Interdisciplinary Astronomy Major

The Interdisciplinary Astronomy (IDA) major is intended as a second major for students seeking to add astronomy content to their primary degree. It provides Astronomy background needed for graduate studies and career paths that benefit from synergy between Astronomy with another STEM field, or for careers like teaching, science writing, science policy, and outreach. 

LSA students pursuing their primary degree in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field can add IDA as a second major with little additional coursework. With appropriate advance planning, humanities students can use it to add a STEM focus to their degree. 

The IDA major includes foundational courses in math and physics, but the requirements in these areas are less intensive than for the Astronomy & Astrophysics track. It is designed to be adapted to each student’s career goals; please meet with an advisor to learn how the IDA major can be customized for you.

Meet with an advisor: Students may declare the Interdisciplinary Astronomy after they declare their primary major. If you are thinking of an Astronomy major or minor, you should meet with an undergraduate advisor as soon as you begin considering it. This helps ensure you’re prepared with the right courses and can take advantage of all the opportunities the department has to offer. You do not need to complete all the prerequisites before declaring a major in Astronomy.

Transfer students and students who are pursuing a non-science major are especially encouraged to talk with an Astronomy academic advisor ASAP.

Prerequisite Courses: 

The A&A Major prerequisites include math through MATH 215 (i.e., Calc 1, 2, 3); General Physics and labs (Mechanics, Electricity and Magnetism, and Waves, Heat, and Light); and programming. It is strongly recommended to start the math and physics sequence as early as possible, and to plan on completing the math sequence before starting the senior year. 

Students may choose to take the Honors Physics sequence or Physics for the Life Sciences sequence, depending on their degree path, and may substitute MATH 115/116/215 with more advanced Math courses that cover the same topics. Most prerequisites may be met with transferred credits, and some may be fulfilled with AP credits; see an Astronomy academic advisor for personalized plan.

Programming prerequisite: Computational literacy and programming have become an integral and necessary part of modern Astronomy and Astronophysics theory, observation, and data analysis. Currently, the most widely used programming language in Astronomy is Python, owing to its extensive libraries, open source accessibility, and ability to handle the vast amounts of data that modern astronomy generates from telescopes and simulations. We recommend that students who are new to programming take a programming course in Python, such as COMPFOR 131 or SI 101. 

If you have already taken a basic programming course in another language (such as C/C++, Matlab, Fortran, R, Julia) you may find it relatively easy to translate your programming skills to Python with some practice or extra work. Consult with an Astronomy academic advisor to determine whether your past coursework and experience satisfies the programming prerequisite. 

Major Courses: 

ID Astronomy Majors are required to take two core courses (Introduction to Astrophysics and Astronomical techniques) and two 400-level Astronomy courses selected as electives – see the Undergraduate Course Description page [link] for more information.

Students are encouraged to take Scientific Writing in Astronomy (ASTRO 429), which fulfills the ULWR requirement, but may choose to take an ULWR course from their primary major. This should be discussed with an academic advisor as part of the interdisciplinary plan.

Finally, a minimum of 15 credits outside of Astronomy will be selected as “cognates”. The purpose of the cognate courses is to form a bridge between the disciplines, thus connecting Astronomy to the primary major. The cognate courses may be elected from the primary major or from a wider interdisciplinary plan designed with the approval of an Astronomy academic advisor. Students should discuss their cognate plan with an academic advisor by their junior year. 

While not required, many ID Astronomy majors engage in research in Astronomy. See the Undergraduate Research page  [link] for more information. 

Honors:

Astronomy majors who are interested in scholarly research in astronomy and have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 are encouraged to consider the Astronomy Honors subplan. Students with a lower GPA may be admitted to the honors plan at the discretion of the department advisor. The Astronomy honors plan requires writing a senior Honors thesis based on research done under the supervision of a U-M Astronomy research advisor. Interested students should consult with the department academic advisor by the beginning of their junior year.

Example Plans:

The following are a few examples of many possible interdisciplinary plans. The IDA major is designed to be flexible, with a wide range of 400-level Astronomy courses to choose from. In consultation with the astronomy advisor, students may tailor their plan (ASTRO electives and cognate) to align with their goals, interests, and background.