Astronomy Australia Limited Astronomy Australia Limited is a non-profit company whose members are a range of Australian universities and research organizations. Its core business is to manage programs that provide astronomers with access to national astronomy infrastructure.

Carnegie Institution for Science For more than a century, astronomers of the Carnegie Observatories have pioneered major advances in telescope construction, astronomy and astrophysics. Headquartered in Pasadena, California, this group of about 70 scientific, support and technical staff continue to tackle some of the most intriguing and important questions about distant galaxies, black holes, dark energy, dark matter, exosolar planets and the distant origins of the universe. They conduct their scientific investigations under the umbrella of the Carnegie Institution for Science, founded by industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1902 to advance human understanding of the natural world.

Australian National University The Australian National University’s Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) is a world-class astronomy research group and a major center for the development of astronomical instrumentation and technology.

Harvard University Harvard University, established in 1636, is the oldest higher education institution in the United States. It hosts around 21,000 undergraduates and graduate students, and 2,400 faculty, and is known for its commitment to educating society’s citizens and citizen-leaders.

Korean Astronomy and Space Science Institute The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) is the national astronomy research institute of Korea established in 1974. KASI has opened the history of Korean modern astronomy via the establishment of Sobaeksan Optical Astronomy Observatory, expanded the observational wavelength range to the radio via the establishment of Taeduk Radio Astronomy Observatory, and made a stepping stone to jump into the future astronomy via the establishment of Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory.

The São Paulo Research Foundation, FAPESP The São Paulo Research Foundation – FAPESP – is a public foundation, funded by taxpayers in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, with the mission to support research projects in higher education and research institutions in all fields of knowledge.

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution, comprising nine research centers and many museums and galleries, was founded in 1846. Established for the “increase and diffusion of knowledge,” the Smithsonian is today the world’s largest such institution. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) was founded in 1890 and is a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution.

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University has built up an exciting astronomy program. The areas of research covered by the faculty include: supernovae and their application to cosmology, galaxy formation and evolution, resolved stellar populations, detection of extrasolar planets, and astronomical instrumentation. We are involved in many of the most ambitious astronomy programs of the next decade: the Giant Magellan Telescope, the Joint Dark Energy Mission, HETDEX, the Dark Energy Survey and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

University of Arizona The Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory on the campus of the University of Arizona form one of the world’s leading astronomy research organizations.

University of Chicago At the Astronomy & Astrophysics Department of the University of Chicago , we work on a range of topics at the frontiers of astrophysics: from the newest theories in early-universe cosmology to the ancient ideas of the Babylonian theory of the planets; from distant thermonuclear flashes to the nearby interstellar medium; from large-scale structure to small-scale star formation. We study the cosmic background radiation, as well as design adaptive optics. We build detectors, use telescopes and interferometers, and we think about the cosmic consequences of string theory.

University of Texas at Austin The Department of Astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin includes 23 active teaching faculty. There are 24 Research Scientists, as well as a number of Research Associates employed by McDonald Observatory. Together they employ many postdoctoral fellows and maintain a robust research program in virtually all fields of astronomy. In the past several years, the faculty have won six of the major awards given by the American Astronomical Society, in additional to several other international awards and honors.