Posted on March 6, 2026 by College of Sciences
#CollegeNews
UT San Antonio and SwRI Celebrate 20 Years of Joint Space Physics Graduate Program
By Ryan Schoensee
Faculty, students and alumni gathered in late February to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the joint Space Physics and Instrumentation PhD Program between the UT San Antonio Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI).
Since its launch in 2006, the collaboration has trained hundreds of scientists and contributed to major advances in space research.
The anniversary symposium took place February 19 and 20. On February 19, the celebration began with lab tours at SwRI at 2 p.m., followed by a reception at Blue Star Brew Pub. The symposium continued the next day from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., bringing together faculty members from the Department of Physics and Astronomy and representation from the College of Sciences, a dozen adjunct faculty from SwRI and more than 30 current students and alumni.
The symposium featured presentations from the leaders of the graduate program at both institutions, current and past students, networking sessions and panels discussing career paths in space science and related fields.
Participants also received commemorative items marking the program's anniversary, including memorabilia beer steins, shirts and caps, along with a swag-filled gift basket awarded as a door prize. The event concluded with a group photo and closing remarks.
For two decades, the partnership between UT San Antonio and SwRI has given graduate students access to world-class facilities, hands-on research opportunities and mentorship from leading scientists. Students in the program pursue research in areas including space weather, magnetospheric physics, heliospheric physics, planetary science, ionosphere-thermosphere-mesospheric physics and space instrumentation.
Since 2019, the collaboration has supported around $4 million in funded research projects from agencies including NASA and the National Science Foundation. The PhD program in Physics has graduated a total of 242, from which 70 PhD and 15 master's graduates have been supported by the UT San Antonio-SwRI graduate program and 21 PhD graduates currently performing research at SwRI.
As the program enters its next decade, leaders from both institutions reaffirmed their commitment to advancing discovery and preparing the next generation of space scientists.
— College of Sciences
