معرفی
Jessica Lu is an Associate Professor of Astronomy and current Chair of the Astronomy Department at the University of California, Berkeley. She earned her undergraduate degree in Physics from MIT (2000) and a PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics from UCLA (2008). Prior to her Berkeley appointment in 2016, she held prestigious postdoctoral fellowships at Caltech (Millikan Fellow) and the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy (NSF Fellow).
- Education
- Ph.D., 2008 - UCLA
- S.B., 2000 - MIT
Research Focus: Leading the Moving Universe Lab, Lu's work centers on detecting free-floating stellar-mass black holes in the Milky Way via gravitational microlensing. Her group investigates how star formation processes vary in extreme environments like massive young clusters and the Galactic Center, utilizing advanced adaptive optics systems and high-resolution infrared imaging from space and ground-based telescopes.
Instrumentation Leadership: Collaborates on multiple technical teams including the Thirty Meter Telescope IRIS instrument, 'imaka wide-field adaptive optics project, Roman Space Telescope development, and Keck AO system upgrades. These efforts aim to enhance observational precision across both ground and space platforms.
Scientific Recognition:
- Millikan Postdoctoral Fellowship
- NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship
Academic Leadership: In 2013, she joined the Institute for Astronomy faculty before transitioning to UC Berkeley. Her lab currently includes postdocs Macy Huston and Charles-Antoine Claveau, graduate students Hannah Gulick, Natasha Abrams, Brooke DiGia, and Anna Pusack, along with several undergraduate and post-baccalaureate researchers. Former members include notable researchers like Casey Lam (Carnegie Fellow) and Nijaid Arredondo (UIUC grad).
