Student Involvement

Student Involvement

Students get hands-on with the Murillo Family Observatory's telescopes starting as early as their first astronomy course, with several ways to stay involved as they advance through the program.

📷 [IMAGE: students working with the telescopes/eVscopes, e.g. the Zzyzx stargazing trip or similar] 📷

Ways to Get Involved

Intro coursework. Students first use the observatory's telescopes in ASTR 1000 or ASTR 1010, our introductory astronomy courses.

MFO Observatory Assistant. A paid, part-time position supporting the observatory's public outreach events, including Visitor Nights and school visits.

Faculty-mentored research. Students can work directly with faculty on observational research projects using the observatory's telescopes.

ASTR 4000, Observational Astronomy. Required for the Astronomy minor, this course has students carry out an independent, faculty-supervised research project at the observatory over the course of a semester.

Project-based involvement. Students can also get involved through engineering projects (improving and maintaining the observatory's equipment), observing projects (learning to operate the telescopes), and computer programming projects (code optimization, scripting, and building interfaces). To participate, complete the observatory application and indicate your project interests and relevant skills.

Interested in a paid or volunteer position at the observatory? Reach out to us at observatory@csusb.edu, or contact our Administrative Support Coordinator, Maureen Murphy (mmurphy@csusb.edu), or the Observatory Director, Dr. Matteo Crismani (matteo.crismani@csusb.edu).

Our Telescopes

The observatory operates two research telescopes, a 17-inch and a 24-inch, currently used for photometric research. A spectrometer arriving in October 2026 will expand the observatory's capabilities to include spectroscopy.