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News Release 33 of 47

April 2, 2012 02:00 PM (EDT)

News Release Number: STScI-2012-15

Space Telescope Science Institute Announces the 2012 Hubble Fellows

The full news release story:

A panel of 15 experienced researchers from the astronomy and astrophysics community was convened on January 19-20, 2012, at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore to advise STScI Director Matt Mountain on the selection of 17 new candidates for the Hubble Fellowship Program. This is one of three prestigious postdoctoral fellowship programs funded by NASA; the others are the Sagan and the Einstein Fellowships. STScI administers the Hubble Fellowship Program for NASA.

"This kind of program changes people's lives," said STScI Acting Deputy Director Kathy Flanagan. "The newly appointed Hubble Fellows represent the highest standard of excellence among new professionals in astronomy today. They are emerging leaders and will become astronomy's visionaries over the next two decades."

"The Hubble Fellowship Program supports some of the best and brightest young scientists, providing them with the means to devote themselves full-time to their research. Almost all of these young scientists will go on to positions in academia, sponsored research, and industry. Hubble Fellows can be found in increasing numbers among those who advise government on setting national priorities for research in astrophysics," added Ronald Allen, Head of the Hubble Fellowship Program at STScI.

Each fellowship provides support to the awardees for three years. The fellows may pursue their research at any host university or research center of their choosing in the United States and will begin their programs in the fall of 2012.

"I was beyond excited when I heard that I was offered a Hubble Fellowship! Because it is so prestigious and competitive — with hundreds of applicants — post-doc seekers anxiously wait to hear the results each year, fervently hoping to obtain one," said Stella Offner, a new Hubble Fellow presently at the Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. "For me, it means I will have the freedom to pursue my research ideas at Yale, where I will be able to work with fantastic collaborators. This fellowship will also help me prepare for my dream job: an astrophysics faculty position in which I'll perform independent research, teach, and mentor the next generation of scientists. Previous Hubble Fellows have made outstanding contributions to astronomy; I feel very honored to join this company."

The 17 awardees of the Hubble Fellowship pursue research broadly related to NASA's Cosmic Origins Program. The missions in this program examine the origins of galaxies, stars, and planetary systems, as well as the evolution of these structures with cosmic time, and presently include: the Herschel Space Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

Inaugurated in 1990, the Hubble Fellowship Program will fund research opportunities for outstanding candidates selected in 2012 from among 278 applicants. The program is a joint venture between NASA and STScI, in cooperation with astronomical institutions across the United States.

The 2012 Hubble Fellows are:

2012 HUBBLE FELLOW	Ph.D. INSTITUTION	HOST INSTITUTION
Xuening Bai	Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey — 2012	Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Cambridge, Massachusetts
Alis Deason	University of Cambridge Cambridge, United Kingdom — 2012	University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, California
Jennifer Donley	University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona — 2009	Los Alamos National Lab Los Alamos, New Mexico
Robert Feldmann	ETH Zurich Zurich, Switzerland — 2010	University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California
Michele Fumagalli	University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, California — 2012	Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Washington, D.C.
Kaitlin Kratter	University of Toronto Ontario, Canada — 2010	University of Colorado, Boulder Boulder, Colorado
Xin Liu	Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey — 2010	University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, California
Michael McDonald	University of Maryland College Park, Maryland — 2011	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts
Matthew McQuinn	Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts — 2009	University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California
Kohta Murase	Kyoto University Kyoto, Japan — 2010	Institute for Advanced Study Princeton, New Jersey
Stella Offner	University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California — 2009	Yale University New Haven, Connecticut
Steven Rodney	University of Hawaii Manoa, Hawaii — 2010	Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland
Leslie Rogers	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts — 2012	California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California
Yue Shen	Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey — 2009	Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Washington, D.C.
James Steiner	Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts — 2012	Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Cambridge, Massachusetts
Erik Tollerud	University of California, Irvine Irvine, California — 2012	Yale University New Haven, Connecticut
Mark Vogelsberger	Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Garching, Germany, and Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany — 2010	Harvard College Observatory Cambridge, Massachusetts

For more information about the Hubble Fellowship program, please visit:
http://www.stsci.edu/institute/sd/fellowships/hubble/

A complete list of Hubble Fellows since 1990 is available at:
http://www.stsci.edu/institute/sd/fellowships/hubble/fellows-list

For more information about NASA's Astrophysics Division, please visit:
http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics

CONTACT

Cheryl Gundy
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
410-338-4707
gundy@stsci.edu

Ron Allen
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
410-338-4574
rjallen@stsci.edu