years and as far away as 13 billion light-years -- a span of time equivalent to about 95 percent of the universe's age.

NASA's Swift satellite, whose science and flight operations are controlled from Penn State University's Mission Operations Center near the University Park campus, has detected since its launch in 2005 more than 500 gamma-ray bursts -- a type of explosion that is the biggest and most mysterious in the cosmos.  Swift's X-Ray Telescope and Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope were developed and built by international teams led by Penn State.  Swift has revealed previously unknown information about our universe by detecting gamma-ray bursts as close to Earth as about 100 million light-years and as far away as 13 billion light-years -- a span of time equivalent to about 95 percent of the universe's age.

 

The discovery of one of the nearest supernovas to Earth to occur in the last 25 years is just one of many discoveries made by research teams including Penn State astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. A team led by Penn State's Gordon Garmire, an Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and Astrophysics, developed the primary X-ray instrument for the Chandra X-ray Observatory. This instrument is a spectrometer that records with precision the energy of each X-ray that it detects.

The discovery of one of the nearest supernovas to Earth to occur in the last 25 years is just one of many discoveries made by research teams including Penn State astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.  A team led by Penn State's Gordon Garmire, an Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and Astrophysics, developed the primary X-ray instrument for the Chandra X-ray Observatory.  This instrument is a spectrometer that records with precision the energy of each X-ray that it detects.

 

This image illustrates a Jupiter-size planet in a close orbit around its parent star. The discoveries of such systems have revealed new insights about the physics of extrasolar planets and are among the areas being explored by Penn State's Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds (http://exoplanets.astro.psu.edu/). The center is directed by Evan Pugh Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Alex Wolszczan, who discovered the first planets ever found outside our solar system in 1992, catapulting the field of extrasolar-planet studies into the forefront of astrophysics. In the ensuing two decades scientists have discovered hundreds of planets accompanying a wide variety of stars. Scientists at Penn State's Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds are particularly interested in developing the techniques required to identify planets where living organisms exist, or might exist, and to determine their rate of occurrence in the universe. The Center fosters this research among faculty and students from the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and other departments within the Eberly College of Science, from the College of Engineering, and from the Department of Geosciences in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

This image illustrates a Jupiter-size planet in a close orbit around its parent star.  The discoveries of such systems have revealed new insights about the physics of extrasolar planets and are among the areas being explored by Penn State's Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds (http://exoplanets.astro.psu.edu/). The center is directed by Evan Pugh Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Alex Wolszczan, who discovered the first planets ever found outside our solar system in 1992, catapulting the field of extrasolar-planet studies into the forefront of astrophysics. In the ensuing two decades scientists have discovered hundreds of planets accompanying a wide variety of stars.

Scientists at Penn State's Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds are particularly interested in developing the  techniques required to identify planets where living organisms exist, or might exist, and to determine their rate of  occurrence in the universe. The Center fosters this research among faculty and students from the Department of  Astronomy and Astrophysics and other departments within the Eberly College of Science, from the College of Engineering, and from the Department of Geosciences in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.