LYNNE HILLENBRAND

Lynne Hillenbrand is currently a professor of astronomy at the California Institute of Technology. She conducted postdoctoral work at Caltech and at U.C. Berkeley. She was a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts, an undergraduate at Princeton University, and hails from the Philadelphia area.

Since 2001 Hillenbrand has taught astronomy and astrophysics at the undergraduate level (galactic astronomy, stellar structure, atmospheres and evolution, interstellar medium, optical laboratory, and scientific writing courses) and graduate level (physics of stars, interstellar/intergalactic medium, measurement and instrumentation in optical/infrared astronomy, special topics courses in extrasolar planets and in stellar seismology, and presentation of current literature). Also since this time, in research she has directly mentored 7+ high school students, 39 undergraduate students, 15 graduate students, and 15 postdoctoral scholars (numbers current through 2020).

Hillenbrand's astronomical research is in the area of star and planet formation, specifically regarding processes associated with the formation and early evolution of young stellar objects. Her observational and data analysis experience covers wavelengths from x-ray to millimeter, though focusing mostly on optical/near-infrared science. The most well-known research accomplishments include evidence for circumstellar disks around Herbig Ae/Be stars, determination of the stellar and sub-stellar initial mass function in the Orion Nebula Cluster, studies of age spreads in star forming regions, and determination of age constraints on circumstellar disk evolutionary timescales, both primordial and debris. Other research interests include star clusters, stellar angular momentum evolution, stellar age indicators, protostars, accretion and accretion-driven wind phenomena, young planets, variability phenomena in young stars, stellar multiplicity. Hillenbrand has over 300 refereed publications, 30 as first author.

Hillenbrand has served on a number of prominent national advisory committees for the NRC, AAAC, NASA, NSF, and AAS; various boards and governing bodies for astronomy organizations such as AURA and ASP, oversight bodies, committees for facility reviews, science steering committees, user groups, various AAS, ASP, and IAU committees; telescope allocation committees, funding peer reviews and journal refereeing; scientific meeting organizing committees, CIT Institute committees, ETC.

She is a member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP), and was named a National Associate of the National Academies (NASEM).

You can find a full CV here.