Laura Fissel

Laura Fissel serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy within Queen's University's Faculty of Arts and Science. Her research focuses on the physical processes governing star and planet formation, specifically investigating why star formation from interstellar gas remains highly inefficient.

Her primary research interests include:

• Role of magnetic fields in regulating gravitational collapse during star formation
• Development and deployment of stratospheric balloon-borne telescopes
• Submillimeter polarimetry of star-forming regions
• Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) applications for balloon telescopes

She employs both ground-based observatories (ALMA in Chile, Mopra in Australia, Large Millimeter Telescope in Mexico) and high-altitude balloon platforms to study cosmic phenomena above 99.5% of Earth's atmosphere.

Laboratory and project leadership:

• Principal Investigator for BLAST-TNG telescope project (launched from Antarctica in January 2020)
• Lead for Balloon VLBI Experiment (BVEX) pathfinder mission scheduled for 2025
• Collaboration with international teams on stratospheric telescope development

Academic advising and recruitment:

• Actively recruiting Master's and PhD students for star/planet formation research
• Projects involving telescope design, balloon missions, and observational astrophysics