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Emily Levesque

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Emily Levesque
Born1984
Taunton, Massachusetts, US
Alma materMIT
University of Hawaii
Known forAstrophysics
AwardsAnnie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy
Sloan Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Fulbright Fellowship
Scientific career
ThesisExploring the Environments of Long-Duration Gamma-Ray Bursts (2010)
Doctoral advisorLisa Kewley
Websitewww.emlevesque.com

Emily Levesque (born 1984[1]) is an American astronomer, author, and associate professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Washington.[2][3] She is renowned for her work on massive stars and using these stars to investigate galaxy formation. She is also the author of three books, including the 2020 popular science book The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers.[4]

Early life and education

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Levesque grew up in Taunton, Massachusetts.[5] She received her undergraduate degree in physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006, followed by a PhD in astronomy at the University of Hawaii in 2010.[6][7]

Academic career

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From 2010 to 2015, Levesque was a postdoctoral researcher at University of Colorado as an Einstein Fellow from 2010 to 2013, and then received a Hubble Fellowship from 2013 to 2015.[8][9] She has been an assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Washington since 2015.[2]

In 2015, Levesque, Rachel Bezanson, and Grant R. Tremblay published an influential[10] paper,[11] which critiqued the use of the Physics GRE as an admissions cutoff criterion for astronomy postgraduate programs by showing there was no statistical correlation between applicant's score and later success in their academic careers. Subsequently, the American Astronomical Society adopted the stance that the Physics GRE should not be mandatory for graduate school applications,[12][13] and many graduate astronomy programs have since removed the Physics GRE as a required part of their graduate school applications.[10][13]

Research

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Size comparison of Betelgeuse, Mu Cephei, KY Cygni, and V354 Cephei according to Emily Levesque's publication[14]

Levesque uses both observations and modeling in her work. In the ultraviolet portion of the spectrum, she uses the Hubble Space Telescope to obtain spectra of star-forming galaxies.[15] In the optical, she uses the Gemini and Keck observatories on Mauna Kea and the Las Campanas Observatories in Chile to study red supergiants in the Milky Way and in the Magellanic Clouds. She has discovered many new red supergiants, as well as the first candidate for a Thorne-Zytkow object (HV 2112).[16]

Levesque and Jamie Lomax also sparked a jumping spider Twitter arachnoastronomy phenomenon with the help of Nathan Morehouse who studies spider eyesight at the University of Cincinnati.[17][18]

Awards and recognition

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In 2014, Levesque received the Annie Jump Cannon Award for her innovative work on gamma ray bursts.[19] In 2017, she was awarded a Sloan Fellowship, awarded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to early-career scholars.[20]

Levesque was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in April 2022.[21] From March to June of 2023, Levesque worked at the University of Auckland as a U.S. Fulbright scholar researching Thorne–Żytkow objects.[22]

Levesque's writing is also award-winning. Understanding Stellar Evolution, her text based on a series of graduate lectures written with Henny Lamers was awarded the 2023 Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award by the American Astronomical Society.[23]

Bibliography

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  • Levesque, Emily (2020). The last stargazers : the enduring story of astronomy's vanishing explorers. Naperville, Illinois. ISBN 978-1-4926-8107-6. OCLC 1125025889.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Lamers, Henny J.G.L.M.; Levesque, Emily M. (2018). Understanding Stellar Evolution. IOP. ISBN 978-0-7503-1278-3.
  • Levesque, Emily M. (2017). Astrophysics of Red Supergiants. IOP. ISBN 978-0-7503-1329-2.

References

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  1. ^ "About the Author". thelaststargazers.com. November 16, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "University of Washington Department of Astronomy: Emily Levesque". depts.washington.edu. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  3. ^ "Emily Levesque – Fulbright US Scholar Award". fulbright.org.nz. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  4. ^ Carter, Jamie (August 8, 2020). "The Last Stargazers? Why You Will Never See An Astronomer Looking Through A Telescope". Forbes. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  5. ^ "Faculty Spotlight: Emily Levesque". Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  6. ^ "Levesque, Emily – Department of Astronomy". Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  7. ^ "Alumni (alphabetical listing)". University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  8. ^ "Listing of all Hubble Fellows 1990–2016". Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  9. ^ "Einstein, Chandra, and Fermi Fellows". Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  10. ^ a b "The impact of the Physics GRE in astronomy graduate admissions". Astrobites. September 9, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  11. ^ Levesque, Emily M.; Bezanson, Rachel; Tremblay, Grant R. (December 10, 2015). "Physics GRE Scores of Prize Postdoctoral Fellows in Astronomy". arXiv:1512.03709 [physics.ed-ph].
  12. ^ "President's Column: Rethinking the Role of the GRE | American Astronomical Society". aas.org. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  13. ^ a b "Some Astronomy programs dropping Physics GRE requirement – Physics GRE Discussion Forums". www.physicsgre.com. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  14. ^ Levesque, Emily M.; Massey, Philip; Olsen, K. A. G.; Plez, Bertrand; Josselin, Eric; Maeder, Andre; Georges Meynet (2005). "The Effective Temperature Scale of Galactic Red Supergiants: Cool, but Not as Cool as We Thought". The Astrophysical Journal. 628 (2): 973–985. arXiv:astro-ph/0504337. Bibcode:2005ApJ...628..973L. doi:10.1086/430901. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 15109583.
  15. ^ Zetterlund, Erika; Levesque, Emily M.; Leitherer, Claus; Danforth, Charles W. (January 1, 2015). "Ultraviolet ISM Diagnostics for Star-forming Galaxies. I. Tracers of Metallicity and Extinction". The Astrophysical Journal. 805 (2): 151. arXiv:1504.00011. Bibcode:2015ApJ...805..151Z. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/805/2/151. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 118991367.
  16. ^ Levesque, Emily M.; Massey, Philip; Żytkow, Anna N.; Morrell, Nidia (September 1, 2014). "Discovery of a Thorne–Żytkow object candidate in the Small Magellanic Cloud". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters. 443 (1): L94–L98. arXiv:1406.0001. Bibcode:2014MNRAS.443L..94L. doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slu080. ISSN 1745-3925. S2CID 119192926.
  17. ^ Yong, Ed. "Tiny Jumping Spiders Can See the Moon". The Atlantic. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  18. ^ Drake, Nadia (June 7, 2017). "We've Learned Jumping Spiders Can See the Moon, Thanks to Twitter". Archived from the original on June 7, 2017. Retrieved June 9, 2017.
  19. ^ "American Astronomical Society: Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy". aas.org. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  20. ^ "2017 Sloan Fellowships". Archived from the original on July 8, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  21. ^ "Meet Our 2022 Fellows". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  22. ^ "Emily Levesque | Fulbright Scholar Program". fulbrightscholars.org. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  23. ^ "Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award". Retrieved April 4, 2024.
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