Eileen Gonzales is an American astrophysicist and postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University, where her research focuses on

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

s and brown dwarfs. She is also a co-founder and lead organizer o
#BlackInPhysics
a campaign to recognize and celebrate Black physicists and amplify their work.

Early life and education

Gonzales grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She studied

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

, and obtained her Master's in Physics from San Francisco State University. She joined the

Graduate Center of the City University of New York The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the ...

for her graduate studies, obtaining an MA from

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

, an MPhil in Physics, and her PhD in 2020. During her doctoral research, she investigated the atmospheric conditions of

low-mass star Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in The "medium" is present further soon.-->interstellar space

s and

brown dwarves Brown dwarfs (also called failed stars) are substellar objects that are not massive enough to sustain nuclear fusion of ordinary hydrogen ( 1H) into helium in their cores, unlike a main-sequence star. Instead, they have a mass between the most ma ...

Research career

Gonzales is a

51 Pegasi b 51 Pegasi b, officially named Dimidium , and formerly unofficially dubbed Bellerophon , is an extrasolar planet approximately away in the constellation of Pegasus. It was the first exoplanet to be discovered orbiting a main-sequence star, the S ...

Fellow at the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University, where she combines techniques and knowledge from observational astronomy and theoretical astrophysics to study the atmospheric conditions of

s. In particular, she works on translating techniques initially developed to study the clouds of brown dwarfs to study atmosphere of other substellar objects, such as gas giant exoplanets. She is also a visiting scientist at the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

Outreach and advocacy

Gonzales is involved with science education and outreach programs. During her doctoral studies she worked at the

, supervising and mentoring high school students and teaching astronomy. Gonzales was also a lead organizer of the firs
#BlackInPhysics
Week alongside

Charles D. Brown II Charles D. Brown II is an American physicist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, studying many-body physics of ultracold atoms in optical lattices. Brown is also a lead organiser of Black In Physics, #BlackInPhy ...

and

Jessica Esquivel Jessica Esquivel is a Black Mexican and American physicist and science communicator, working at the Muon g-2 particle physics experiment at Fermilab. She is an advocate for gender and racial equity in science, and a lead organiser of #BlackInPh ...

, leading an initiative that aimed to increase the recognition of Black physicists and celebrate their contributions to science. The campaign was inspired by the success of similar #BlackInX programs, such as

Black Birders Week Black Birders Week is a week-long series of online events to highlight Black nature enthusiasts and to increase the visibility of Black birders, who face unique challenges and dangers when engaging in outdoor activities. The event was created as ...

, and was supported by organizations including ''

Nature Physics ''Nature Physics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was first published in October 2005 (volume 1, issue 1). The chief editor is Andrea Taroni, who is a full-time professional editor employed by this ...

'', the American Institute of Physics, '' Physics Today'', and '' Physics World''. BlackInPhysics also set out to create a community of support for Black physicists, raise awareness of the social and political challenges faced by Black physicists, and provide more visibility to Black role models in science.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzales, Eileen Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics 21st-century African-American scientists American physicists Cornell University staff San Francisco State University alumni CUNY Graduate Center alumni American women astrophysicists People from Virginia Beach, Virginia Scientists from Virginia Hunter College alumni People associated with the American Museum of Natural History African-American physicists