Prizes

Brian

Brian Hsu awarded the department's 2021 Goldberg Prize for best junior research thesis.

May 14, 2021

Brian's thesis was entitled Bayesian Analysis of 21 Hydrogen-poor Superluminous Supernovae from the Dark Energy Survey and No Evidence for a Redshift Evolution." His advisor was Griffin Hosseinzadeh.

Brian has submitted it to both arXiv and the ApJ.  In the meantime, he will continue a project from last summer with the intention of publishing it by the end of the summer. Brian will be on leave this coming academic year but will most likely continue doing research with Edo Berger and start brainstorming for his senior thesis some time in...

Read more about Brian Hsu awarded the department's 2021 Goldberg Prize for best junior research thesis.
Ellen Price

Ellen Price wins 2021 Eric R. Keto Prize in Theoretical Astrophysics

May 25, 2021

Congratulations to Ellen Price for winning the 2021 Eric R. Keto Prize for Graduate Students in Theoretical Astrophysics. Ellen won for her thesis “Simulating Protoplanetary Disk Dynamics and Investigating their Exoplanet Outcomes.” Karin Oberg was her advisor.

Next year Ellen will take the 51 Pegasus b Fellowship to University of Chicago.

The Keto Prize, endowed with a generous donation by ITC Senior Member Eric Keto, is awarded each year for the best thesis in theoretical astrophysics by a student at the CfA, as selected by the...

Read more about Ellen Price wins 2021 Eric R. Keto Prize in Theoretical Astrophysics
Allessandra

Graduating senior, Alessandra Canta, winner of both a College Hoopes Prize and the Department's Senior Goldberg Prize.

May 14, 2021

Alessandra switched her concentration to Astronomy only a year ago, just in time to win the most prestigious prizes for her senior thesis "“Unlocking the Key to Life: Observation and Formation of Nitriles in Protoplanetary Disks".   Karin Öberg was her advisor.  She will be starting graduate school in London this September.  

https://prizes.fas.harvard.edu/hoopes-prize

Read more about Graduating senior, Alessandra Canta, winner of both a College Hoopes Prize and the Department's Senior Goldberg Prize.
Jennifer Bergner

Alumna Jennifer Bergner awarded AAS Laboratory Astrophysics Division 2021 Dissertation Prize

March 15, 2021

The Laboratory Astrophysics Division (LAD) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) is pleased to announce the recipient of its 2021 Dissertation Prize, given to an individual who has recently completed an outstanding theoretical or experimental doctoral dissertation in laboratory astrophysics. This year’s prize goes to Dr. Jennifer Bergner for her thesis Tracing Organic Complexity During Star and Planet Formation. Dr. Bergner earned her PhD at Harvard...

Read more about Alumna Jennifer Bergner awarded AAS Laboratory Astrophysics Division 2021 Dissertation Prize
Tom Wagg

Tom Wagg receives a Senior Goldberg Prize along with Noel Chou who was awarded the Junior Goldberg Prize.

May 18, 2020

Noel Chou is a rising senior studying astronomy and she is also interested in computer science. She is from the California Bay Area. She has been privileged to have had an introduction to the exciting fields of machine learning and supernovae research under the guidance of Professor Edo Berger and Dr. Ashley Villar through her project, Host Galaxy Based Supernova Classification with Machine Learning.

Tom Wagg is originally from Newcastle-under-Lyme in England. He resided in Mather House and is part of the class of 2020, concentrating in...

Read more about Tom Wagg receives a Senior Goldberg Prize along with Noel Chou who was awarded the Junior Goldberg Prize.
Amir Siraj

Astronomy concentrator, Amir Siraj, is recipient of Harvard College Hoopes Prize and the department's Goldberg Prize.

May 22, 2020

Amir Siraj is a junior at Harvard College in Leverett House, studying astrophysics. He is a classical pianist and is concurrently pursuing a Master's in Music at the New England Conservatory of Music for piano performance. In his free time, he enjoys conducting the Hasty Pudding Theatricals and singing with the Harvard Krokodiloes. 

Hoopes Prizes are given to select undergraduates for excellent undergraduate work and excellence in the art of teaching. ...

Read more about Astronomy concentrator, Amir Siraj, is recipient of Harvard College Hoopes Prize and the department's Goldberg Prize.
Lars Hernquist

2020 Gruber Prize in Cosmology has been awarded to Harvard's Lars Hernquist and Volker Springel of the Max Planck Institute

May 6, 2020

Citations reads: "The 2020 Gruber Cosmology Prize recognizes Lars Hernquist, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and Volker Springel, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, for their defining contributions to cosmological simulations, a method that tests existing theories of, and inspires new investigations into, the formation of structures at every scale from stars to galaxies to the universe itself."

Press release:  https://gruber.yale.edu/2020-gruber-cosmology-prize-...

Read more about 2020 Gruber Prize in Cosmology has been awarded to Harvard's Lars Hernquist and Volker Springel of the Max Planck Institute
Josh Speagle

Graduating student, Josh Speagle, awarded the annual Keto Prize for his thesis "Mapping the Milky Way in the Age of Gaia."

May 8, 2020

The Eric R. Keto Prize for Graduate Students in Theoretical Astrophysics, endowed with a generous donation by ITC Senior Member Eric Keto, is awarded each year for the best thesis in theoretical astrophysics by a student at the CfA, as selected by the Senior Members of the ITC.

In the Fall, Josh will begin a five year Dunlap Postdoctoral Fellowship (Dunlap Institute, University of Toronto)

Abstract of Josh's thesis

 

A central problem in astronomy is converting the 2-D positions of sources observed on the sky to their 3-D...

Read more about Graduating student, Josh Speagle, awarded the annual Keto Prize for his thesis "Mapping the Milky Way in the Age of Gaia."
Rita Fireman with Jennifer Bergman

Jennifer Bergner is awarded the Edward J. Fireman Fellowship for best graduate dissertation in her work as an astrochemist observer and experimentalist.

May 29, 2019

Picture to the right is Jennifer with Rita Fireman, wife of Edward Fireman during the Honors Ceremony on May 29, 2019.  Pictured below are  members of the Fireman family who annually attend the awarding of this fellowship, along with Irwin Shapiro (left) who was the Director of the Center for Astrophysics when the Fellowship was first instituted.  Jennifer was advised by Karin Öberg.

 

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Read more about Jennifer Bergner is awarded the Edward J. Fireman Fellowship for best graduate dissertation in her work as an astrochemist observer and experimentalist.
AAS Press Officer Rick Fienberg standing at the eclipse in a field with lots of viewing equipment

AAS Press Officer Rick Fienberg (Harvard Astronomy PhD 1985) honored for national eclipse viewing safety and outreach

July 30, 2018

AAS Press Officer Rick Fienberg (Harvard Astronomy PhD 1985) is being honored with NASA’s Exceptional Public Achievement Medal “for exceptional service to the nation in [his] tireless efforts for the public’s safe solar viewing of the 2017 total solar eclipse.”... Read more about AAS Press Officer Rick Fienberg (Harvard Astronomy PhD 1985) honored for national eclipse viewing safety and outreach

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