(April 2025) Five STARTastro scholars and affiliates – Ethan Baker, Marylin Loritsch, Justin Mascari, Sophia Um, and Olivia Wu –  were selected to receive Summer Program for Undergraduate Research in Science (SPURS) funding for the upcoming summer. SPURS is a competitive program that supports students in a 10-week summer research project under the guidance of a UCSD faculty member. Congratulations to our Scholars!

(April 2025) STARTastro scholars participated in the 2025 Barrio Logan Science and Art Festival. Organized by the Barrio Logan Association, UCSD CREATE, and community partners, this festival highlights science, art and culture across San Diego communities. Scholars participated as part of a table hosted by the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, which featured astronomy demonstrations and a solar system mural that spanned the festival.

(March 2025) Recruitment for our second cohort of STARTastro scholars has begun! An in-person presentation on opportunities for STEM transfers to SDSU and UCSD was held at Mesa College in March, featuring Ethan Baker and Tanner Rall; while a virtual event was held in early April, featuring Ethan and Marylin Loritsch (see recording below). STARTastro representatives will be in attendance at the UCSD Triton Days Transfer Celebration on May 9th. We hope to see you there!

(January 2025) STARTastro scholars Annika Feng, Marylin Fierro, and Marylin Loritsch presented at the 2025 Conferences for Undergraduate Women and Gender Minorities in Physics (CU*IP). Annika attened the CSU San Luis Obispo site; Marylin & Madison attended the UC San Diego site. All three scholars presented their research in poster presentations, and Marylin was awarded a conference poster prize.  See the photo essay on the UCSD event on UC San Diego Today.

(January 2025) STARTastro scholar Marylin Loritsch has received the prestigious American Astronomical Society Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Awards! The Chambliss Awards recognize exemplary research by undergraduate and graduate students who present a poster session at the AAS national meeting. Awardees are honored with a Chambliss medal. Marylin received her award for her presentation "Characterizing the Optical Spectra of the Nearest Stellar Neighbors: The 20 Parsec Sample". Congratulations! (see the press announcement from the AAS) 

(December 2024) STARTastro scholars Annika Feng and Marylin Loritsch have been awarded the AAS FAMOUS Travel Grant for the upcoming AAS 245 meeting in Washington, DC. FAMOUS (Funds for Astronomical Meetings: Outreach to Underrepresented Scientists) grants award $1,000 for a single AAS meeting to present research, with priority given to members of historically underrepresented groups. Congratulations Annika & Marylin!

(November 2024) STARTastro scholars Madison Fierro & Marylin Loritsch joined graduate student mentor Emma Softich, and faculty mentor Adam Burgasser at Lick Observatory to conduct observations with the Kast spectrograph. Although the run was sadly weathered out, the team was treated to an in-depth look at the 65-year old Shane 3m telescope and the innards of the Kast spectrograph by telescope operator Paul Canton, and played with the PANOSETI optics. Even a cloudy night can be educational!

(August 2024) STARTastro scholars presented the fruits of their summer research at the 2024 UCSD Summer Undergraduate Research Conference. Scholars presented work spanning cool stars near the Sun to the detection of the most explosive events in the universe in gamma rays. The summer conference capped an exciting summer of research. Some of the presentations can be found at this video, this video, or this video. Congratulations to our first STARTastro cohort on their successful research presentations! 

(July 2024) The first cohort of STARTastro scholars have begun their summer program at UCSD!. The scholars hail from 6 comunity colleges in San Diego, Orange, and LA counties, and will embark on an 8-week program of academic and professional development and research. Good luck scholars!