Juna Kollmeier

Juna Kollmeier
Alma materOhio State University
California Institute of Technology
Scientific career
InstitutionsCarnegie Institution for Science
ThesisThe Intergalactic Medium: Absorption, Emission, Disruption (2006)
Doctoral advisorDavid H. Weinberg

Juna Kollmeier is an astrophysicist from the US. She is currently employed at the Carnegie Institution for Science and is the director of the fifth phase of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which made its first observations in October, 2020.[1] She served as the director of the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, located at the University of Toronto, from 2021 to 2024.[2]

Early life and education

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Kollmeier was going to become a lawyer, until she attended a summer camp and learned how to classify stars.[3] She earned a bachelor's degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 2000.[4] She moved to Ohio State University for her doctoral studies on the intergalactic medium, which she completed in 2006.[4][5]

Research and career

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Kollmeier's research focuses on the formation of structure within the universe.[6] She combines a use of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations with analytic theory to understand how galaxies and black holes formed from fluctuations in the density of the early universe.[5] She studies everything from the Intergalactic medium to the Milky Way and supermassive black holes.[5]

After graduating Ohio State University, Kollmeier was a Hubble Fellow and a Carnegie Princeton Fellow.[7] She joined the staff at Carnegie Institution for Science in 2008.[8] In 2014 she reported the photon underproduction crisis, a deficit between the observations of intergalactic hydrogen and ionized hydrogen gas.[9][10][11][12][13]

In 2015 she was a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study.[14] Today she is a researcher at Carnegie Observatories.[15] She gives regular invited talks.[16][6] In 2017 it was announced that Kollmeier would lead the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.[8][17]

She featured on the PBS documentary "Genius".[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Next-gen astronomical survey makes its first observations toward a new understanding of the cosmos". 2 November 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  2. ^ "U of T names prominent astrophysics scholar, Juna Kollmeier, new director of the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA)". 30 March 2021. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  3. ^ "Meet the Woman Who Wants to Solve the Universe's Mysteries". Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  4. ^ a b "Juna Kollmeier | Simons Foundation". www.simonsfoundation.org. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  5. ^ a b c Science, Carnegie. "Juna Kollmeier | Carnegie Institution for Science". carnegiescience.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  6. ^ a b Carnegie Science (2015-06-05), At the Edge of Reason: The Black Holes in the Universe, retrieved 2018-04-20
  7. ^ a b "Juna Kollmeier | Meet the Experts | Genius by Stephen Hawking". Juna Kollmeier | Meet the Experts | Genius by Stephen Hawking. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  8. ^ a b "Juna Kollmeier | The Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University (KIAA-PKU)". kiaa.pku.edu.cn. Archived from the original on 2018-04-21. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  9. ^ Kollmeier, Juna A.; Weinberg, David H.; Oppenheimer, Benjamin D.; Haardt, Francesco; Katz, Neal; Davé, Romeel A.; Fardal, Mark; Madau, Piero; Danforth, Charles (2014-06-25). "The Photon Underproduction Crisis". The Astrophysical Journal. 789 (2): L32. arXiv:1404.2933. Bibcode:2014ApJ...789L..32K. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/789/2/L32. ISSN 2041-8205. S2CID 73665428.
  10. ^ Rodgers, Paul. "An Intergalactic Light That Shines Too Bright". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  11. ^ "Strange dark stuff is making the universe too bright". New Scientist. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  12. ^ "Cosmic accounting reveals missing light crisis". Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  13. ^ redOrbit (2017-09-15). "Researcher puts his own body on the line to test eel's shock power - Redorbit". Redorbit. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  14. ^ "Juna Kollmeier". Institute for Advanced Study. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  15. ^ "The Carnegie Observatories". obs.carnegiescience.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  16. ^ AstronomyHeidelberg (2015-11-03), Juna Kollmeier: The Nature of the IGM and the Photon Underproduction Crisis, retrieved 2018-04-20
  17. ^ "Astrophysical Research Consortium". sloan.org. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
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