Courses:
Universe Semester

16 weeks / 16 credits
Spring 2003
January 21-May 16

Astronomy had its beginnings when a few adventurous humans wandered out of caves and looked up at the night sky. Since then, we've managed to survive the trend back to the caves (cities), but at the expense of an increasing gulf between astronomical science and its origins. Natural science is rooted in the senses and premised on the distrust of authority, but we teach from textbooks, under skies which have been rendered starless (the Milky Way was last seen in New York City when Ulysses Grant was president). Yet the puzzles and sensory immediacy of the night sky are still out there, as powerful and fascinating as ever.

Some of today's humans are adventurous too, and some of these are sure to be college students. Hence, the UNIVERSE SEMESTER: an intensive program in astronomy and astrophysics carrying a full semester of Columbia University credit, and designed to appeal to liberal-arts students as well as astronomy and physics majors. The Biosphere 2 Center in southern Arizona offers the opportunity to study astronomy in its natural setting, under the night sky, accompanied by telescopes and other research tools which directly involve discovery by experiment and observation. This program will runs during the autumn (September-December) and spring (January-May) semesters.

The UNIVERSE SEMESTER is like a college, with courses and exams and problem sets and term papers. But the intimacy and wildness of the setting give us great advantages. Universe Semester is more intellectual, more collaborative, more egalitarian, more earthy, and more research-based than any college or university. And in some ways, probably even more artistic. For the historically minded, you might consider it an undergraduate version of Los Alamos in the 1940s (without the weapons of mass destruction), or Uraniborg in the 1580s (without Tycho Brahe's tyranny).

The Universe Semester is an intensive study in astronomy and astrophysics for college undergraduates interested in the cosmos. Majors in any scientific field or adventurous liberal arts students can observe stars under the clear desert skies at Biosphere 2's Observatory near Oracle, Arizona as well as Columbia's telescopes at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in the mountains near Tucson. The curriculum is ideal for astronomy majors, but it is also a very unique opportunity for physics majors with interest in astrophysics to profit by designing a crossover curriculum which includes one or more courses from the Earth Semester.

Our students come from colleges and universities across the United States and around the world to learn with some of the most progressive astronomy educators in the United States.

Detailed Course Information
Universe Semester

M1 Crab Nebula

Course Dates
Spring 2003
January 21-May 16

Credits
16 credit hours through Columbia University

Prerequisites
Vary with courses selected by student

Application Deadline
November 30, 2002.

Location
Biosphere 2 Center near Tucson, AZ, and nearby field sites in Arizona

M76 Little Dumbbell Nebula

Course Description

The UNIVERSE SEMESTER is an intensive program in astronomy and astrophysics for college undergraduates at the Biosphere 2 Center near Oracle, Arizona. The program is designed for 20-25 students, and carries a full semester of Columbia University credit. It runs during both the autumn and spring semesters. Under clear desert skies, the program will be strongly based on night-sky observation, with our own telescopes as well as the large professional telescopes in the mountains near Tucson. The curriculum is ideal for astronomy majors, but it is also a very unique opportunity for physics majors with interest in astrophysics. Majors in any scientific field can profit by designing a crossover curriculum which includes one or more courses from the Earth Semester, as can an adventurous liberal arts student.

M 74 Spiral Galaxy

While the setting at Biosphere 2 provides dramatic and unique natural advantages, the curriculum bears a fair resemblance to traditional choices. This makes it easier for students and home universities to integrate our program into an overall four-year program, and assign credit appropriately. We've designed the UNIVERSE SEMESTER for, roughly, two categories of student.

One is a highly science-motivated student interested in a program more centered around research activities than is feasible or available at the home institution.

The second is a liberal-arts student who is nonprofessionally interested in science and inclined to be adventurous.

We offer approximately 6 courses during each edition of the UNIVERSE SEMESTER. On the courses page, you will find the selection of courses from which the offered courses will be chosen. We give the Biosphere course numbers and linked syllabi with descriptions for the course's most recently taught incarnation.

Thus, typical programs might look like this (Click on the course number to view the course description.)

*All of the astrophotography images on this page was taken by Biosphere 2 astronomy students, credits include: J. Baldeau, H. Groch, K. Grossman, E. Soltes H. Abend, K. Becker, T. Laurance, C. Wright.