Andrea Kunder

Andrea Kunder is an Associate Professor of Physics at Saint Martin’s University’s College of Arts and Sciences. Her research focuses on astrophysics, particularly the structure and evolution of the Milky Way’s Galactic bulge using RR Lyrae stars as key tracers. She leads the Bulge Radial Velocity Assay for RR Lyrae stars (BRAVARR), a National Science Foundation-funded project investigating bulge kinematics and bimodality. Kunder holds a B.A. from Willamette University and a Ph.D. from Dartmouth College, with postdoctoral experience at the Leibniz Institute of Astrophysics and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.

Her work spans over 80 refereed publications, including studies of obscured inner Galaxy populations and collaborations on the Blanco DECam Bulge Survey (BDBS). Notable accomplishments include a 2024 NSF grant ($153,169), a 2023 Murdock poster award for student Claire Skaggs, and the RAISE grant (collaboration with three universities totaling $370k). Kunder actively mentors undergraduates in research projects, with multiple co-authored publications involving student collaborators.

Key research themes include RR Lyrae metallicity analysis, Galactic bar dynamics, and tidal tails of globular clusters. She has pioneered methods for analyzing chemo-kinematics in the bulge using Gaia DR3 data and DECam photometry. Current projects include the VESTALE survey exploring dark matter in the bulge and the Roman Space Telescope’s GRIPS survey.