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Tony Wong

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Della Perrone / University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

At long last, we are resuming the publication of the Astronomy Department newsletter!  I am sorry for the hiatus and grateful for the efforts of Jake Keister, who has joined us part-time as our communications coordinator, without whom this would not have been possible.  While we could in principle report on two years of activities, we are focusing this newsletter on recent activities and achievements to be as up-to-date as possible.  I should take a moment, however, to note a couple of highlights from the 2023-24 academic year, including wonderful visits by two Iben Lecturers, professor Marcia Rieke from the University of Arizona and professor Jo Dunkley from Princeton University, and several viewing events for the April 2024 solar eclipse that our dedicated graduate and undergraduate students mainly organized.

Thanks to the efforts of faculty, staff, and students, the department continues to flourish.  Our faculty numbers will reach 14 this fall with the arrival of Jiayin Dong, who will bring a strong focus on exoplanetary science to our department.  We also have a full contingent of staff, having recently onboarded Jake Keister and our new academic advisor, Sarah Sheeley.  Our postdoc numbers are also growing, and our humble Astronomy Building is bursting at the seams!  Our undergraduate major numbers continue to break records, although we are hopefully entering a phase of more sustainable growth, ensuring we can continue to provide individualized attention to our students.

On the research front, artificial intelligence is revolutionizing many fields, and astronomy is no exception. The SkAI Institute, headquartered at the Hancock Center in downtown Chicago and led at Illinois by associate professor Gautham Narayan, is funded by a five-year, $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation and Simons Foundation to deploy AI for the analysis of large data sets, astrophysical simulations, and instrument and survey design. In another recent funding success, professor Xin Liu and graduate student Grant Merz have obtained $1 million of NASA funding for DeepDISC-Euclid, a program to adapt computer vision techniques to detecting and classifying blended objects in deep astronomical images. Astronomy researchers are also winning prized observing time on the James Webb Space Telescope, with professor Yue Shen's group leading NEXUS, one of the largest projects yet approved on Webb, to study the evolution of galaxies and their central black holes. These are just a few highlights you will learn more about in this year's newsletter.

As we look forward to a new academic year, I want to take a moment to reflect on the legacy of Distinguished Professor Emeritus Icko Iben, Jr., who passed away earlier this year. Icko served as Department Head for over a decade, overseeing its growth into a vibrant hub for cutting-edge research, and founding the lecture series that bears his name.  I also want to thank the department's friends and supporters for their sustained efforts and urge us all to continue to make the case for astronomy in a time where government support for science, research, and international engagement is in greater doubt than at any time in recent memory. Astronomy has always bridged divides by appealing to people of all backgrounds and beliefs, and we must ensure that it continues to do so.

Best wishes,
Tony Wong
Professor and department chair

This year, two of our faculty received long-overdue honors for their excellence in teaching. 

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(L to R): Henna Abunemeh, Brian Fields, Leslie Looney, Spencer Hulsey, Aadya Agrawal.

Leslie Looney was named as a recipient of the LAS Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching as well as the even more selective Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

Brian Fields was given the Illinois Student Council Teaching Excellence Award, a student-nominated, campus-wide honor.  We are lucky to have Leslie and Brian on our faculty and pleased that their contributions are now gaining recognition across the university.

In related news, several faculty and graduate students have been named on the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students over the past year.  Faculty honors go to Brian Fields (Fall ’24, Spring ’25), Charles Gammie (Spring ’25), and Leslie Looney (Fall ’24, Spring ’25).  Teaching Assistant Achintya Krishnan (Spring ’25) was also recognized.