One measure of the success of a research program is its level of external funding. In FY95-96, the total external funding of the Astronomy Department was $637,884.  In FY96-97, we brought in $1,478,558, an increase of 230%. In FY97-98, that figure increased to $3,636,290, representing a further increase of 250%.  There must, of course, be a limit to this process, but all the indications point to a level of funding that may be close to the highest in the college, at least on a funds per faculty member basis.  At present, the department has 17 faculty.   

     This success has been achieved by a new strategy.  Time on space-based telescopes--for example, the technically brilliant Hubble Space Telescope operated by NASA--is available through open competition and our faculty have been very successful in gaining time on those facilities.  However, most of the new, large and sophisticated telescopes are ground-based and sited in the deserts of Arizona, Chile and Hawaii.  The new strategy that the department is pursuing is the development of instruments that are unique and of such high quality that the major observatories will welcome the opportunity of using them on their telescopes.  Thus, in exchange for an investment in instrumentation, UF astronomers now gain some access to the world's best observatories.   
 
The birth of a department:  CLAS astronomers made the cover of Newsweek last May. 
  
     OSCIR, the infrared camera designed and built by Charlie Telesco and his team, was used by UF and Harvard astronomers to discover a disk of dust around a young, nearby star in which planets may now be forming.  This discovery made the cover of Newsweek in May 1998 and was the first big payoff of the new strategy.  Other major new instruments are now under development with funds provided by NSF.   

     Our graduate program is small, but comparable in size to those of most other major astronomy departments.  We only have 28 students in our PhD program, but with one exception, all of these students are fully funded, and 40% hold competitive, external fellowships.  With the expansion of our research program, we expect our graduate program to continue to grow.  At the undergraduate level, we teach mostly 1000 and 2000 level general education courses to non-scientists.  We find that the presentation of the latest discoveries on the frontiers of astronomy, sometimes by the astronomers who are making those discoveries, can be an exciting and intellectually challenging experience for these young students.   

     We are now in the process of hiring three new faculty to strengthen our research on the origin of the universe and all that it contains:  that is, galaxies, stars, planets and even life itself.  We are confident both of making further important discoveries in that area and of communicating the new results to our students.  

The Astronomy Department's office staff includes (from left) office manager Deborah Hunter, senior secretary Ann Elton, and program assistant Glenda Smith.