Dr William Tobin Senior Lecturer, Department of Physics & Astronomy Career advice to pupils considering astronomy at university

Career advice to pupils considering astronomy study Canterbury is THE place in New Zealand to study astronomy Mt John University Observatory, Tekapo Southern African Large Telescope (SALT)

Career advice to pupils considering astronomy study HERCULES spectrograph 1-m McLellan Telescope on Mt John

Career advice to pupils considering astronomy study New MOA 1.8-m Telescope (Dec 2004) former telescope

Career advice to pupils considering astronomy study PLUS: workshops library facilities (inc. ex Carter Observatory library) academic staff teaching programme in Christchurch

Career advice to pupils considering astronomy study Many youngsters dream of a career in astronomy but jobs are very rare  Research astronomers, mostly in universities (requires Ph.D. plus)  Technical support to research astronomy (levels from B.Sc. to Ph.D)  Popularisers (journalism, planetariums, public observatories) (diverse backgrounds)

Career advice to pupils considering astronomy study However, the technical parts of these jobs are all physics-based:  Astronomy is part of a Physics & Astronomy department at Canterbury  The majority of the course at lower levels is devoted to physics and mathematics  Studying astronomy opens doors to all employment that derives from physics N.B. Our Ph.D. students now 50:50 men:women

Career advice to pupils considering astronomy study Pre-university preparation is as for physics:  NCEA Level 3 physics (~14 credits)  NCEA Level 3 Maths with Calculus (~14 credits) Written and spoken English is also very important ! N.B. Aurora Scholarship for first-year students younger than 18½ at application

Career advice to pupils considering astronomy study Canterbury is the only NZ university to offer astronomy courses in all years and degrees at all levels (B.Sc., B.Sc.(Hons), Grad.Dip.Sci., P.G.Dip.Sci., M.Sc., Ph.D.). The degree structure allows students to refocus on other subjects if their interests evolve (physics, maths, computing, electronics…). Almost all astronomy students at B.Sc. and B.Sc.(Hons) level in fact take their degrees in physics.

Career advice to pupils considering astronomy study Recent survey of physics/astronomy graduates’ current employment: Professor, industrial physicist, meteorological instrument technician, instrument project manager, secondary-school physics/science teacher, health protection officer, post doc, senior software engineer, Christian fellowship field worker, senior electrical engineer, director of research and analytics, GP, senior astronomer, computer consultant, IT consultant, oceanographic engineer, mother, payments processing officer, senior lecturer in physics, programmer analyst, trainee operational forecaster, research scientist, landscape contractor, electronic assembler/tester, company director, manager, science/physics teacher, product manager, PhD student, meteorologist, Antarctic astronomer, lecturer, project manager, consultant geophysicist, lecturer ADFA, postdoctoral researcher, demonstrations technician, computer support person, programme coordinator for mental health services, teaching assistant, assistant physics/science teacher, senior lecturer in computer science, university lecturer, music producer, civil engineer, international student advisor, flight commander RASNZ, principal environmental engineer….

Career advice to pupils considering astronomy study Conclusion: Do not hesitate to recommend Canterbury to pupils who want to study astronomy. It’s the only place in NZ with a full programme, and because the programme is part of the physics degree structure, they will be set up for many other careers besides. For more info:   Stars in a Cluster (sent to every secondary-school and public library in 1996)  This PowerPoint (0.7 Mbyte) at:

Career advice to pupils considering astronomy study