Biography
The research of Keivan Stassun seeks to address questions related to the formation of stars and planetary systems. With the advent of all-sky surveys, large-format detectors, and high-performance computers, this work increasingly involves approaches at the interface of astronomy, physics, computer science, and informatics. After earning A.B. degrees in physics and astronomy from UC Berkeley, and the PhD in astrophysics from the University of Wisconsin, Stassun was a NASA Hubble postdoctoral fellow before joining the Vanderbilt faculty in 2003. A recipient of a CAREER award from NSF and a Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, Stassun’s research on stars and exoplanets has appeared in more than 500 peer-reviewed journal articles. He is a co-investigator for the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission and chairs the executive committee of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. From 2004 to 2015, he served as founding director of the Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program, which has become one of the nation’s top producers of PhDs to underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences. To date, he has mentored 30 PhD dissertations in astronomy and astrophysics and placed more than 20 PhDs into academic research careers. He has served on the federal Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee, the NSF Committee for Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering, is a recipient of the American Physical Society’s Nicholson Medal for Human Outreach, and is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society, American Astronomical Society, and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has served as an expert witness to the US House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology. For the past ten years, Stassun has served as founding director of the Vanderbilt Initiative in Data-intensive Astrophysics. In 2017, Stassun launched the Center for Autism & Innovation, focused on advancing science and engineering through the engagement and advancement of individuals with autism. The Center has become permanently endowed by a $10 million gift from Frist Family Foundation. Most recently, Stassun was selected for a $1 million HHMI Professor award, was named Mentor of the Year by the AAAS, was honored by the White House with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Engineering Mentoring, and served on the National Academies’ Decadal Steering Committee for Astronomy & Astrophysics.Media Appearances
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Vanderbilt professor Keivan Stassun receives prestigious $800K MacArthur fellowship grant
Vanderbilt University professor and astronomer Keivan Stassun was named among the 2024 MacArthur Fellows, a prestigious honor that comes with an $800,000 grant that each fellow can spend however they see fit.October 1st, 2024
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Astronomy Discoveries at Vanderbilt
Did you know that groundbreaking astronomy discoveries are being made right here in Nashville? On this episode of MorningLine, Nick Beres is joined by Stephen Taylor and Keivan Stassun, Physics and Astronomy Professors at Vanderbilt University, to discuss their work and talk about space.August 24th, 2023
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Peering into space with Nashville astronomers
Some of the most exciting research in astronomy is happening right here in Nashville. A little more than a year ago, NASA released the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope. One of the first approved studies using this imagery was led by Vanderbilt professor Keivan Stassun, who is searching for Earth-like planets with NASA’s TESS Exoplanet Mission. And just weeks ago, a groundbreaking study demonstrating how gravitational waves permeate the universe was published by a team led by another Vanderbilt astrophysicist, Stephen Taylor.July 21st, 2023
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Want to see the total eclipse in 2024? Better make your plans now.
Most of the country will see at least a partial eclipse from wherever they are. That experience is “neat — as in, your kids will say, yeah that was pretty cool,” Keivan Stassun, a professor of physics and astronomy at Vanderbilt University, said in an email, but viewing a total solar eclipse is “a life event.”April 28th, 2023
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First images from NASA’s James Webb Telescope will be shared with researchers and students in Middle Tennessee
Dr. Keivan Stassun, an astrophysicist at Vanderbilt University, is helping lead that effort. He and his team will analyze these new images for revelations about space and time in distant galaxies.July 12th, 2022
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NASA Needs 'Multi-generational Commitment' for Space Mission DEI: Report
Keivan Stassun, one of the study's co-authors and the Stevenson Professor of Physics & Astronomy at Vanderbilt University's College of Arts & Science, added in a Vanderbilt news release that SMD's current process can "systematically disadvantage and exclude folks of certain backgrounds or life experiences who could be superb, arguably even more capable, leaders."May 18th, 2022
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Fix the system, not the students
Even before the TEAM-UP report, some academic physicists had begun to take similar steps. At Vanderbilt University, astrophysicist Keivan Stassun was moved to act by data showing Black undergraduates are being pushed out of the field they want to study.March 2nd, 2022
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NASA’s biggest telescope is about to launch, and a Vanderbilt astronomer has a ‘front row seat’ to cosmic discovery
“The James Webb Telescope is by far, by a country mile, the single most ambitious and technologically-advanced thing that human beings have sent into space,” said Dr. Keivan Stassun, an astrophysicist at Vanderbilt University.December 23rd, 2021
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Recruiting for talent on the autism spectrum
Dan Burger's unique abilities caught the attention of Keivan Stassun, an astrophysics professor at Vanderbilt. His son is on the autism spectrum, and Stassun helped start the Frist Center.July 18th, 2021
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Revealed: The ‘Next Hubble’ Space Telescope That Will Photograph Another Earth, Cost $11 Billion And Launch In The 2040s
The plans involve a new flagship space telescope, but rather than selecting one of the four proposals on offer the report has opted for a mix of two of them. “We did not want to say what mission concept we like best, but instead we wanted to say what we need to achieve,” said Keivan Stassun of Vanderbilt University and one of the members of the steering committee for this report.November 4th, 2021
Multimedia
Education
Hubble Postdoc, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ph.D, University of Wisconsin-Madison
B.A., UC Berkeley
Additional Resources
Two Young Eclipsing Binaries in Orion with Temperatures and Radii Affected by Spots and Third Bodies
The Evolution of Stellar X-Ray Activity and Angular Momentum as Seen by eROSITA, TESS, and Gaia
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