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STARTastro is a regional partnership between UC San Diego, San Diego State University, and Southern California's minority-serving community colleges that aims to support transfer student success for Astronomy and physical science majors through a Transfer Receptive Culture Model. STARTastro provides academic and research preparation so that transfer students are ready to excel as upper division majors.
STARTastro is a regional partnership between UC San Diego, San Diego State University, and Southern California's minority-serving community colleges that aims to support transfer student success for Astronomy and physical science majors through a Transfer Receptive Culture Model. STARTastro provides academic and research preparation so that transfer students are ready to excel as upper division majors.
News and Updates
News and Updates
Stay informed & involved by joining our google group at https://groups.google.com/g/startastro
(December 2025) STARTastro scholars Jack Green and Marylin Loritsch have recieved academic honors from the UCSD School of Physical Sciences. Jack was awarded a Dean's Undergraduate Excellence Award, which recognizes students who have demonstrated academic excellence and promise as researchers. Marylin was honored with the Silagi Undergraduate Award which recognizes high scholastic honors and a commitment to research. Congratulations Jack and Marylin!
(August 2025) STARTastro scholar Ethan Baker and PI Adam Burgasser facilitated a star party in the Anza Borrego desert with students and community members of Kumeyaay Community College. The event was part of a teaching Kumeyaay cosmology course led by tribal elder Michael Connolly Miskwish, author of Maay Uuyow: Kumeyaay Cosmology. The dark moonless skies afforded beautiful views of the Milky Way (Hatotkeur); the constellations Scorpius (Shuluk), Cassiopaeia (Llykuushirra), and the Big Dipper (Shallymat); Mars and Saturn; and various star clusters and the Andromeda Galaxy.
(August 2025) 20 STARTastro scholars from our first two cohorts presented at this year's UCSD Summer Research Conference (SRC). Our scholars presented on diverse astrophysical topics ranging from the nearest stars to primordial black holes in the distant universe, includingstudies in instrumentation, observation, and theory. The SRC caps a remarkable summer of learning and research, which our scholars will continue as the matriculate into SDSU, UCSD, UCLA, and UCB. Congratulations to all our scholars and their mentors!
What is STARTastro? April 2025 Information Session
What is STARTastro? April 2025 Information Session
Learn about the goals and design of the STARTastro program from our information session held in April 2025. This presentation includes information for California Community College students preparing to transfer as an Astronomy & Astrophysics or related major at any UC or CSU. The session included a Q&A with current STARTastro scholars who are now pursuing their degrees at UCSD.
What is a Transfer Receptive Culture Model?
What is a Transfer Receptive Culture Model?
The Transfer Receptive Culture model focuses on addressing the barriers faced by the diverse transfer students in the public California Community College system, and the role UC and CSU institutions plays in ensuring these students successfully advance from transfer enrollment to completion of a Bachelor's degree. We use the principles of the Transfer Receptive Culture model to design our Transfer Academy program.
Read more
Read more
The Transfer Receptive Culture model identifies five core elements for ensuring transfer student success:
Establishing transfer success as an institutional priority of excellence;
Providing information and resources that collaboratively support Community College programs;
Providing financial and academic support for transfers, with the latter approached from a perspective of excellence rather than deficiency;
Valuing transfer students' lived experiences, including connection to community and family; and
Conducting reflective assessment on metrics of transfer success that account for diverse experiences and goals.
Studies have shown that the Transfer Receptive Culture model addresses students’ fears and misconceptions about transferring, and increases their sense of financial and academic support and validation in their transfer-to institution.
Key references
Herrera, A., & Jain, D. (2013). Building a transfer-receptive culture at four-year institutions. New Directions for Higher Education, 162, 51–59. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/he.20056
Jain, D., Herrera, A. Bernal, S., & Solorzano, D. (2011). Critical Race Theory and the Transfer Function: Introducing a Transfer Receptive Culture. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 35(3), 252-266. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10668926.2011.526525
Jain, D., et al. (2016) Toward a Critical Race Perspective of Transfer: An Exploration of a Transfer Receptive Culture, Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 40(12), 1013-1024. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10668926.2016.1213674
Meet our Regional Community College Partners
Meet our Regional Community College Partners
Funding Support
Funding Support
Our program is generously funded by the Heising Simons Foundation and the National Science Foundation, and supported by staff, faculty, and students in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at UCSD and the Department of Astronomy at SDSU.
CA Proposition 209 Compliance
CA Proposition 209 Compliance
In accordance with applicable Federal and State law and University policy, the University of California does not discriminate, or grant preferences, on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, and/or other protected categories.
More information about California Proposition 209 can be found here.
More information about the University of California's Anti-Discrimination Policy can be found here.
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