Megan Donahue is an American

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

who studies galaxies and

galaxy cluster A galaxy cluster, or a cluster of galaxies, is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound together by gravity, with typical masses ranging from 1014 to 1015 solar masses. They are the second-lar ...

s. She is a professor of physics and astrophysics at Michigan State University, and the president of the American Astronomical Society for the 2018–2020 term. Donahue

Education and career

Donahue graduated in physics from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in 1985, and completed her PhD in astrophysics from the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...

in 1990 under the supervision of J. Michael Shull and John T. Stocke. After postdoctoral research at the

Carnegie Institution for Science The Carnegie Institution of Washington (the organization's legal name), known also for public purposes as the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS), is an organization in the United States established to fund and perform scientific research. Th ...

she joined the

Space Telescope Science Institute The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), science operations and mission operations center for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and science operations center for the ...

for a second postdoctoral visit in 1993, and stayed on there in other capacities until joining the Michigan State faculty in 2003.

Books

She is a co-author of three books in the Pearson Cosmic Perspective Series of astronomy textbooks: ''The Cosmic Perspective'' (8th ed., 2016, also published as two separate volumes), ''The Essential Cosmic Perspective'' (7th ed., 2014), and ''The Cosmic Perspective Fundamentals'' (2nd ed., 2015).

Awards and honors

Donahue was the 1993 winner of the Robert J. Trumpler Award for best recent dissertation in astronomy. In 2012 she became a

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 2016 she was elected as a fellow of the American Physical Society.

References

External links

Home page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donahue, Megan Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American women astronomers MIT Department of Physics alumni University of Colorado Boulder alumni Michigan State University faculty Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science