Shardha Jogee

Dr. Shardha Jogee is the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the College of Natural Sciences and a Professor in the Department of Astronomy at The University of Texas at Austin, where she holds the Rex G. Baker, Jr. and McDonald Observatory Centennial Research Professorship. She joined the faculty in 2004, served as Department Chair from 2015 to 2019, and became Associate Dean in June 2023. Dr. Jogee earned her B.S. from Cambridge University (1992) and her M.Phil., M.S., and Ph.D. from Yale University (1994-1999), followed by postdoctoral work at Caltech and the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Dr. Jogee's research addresses fundamental questions about galaxy evolution across cosmic time, focusing on how galaxies grow their stars, black holes, and dark matter halos. Her work investigates the role of galaxy mergers versus more quiescent growth modes like gas accretion and secular evolution driven by bars. She leads research within major international collaborations including GEMS, GOODS, STAGES, and SHELA/HETDEX, utilizing data from Hubble, Spitzer, James Webb Space Telescopes, and ground-based observatories including McDonald Observatory.

Her research has yielded several key findings: demonstrating the prevalence of stellar bars in disk galaxies over eight billion years; showing that visible major mergers account for at most 30% of cosmic star formation; discovering that early massive galaxies were predominantly disk-dominated; and providing critical tests for galaxy formation models through measurements of the stellar mass function at high redshift. Her work with the James Webb Space Telescope on barred galaxies in the early universe garnered 198 million views in one month.

• Hubble Space Telescope Cycle Awards (Cycles 13-16)
• NASA Education and Public Outreach Award (2006)
• NSF STEM Undergraduate Education Award (2008)
• Amelia Earhart Fellowship (1996)
• Elected Fellow, Cambridge University (1990-1992)

Dr. Jogee has secured over $4.2 million in research funding as PI or Co-PI, with over $2.2 million since 2014. She has published 220+ papers with over 10,100 citations and an h-index of 46. Her outreach includes Op-Eds in The New York Times, public lectures, YouTube videos, and educational programs connecting UT with Texas high schools. She teaches graduate courses in galaxy evolution and gravitational dynamics, and undergraduate courses including Galaxies and the Universe.

Dr. Jogee's research group utilizes NASA space telescopes, McDonald Observatory, and the Texas Advanced Computing Center. Her work bridges observational astronomy with theoretical models, providing critical constraints on galaxy formation theories while training the next generation of astronomers through her teaching and mentorship.