Astrophysics

Sample Courses

  • Astrophysical Techniques
  • Extragalactic Astrophysics
  • Stars and Galaxies
  • Stellar Astrophysics
  • The Solar System

Popular Electives

  • Atomic and Nuclear Physics
  • Classical Mechanics
  • Electricity and Magnetism
  • Gravity Optics
  • Quantum Mechanics
  • Statistical Thermodynamics

Research and Teaching Fields

  • Astronomy and astrophysics
  • Computational sciences
  • Data analytics
  • Instrumentation
  • Optics
  • Physics

Astrophysics

Why study astrophysics at Geneseo?

The astrophysics major is perfect for students who are passionate about space and want a quantitative, hands-on learning experience. The program prepares students for a variety of careers that require strong problem-solving, data analysis, image processing, and analytic skills. It is specifically designed for students thinking about careers in astronomy and space sciences or related fields.

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Program Options

Additional Options

Program Highlights

  • The only astrophysics program in the SUNY system.
  • A complete education in physics with options to pursue different career paths, including physics, astrophysics, optics, data analytics, and other related quantitative fields.
  • Specialized upper-division lecture courses in stellar and extragalactic astrophysics.
  • Senior capstone project-oriented course that allows students to engage with professional astronomical data.
  • Opportunities to collaborate with faculty on publishable research projects.
  • Field experiences that include visits to Kitt Peak National Observatory and NASA-funded summer research opportunities involving analysis of images from the Hubble Space Telescope, computational simulations of gravitational waves generated by black hole collisions, ground-based photometric and spectroscopic studies of open star clusters.

Recent Employers

  • Corning, Inc.
  • IDEX Health and Science
  • L3Harris
  • Lockheed Martin
  • Rochester Precision Optics
  • University of Rochester Lab for Laser Energetics

Recent Grad Schools

  • Indiana University
  • Penn State
  • Rochester Institute of Technology
  • University of Rochester

Contact Info

Savitri Iyer, Professor and Department Chair
iyer@geneseo.edu
ISC 234A
585-245-5540

Physics Department

Physics Faculty

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