Meg Urry

Meg Urry is the Israel Munson Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Yale University and Director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics. She previously served as Chair of the Yale Physics Department (2007–2013) and held leadership roles in the American Astronomical Society. With a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and a B.S. from Tufts University, her research focuses on supermassive black holes in active galaxies, their co-evolution with galaxies, and multiwavelength surveys. Urry pioneered the use of machine learning in astrophysics and has contributed to projects like the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS). Her work includes studying obscured AGN, X-ray background origins, and kiloparsec-scale jets. Honors include National Academy of Sciences membership, the Annie Jump Cannon Prize, and leadership awards for advancing STEM diversity. She also co-founded the Global Teaching Project to provide advanced physics education in underserved regions.