AST1501 is the course code for the first-year students' introduction to graduate research. It organizes your first short project during the Fall (F) and Winter/Spring (S) terms, in the first year of your Direct-Entry PhD program. It is also meant to help you integrate into the Department, and introduce you to potential advisors for the next (AST1500) project. Another goal is to provide experience and advice on scientific expression and communication, helping you develop your`scientist's toolkit' for future success.

In the first two months, to learn about research being undertaken in the department, a series of informal seminars is held with various faculty members. A list of research presentations and of research project descriptions is shared through the official AST1501 course page on Quercus.

Students will identify and contact potential research advisors, and should have chosen their supervisor by early November. Any research faculty member of the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics (DAA), Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA), or Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, can serve as an advisor. In case a post-doctoral fellow or CITA visitor is an advisor, a faculty member from DAA, CITA, or Dunlap must be added as a co-advisor.

The AST1501 course instructor will help match students to advisors, but the most effective strategy is to meet one-on-one with potential advisors after preliminary email contacts.

The research project spans the fall and winter sessions. The project should be feasible and interesting, clearly defined, and ultimately publishable.