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Interdisciplinary Programs

 

Life and Planets Astrobiology Center (LAPLACE)

The Life And Planets Astrobiology Center (LAPLACE) began in the Fall of 2003 when NASA's Astrobiology Institute (NAI) awarded a five year cooperative agreement with The University of Arizona (UA) and National Optical Astronomy (NOAO) team. LAPLACE became one of the sixteen teams of the virtual NAI. In 2005, under the leadership of Professor Nick Woolf, LAPLACE became a Center at the UA. One of the Center’s primary goals is to increase the participation of biologists, biochemists, cellular and molecular biologists in the interdisciplinary study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe.

Theoretical Astrophysics Program (TAP)

The Theoretical Astrophysics Program aims to encourage interactions among the astrophysics theory groups in the departments of Astronomy, Physics, and Planetary Sciences. About 15 theory faculty, spread among these departments, make Arizona’s one of the largest astrophysics theory groups in the country. Seven facult from the Department of Astronomy are members of the Theoretical Astrophysics Program: Dave Arnett, Romeel Davé, Daniel Eisenstein, Ivan Hubeny, Feryal Ozel, Phil Pinto, and Dimitrios Psaltis. The current chair of the Theoretical Astrophysics Program is Professor Daniel Eisenstein.

The TAP maintains a successful postdoctoral fellowship program that is offered every three years. The current TAP Fellow is Dr. Huirong Yan.