CANCELLATION: Special NBIA lecture/seminar by Lisa Kewley

A new vision for the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

Abstract: I will present the latest discoveries and developments at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA).  Our discoveries cover solar astrophysics, star formation and evolution, galaxy formation & evolution, extrasolar planets, black holes, and cosmology. 

I will describe the latest ground and space-based technological developments at the CfA, including new space satellites, and compelling new instrumentation for current and future ground-based telescopes in the optical, infrared, IR, and X-rays. 

I will discuss our challenges with Petabyte scale datasets and the application of AI to astronomical problems. 

Finally, I will provide an overview of the diversity, inclusion and culture initiatives that are being implemented at the CfA, using evidence-based studies from the literature.

Short Bio: Lisa Kewley is Director of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.  She is Director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Director of the Harvard College Observatory, and Professor of astrophysics at the Harvard Department of Astronomy.  

Kewley obtained her PhD in 2002 from the Australian National University on the connection between star-formation and supermassive black holes in galaxies.  She was a Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Fellow and a NASA Hubble Fellow.  Her awards include the 2006 American Astronomical Society Annie Jump Cannon Award, the 2008 American Astronomical Society Newton Lacy Pierce Prize, and the 2020 US National Academy of Science James Craig Watson Medal.  In 2014, Kewley was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science “for her fundamental advances in understanding of the history of the universe, particularly star and galaxy formation”, and in 2015, Kewley was awarded an ARC Laureate Fellowship, Australia’s top fellowship to support excellence in research. In 2020, Kewley was awarded the US National Academy of Sciences James Craig Watson Medal, in 2021 she was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences, and in 2022 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  From 2017-2022, Kewley implemented her scientific vision through her Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in All-Sky Astrophysics in 3D (ASTRO 3D).  

In July 2022, Kewley became Director of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.  At the CfA, she is implementing an ambitious new vision for the next generation space and ground-based telescopes, petabyte-scale data handling, new diversity and inclusion initiatives, and nation-wide education and outreach programs.