Graduating Hoo Looks Forward to Asian Odyssey, Rhodes Scholarship

May 1, 2025
Portrait of Sam Crowe in front of a digital display of deep space

Soon-to-be graduate Sam Crowe looks forward to continuing his research at Oxford University in the fall, but not before a few pit stops. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

When Samuel Crowe looks back on his undergraduate career at the University of Virginia, he can proudly point to making history as the first undergraduate granted access to NASA’s $10 billion James Webb Telescope for his research, publishing major research findings in world-renowned journals, and leading the astronomy and forestry clubs.

But, as he nears Final Exercises, the astronomy-physics and history major is focused on what’s next: a 2-year master’s degree in the history of science, medicine and technology at Oxford University starting in the fall.

Between degrees, he’s embracing a hobby he picked up at UVA: travel. He spent two of his undergraduate summers abroad, researching in Sweden and Spain. Since then, he has been “infected by the travel bug.”

Now, at 22 years old, he’s already visited 22 countries. This summer, he will travel to 15 more countries, solo backpacking, beginning in Hungary, making his way through Turkey, Central Asia, South Asia, Vietnam, and East Asia before ending in Australia.

The UVA Astronomy Club gather for a group photo at the Green Bank Observatory

Crowe and the UVA Astronomy Club gather at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. (Photo by Matthew Sung)

Crowe’s journey through the Eastern Hemisphere will punctuate a busy undergraduate career.

In 2023, Crowe became the world’s first undergraduate student to lead a James Webb Space Telescope General Observer project. From the data gathered using the telescope, he published two papers in The Astrophysical Journal.

One of the papers examines star formation in Sagittarius C, a region in the heart of the Milky Way where many stars are actively being born. The paper confirmed at least two massive stars – each more than 20 times the Sun’s mass – forming in this region.

“We also discovered a new star-forming region, previously unknown in the literature, adjacent to the one we’d already known about,” he said.

Tuition Covered For Virginia Households Making <$100K
Tuition Covered For Virginia Households Making <$100K

Most of Crowe’s work so far has involved observational astronomy research, using telescopes and analyzing their data, but for his senior thesis project, he’s shifted to more theoretical work, running astrophysical simulations.

“We model the sort of environments we observe with telescopes,” he said, “so we can better understand the physical processes at play. In this case, it’s a young star producing ionizing radiation, the same light rays that can cause skin cancer, in an environment similar to Sagittarius C.”

Crowe has been an undergraduate researcher since his first spring semester, when astronomy professor Jonathan Tan gave a research talk in one of his introductory classes. Crowe approached him afterward to ask about opportunities to work with him. “I asked him a lot of questions during his talk, which I think made a good impression, and introduced myself after. All the rest of my research has sprung from that simple introduction, and putting myself out there,” he said.

Crowe is the 57th Rhodes Scholar in the history of UVA, which produces the most Rhodes Scholars of any American public university. After graduating from Oxford, Crowe will pursue a doctorate in astrophysics at the California Institute of Technology.

Sam Crowe standing in front of the IRAM 30-meter radio telescope

Crowe visits the IRAM 30-meter radio telescope in the Sierra Nevada mountains in Spain (Photo by Alejandro Romar)

As a UVA student, Crowe was an Echols Scholar and recipient of a full-tuition University Achievement Award, which he said gave him “the academic and financial freedom to fully pursue [his] academic interests.”

He’s following in the footsteps of two older brothers and his mother, all of whom attended UVA. “I didn’t even visit after being admitted,” he said. “I was that certain it was the place for me.”

Originally from Chesapeake, Crowe said he is grateful for two high school teachers who nurtured his interests in history and physics. He knew from his first high school physics class that he wanted to pursue astrophysics, and a class on the Roman republic and empire with history professor Jon Lendon in the spring of his first year at UVA sold him on a second major. “And from there, the rest was history,” he said.

Outside of academics, he’s been heavily involved in the leadership of the Astronomy Club, of which he served as treasurer, vice president, and president during his first three years. He’s currently vice president of the Forestry Club, which provides service to local city parks around Albemarle County and Virginia state parks.

Crowe also joined the Culture of Respect Educators, a peer education group focusing on sexual assault prevention and education, after attending one of their talks in his dorm during Wahoo Welcome. He is also a member of the Raven Society.

Most days before Final Exercises, he can be found in the lab, which, for him, means sitting in the astronomy undergraduate student lounge on his laptop, working with data.

Media Contact

Russ Bahorsky

Writer UVA College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

Article Information

May 1, 2025

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