For the 2019-2020 academic year, there are eleven faculty (8 tenure track), three emeritus professors, several research associates and postdoctoral assistants, two professional office staff, nearly thirty Apache Point Observatory staff, and several dozen graduate students in the Astronomy Department. In addition, there are many adjunct faculty affiliated with the department from various other institutions, and we typically have numerous visitors throughout the year. Please feel free to talk with any and all of them on a regular basis. We are here to help you through your course work and to advise you on your research. Below, the names and research areas of our faculty are listed. If you have an interest in one of the research areas of these individuals, seek him/her out and begin discussions about her/his field and possible research problems. We encourage you to start working with the faculty as soon as possible on problems of interest in research.
| Tenured or tenure-track | ||
| Nancy Chanover | Prof. | Planetary Atmospheres, Instruments, PI of PDS Atmospheres Node, APO 3.5m Director |
| Chris Churchill | Prof. | Quasar Absorption Lines, Intergalactic Medium |
| Kristian Finlator | Assistant Prof. | high redshift galaxy evolution, hydrodynamic simulations |
| Jon Holtzman | Prof./Dept. Head | Stellar Population in Galaxies; Star Formation Histories in Galaxies; Globular Clusters; Instrumentation. |
| Jason Jackiewicz | Associate Prof. | Helioseismology, Solar Physics, Space Weather, Condensed matter physics |
| Wladimir Lyra | Assistant Prof. | planet formation, MHD, computational astrophysics |
| James McAteer | Associate Prof. | Solar physics, space weather |
| Moire Prescott | Assistant Prof. | high redshift galaxy formation, Lyman alpha structures |
| Other | ||
| Kurt Anderson | Prof, retired | ex-Apache Point Observatory Site Director; Galaxy Morphology, Active Galactic Nuclei, Stellar Evolution. |
| Jim Murphy | Associate Dean | Atmospheric Science, Martian Atmosphere, Mars Exploration Missions |
| Reta Beebe | Planetary atmospheres; HST, Voyager, and Galileo spacebased observations | |
| Rene Walterbos | Emeritus Prof. | The Interstellar Medium of External Galaxies, Galaxy Evolution, Massive Stellar Populations, Galactic Structure |
| Lyle Huber | Planetary Data System Atmospheres Node |
| Joni Johnson | PDS Atmospheres Node |
| Lynn Neakrase | PDS Atmospheres Node |
| Irma Trejo | PDS Atmospheres Node |
| Tina Gueth | PDS Atmospheres Node |
| Shuo Wang | solar group |
| Ofelia Acosta | Administrative Secretary |
| Lydia Medrano | Accountant |
| Jon Rees | Lab/Observatory Manager |
| Dmitry Bizyaev | 2.5m observer |
| Tina Blay | buyer |
| Frances Cope | plugger |
| Jack Dembicky | 3.5m observing specialist |
| John Downey | chief telescope technician, 2.5m |
| Katie Grabowski | 2.5m observer |
| Candace Gray | 3.5m observing specialist |
| Ben Harris | site supervisor |
| Bill Ketzeback | chief telescope engineer, 3.5m |
| Karen Kinemuchi | 2.5m observer |
| Mark Klaene | Site Director |
| Ed Leon | electronics engineer |
| Elena Malanushenko | 2.5m observer |
| Viktor Malanushenko | 2.5m observer |
| Russet McMillan | lead support astronomer, 3.5m |
| Tracy Naugle | lab tech |
| Dan Oravetz | 2.5m observer |
| Audrey Oravetz | 2.5m observer |
| Kaike Pan | 2.5m head observer |
| James Parker | electronics |
| Ted Rudyk | 3.5m observer |
| Shane Thomas | computing |
| Diana Torres | program manager |
| Cole Hancock | |
| Dean Nabhan | |
| Joey Fish | |
| Heide Sanchez |