Knowledge of astronomy and astrophysics is crucial to understanding some of the most fundamental questions of our universe. We cannot know the origins of anything—from galaxies to black holes to life itself—without studying the cosmos in detail. New telescope missions are bringing us closer to answers, but it takes time. “You need a lot of exploration to find anything that might later be perceived as useful,” said Sara Seager, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at MIT. “Once in a while, we get a major discovery that changes life as we know it.”
The Degrees of the Future 2022 top Astronomy & Astrophysics programs are:
Boston University | Boston, Massachusetts
California Institute of Technology | Pasadena, California
Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Cornell University | Ithaca, New York
Harvard University | Cambridge, Massachusetts
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, Massachusetts
Michigan State University | East Lansing, Michigan
Ohio State University | Columbus, Ohio
Pennsylvania State University | University Park, Pennsylvania
Princeton University | Princeton, New Jersey
Stanford University | Stanford, California
Stony Brook University | Stony Brook, New York
University of Arizona | Tucson, Arizona
University of California, Berkeley | Berkeley, California
University of California, Los Angeles | Los Angeles, California
University of California, Santa Cruz | Santa Cruz, California
University of Chicago | Chicago, Illinois
University of Colorado Boulder | Boulder, Colorado
University of Kentucky | Lexington, Kentucky
University of Maryland, College Park | College Park, Maryland
University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, Michigan
University of Texas at Austin | Austin, Texas
University of Virginia | Charlottesville, Virginia
University of Wisconsin-Madison | Madison, Wisconsin
Vanderbilt University | Nashville, Tennessee
How did Gizmodo determine this year’s honorees? Check out the methodology or return to the full Degrees of the Future 2022 list.