A Professor With An Out-of-This-World Resume

Astronomer/Professor Elmegreen not only study stars, but is somewhat of a star herself in the astronomy world, as the newly elected president of the American Astronomical Society and appointee to the Decadal Survey Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Elmegreen, who says that she grew up in a neighborhood with wide, open skies and always wanted to be an astronomer, juggles these prestigious positions with a teaching job at Vassar College – where she is head of the Physics and Astronomy department – and her personal research.  Yet, she still found the time to talk to us about what she’s doing and how to she got where she is now.

This spring Aster was the recipient of a L'Oreal USA Fellowship for Women in Science for her research on atmospheric and environmental chemistry, specifically on how molecules emitted by human activity affects climate change.  How did she get involved with this kind of research? "I got involved mostly by accident," Aster says, in an email interview conducted last week.  "I was originally set against doing any kind of postdoctoral research. My plan was to go straight into industry."