IU Ph.D. alumnus Karna Desai (Ph.D. Astronomy, 2017) was recently featured on the College Insider podcast exploring how AI is changing higher education and transforming how people, businesses, and organizations work. Karna is a generative AI strategist with Booz Allen Hamilton, where he works on generative AI in the national security sector and space domain awareness.
Zolt Levay is a legendary astrophotographer. For many years he served as the Principal Science Visuals Developer in the Office of Public Outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. He produced images and other visuals from data provided by the Hubble Space Telescope to publicize science results from Hubble and other observatories. Zolt is perhaps best known for his images of the "Pillers of Creation" in the Eagle Nebula and, of course, the Hubble Deep Field.
Cody Nelson (B.S. 2018) is presenting work at the 2025 Photonics + Optics Conference of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) in San Diego. Cody presented a design for a new corrector for the prime focus camera on the 1.54-m Kuiper Catalina Sky Survey Telescope in Arizona.
Congratulations to Mark Leonard (B.S. '77, Astrophysics, M.A. '79, Geology), the 2024 recipient of the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award.
Cody Nelson (B.S. 2018) has been awarded the 2024 Pollicove Scholarship by the Optica Foundation, an arm of Optica, formerly the Optical Society of America. Optica is a professional society for optics and photonics, publishing journals, organizing conferences and exhibitions, and carrying out charitable activities.
Professor Brian Murphy (Ph.D. 1988), Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Butler University, is retiring after 31 years on the faculty. As a student Brian worked with Haldan Cohn and Richard Durisen on the evolution of active galactic nuclei and globular clusters using multi-component models. After postdoctoral positions at Utrecht and Cornell he accepted a faculty position at Butler, where he continued work on the dynamical evolution of dense stellar systems.
Congratulations to Aaron Boley (Ph.D., 2007). The book he co-authored with Michael Myers, titled Who Owns Outer Space? (Cambridge University Press, 2023), won the 2023 Donner Prize for the best public policy book written by a Canadian.
IU Alumnus Mike Weasner (B.S. 1970) was a celebrated guest at the 2024 eclipse celebration in Seymour, Indiana. Seymour in the home town of not only Mike himself, but also Frank Edmondson, and both are recognized on the Seymour High School Wall of Fame.
Alumnus Jackson Taylor (B.S. 2023) never misses a pulse! Jackson has developed a new algorithm that automates pulsar-timing for both isolated and binary pulsars (binary pulsars are even more challenging).
IU Alumnus Jude Gussman (B.S. 2022) and Marlena Rice from Yale University recently published a demonstration of how machine learning methods can be used to determine stellar temperatures, gravities, line widths, and elemental abundances from spectra that have been imprinted with an iodine spectrum used for radial velocity calibration.
IU Alumna Roberta Humphreys (B.A. in Astronomy, 1965) has been awarded the 2024 Herschel Medal from the Royal Astronomical Society for her discovery of the empirical upper luminosity boundary for massive stars, known as the Humphreys-Davidson Limit.
Dr. Taylor Tobin (B.S. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2013) presented her research on detecting exoplanets with METIS Geosnap, an instrument planned for the European Extremely Large Telescope, at the Great Lakes Exoplanet Area Meeting (GLEAM) at IU in late October.
Ken Potter (BA Astronomy 1949) celebrates his 99th birthday this month. Ken enrolled at IU after his discharge from the Army Air Corp. His experiences in the military, particularly training in celestial navigation, let to his interest in studying astronomy.
IU Alumni Vesto Melvin Slipher (B.A. 1901, M.A. 1903, Ph.D. 1909) and his brother Earl Carl Slipher (B.A. 1906) have been inducted into the Frankfort High School Hot Dog Hall of Fame for their contributions to astronomy.
Congratulations to Aaron Boley (Ph.D 2007), co-author with Michael Byers of the new book “Who Owns Outer Space,” published by the Cambride Univesity Press. This critically acclaimed book takes the reader through the science, law, and policy challenges raised by the rapid development of space activities.
IU Alumnus Mike Weasner (BS, 1970) has recently published a review of Aaron Linsdau's Indiana Total Eclipse Guide https://myscienceshop.com/product/book/81755, a guidebook for seeing the 2024 total eclipse in the Hoosier State. Mike's review is available at http://www.weasner.com/co/Reviews/2023/TSE_Guide_Indiana/index.html.
Congratulations to IU alumna Madeline Shepley (BS, 2020). Madeline earned a Master’s degree in Physics at Ball State University this spring, and is headed to Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois, where she will teach astronomy and physics and direct the planetarium.
We recently heard from one of our recent alumni, Jennifer Sieben (Ph.D. 2022), on her good news of securing a job with Physics Today.
One of our favorite Indiana Hoosiers, John Reynolds, passed away in December.
Many of our alumni likely remember the hyperbolic comet Kohoutek, which got a lot of attention back in the mid-1970’s, 50 years ago. Kohoutek (aka C/1973 E1) was predicted to be very bright near perihelion, but like so many others, never quite reached its full potential.
Congratulations to Catharine Garmany (B.S. Astrophysics, 1966) on her election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Katy is a Scientist Emerita at NSF’s NOIRLab and was elected for “distinguished contribution to the study of massive stars, and exemplary astronomical outreach to underserved communities.” She is one of 11 astronomers honored in 2022 by the AAAS.
We recently heard from one of our recent alumni, Madison Smith (Ph.D. 2022), on her good news of landing a job with the Environmental Lab at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC).
On Sept. 20th the asteroid Didymos was predicted to occult a star. The resulting shadow would trace a path across the Earth and was predicted to be visible in a very narrow slice of the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Astronomy alumnus Jude Gussman (BS 2022) presented the student perspective at the Luddy School’s Commencement ceremony.
IU alumnus Zack Maas (Ph.D. 2020) has joined the IU Astronomy Department as the new Visiting Assistant Professor
IU alumnus William Bowman (B.S. 2014) has successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation at Penn State University, studying with Dr. Robin Ciardullo and Dr. Joel Leja.
Congratulations to alumnus Bryce Cousins (B.S. 2019), who is receiving a 2022 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship beginning this fall.
The College of Arts