Astronomy grads Adam Distler and Matthew Werneken win 2026 Hertz Fellowships

Astronomy grad students Adam Distler and Matthew Werneken were announced as winners of 2026 Hertz Fellowships, providing financial and lifelong professional support for the nation’s most promising doctoral students in the applied sciences, engineering and mathematics.

ADAM DISTLER

Adam Distler is a first-year doctoral student in astronomy, where he studies the link between the galactic environment and planetary structure. Distler is broadly interested in how changes in the galactic environment affect the habitability of exoplanets in the search for life across the galaxy. His earlier work focused on exoplanet detection and characterization, and he also has investigated gravitational dynamics ranging from small planets to massive black holes. Distler earned his bachelor’s degree in two years from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, majoring in astronomy-physics and mathematics.

MATTHEW WERNEKEN

Matthew Werneken is an astronomy doctoral student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow, where he works on astrophysical instrumentation and observational surveys to study the environments of the Milky Way galaxy and its neighbors. Werneken aims to use this dual focus in designing the next generation of observatories on ground and in space, to solve the mysteries behind how galaxies form and evolve. He is currently working on a major new survey to map the cold gas in the halo of our galaxy and set constraints on the distribution, mass, and temperature phases of this “circumgalactic medium”. He is also supporting the design and build of an accompanying high-throughput spectrograph, which will be a cornerstone tool in measuring astrophysical transients after it is commissioned in 2027. Werneken graduated from Columbia University with dual degrees in mechanical engineering and astrophysics in 2025.