started construction of advising undergrads page

wiki/source/program/advising_students.rst

@@ -2,10 +2,62 @@
 
 .. _advising_students:
 
-=================
-Advising Students
-=================
+=====================
+Advising Undergrads
+=====================
 
-.. admonition:: Under Construction
+.. admonition:: Needs Further Input
 
-   This page is a work in progress. Content is coming soon — if you have knowledge to share, see :ref:`contributing` to get involved!
+   This page would benefit from input from grads who have previously advised undergrads at Berkeley. If this applies to you, please see :ref:`contributing` to add your experience and/or expect to hear from Ben in the near future!
+
+Challenges Facing UC Berkeley Undergrads
+----------------------------------------
+
+UC Berkeley has an unusually imbalanced astronomy student-to-faculty ratio: 
+as of Spring 2026, there are a few hundred declared Astrophysics majors (i.e., sophomores, juniors, and seniors)
+and 13 senate faculty. The following figure from 
+`a 2022 study by the American Institute of Physics <https://www.aip.org/statistics/size-of-undergraduate-physics-and-astronomy-programs>`_
+shows the distribution of "Astronomy Departments" (that is, separate from physics)
+at US schools over graduating class size and number of full-time faculty. 
+The AIP does not publish which marker on this plot corresponds to which department, but the upper-leftmost outlier
+is consistent with Berkeley's Astrophysics class and Astronomy faculty sizes in 2020 (and the imbalance has worsened since then).
+
+.. image:: ../images/astronomy_student_faculty_ratio_AIP.png
+   :width: 440px
+   :align: center
+
+As you might expect, this makes it extremely difficult for undergrads at Berkeley 
+to find research opportunities, especially in their first two years. 
+In an increasingly selective grad admissions environment,
+there is also substantial pressure on any undergrads pursuing grad school to find such opportunities *somehow*.
+
+For an astronomy grad at Berkeley, there is no requirement to mentor undergrads on research projects or in any other way.
+However, if you do choose to take on mentees, you make an enormous difference in their lives. 
+
+This page lists opportunities for mentorship and 
+gives accounts by grad students who have previously mentored undergrads of their experiences. 
+The list is not exhaustive and other pathways may be possible, but grads are encouraged to mentor undergrads through 
+tried-and-true university and/or department pathways to maximize benefit to the student through indicators like 
+faculty letters of rec.
+
+Advising Opportunities
+----------------------
+
+.. admonition:: To Be Expanded: Advising Opportunities
+
+   This section will be expanded with resources for publicizing research opportunities, getting involved with MPS Scholars,
+   and supporting undergrads in less intensive ways.
+
+Research Fairs
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+MPS Scholars
+^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+.. admonition:: To Be Expanded: DeCals
+
+   This section will be expanded with information on DeCals, including Caleb's recent exoplanet RV DeCal 
+   `(C. K. Harada et al. 2024) <https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025AJ....170..343H/abstract>`_.
+
+SPORES-HWO RV Hunters
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+