Sara Ellison is an

Astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

Professor at

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

. Her work involves observational extragalactic astronomy, galaxy mergers and evolution, galactic chemistry and

active galactic nuclei An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity over at least some portion of the electromagnetic spectrum with characteristics indicating that the luminosity is not prod ...

Background and education

Ellison was inspired to study astronomy by a teacher who was also an astronomer. The only student in a physics class in her small, all-girls school, Ellison finished the standard curriculum quickly and spent the remainder of class time discussing astronomy with her teacher. Ellison enrolled in Physics and Space Science at the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

in 1993 and received her MSc degree in Physics at this university in 1997. She went on to earn her PhD degree in Astronomy from

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

in 2000. After finishing her graduate studies, she worked as an

ESO The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, commonly referred to as the European Southern Observatory (ESO), is an intergovernmental research organisation made up of 16 member states for ground-based ast ...

fellow in Chile for three years, and then joined the faculty of the University of Victoria as an Assistant Professor in 2003. The same year, she was selected as

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

(Tier II), a grant given to extraordinary emerging researchers by the Canadian government. In 2008, she became an Associate Professor and in 2014 a full Professor at the University of Victoria.

Research

The main themes of Ellison's research are studying absorption lines in quasar spectra and studying the effects of environment on galaxy evolution. Her quasar work has focused on studying the chemistry of gas along the line-of-sight to quasars such as

Damped Lyman-alpha system Damped Lyman alpha systems or Damped Lyman alpha absorption systems is a term used by astronomers for concentrations of neutral hydrogen gas that are detected in the spectra of quasars – a class of distant Active Galactic Nuclei. They are defin ...

s and the

Lyman-alpha forest The Lyman-alpha line, typically denoted by Ly-α, is a spectral line of hydrogen (or, more generally, of any one-electron atom) in the Lyman series. It is emitted when the atomic electron transitions from an ''n'' = 2 orbital to the gr ...

. Much of Ellison's most recent work has focused on using close pairs of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to investigate how galaxy interactions affect galaxy evolution.

Personal

In addition to her work in astronomy, Ellison has been involved in science outreach since 1992. She appeared on CBC Radio's ''

Quirks & Quarks ''Quirks & Quarks'' is a Canadian science news program, heard over CBC Radio One of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Created by CBC Producer Diana Filer and airing since October 8, 1975, ''Quirks & Quarks'' is consistently rated among ...

'' to answer questions about lunar landing sites. In a 2015 interview with the ''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...

'', she spoke about how she got interested in astronomy. Her hobbies include painting on stretched canvas in acrylics. An accomplished amateur athlete, Ellison has a Boston Qualifying marathon time and age group wins in both running and triathlon.

Honours and awards

* 2020-2022: President,

Canadian Astronomical Society The Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA; french: link=yes, La Société Canadienne d'Astronomie) is a Canadian society of professional astronomers, founded in 1971 and incorporated in 1983. The society is devoted to the promotion and advanceme ...

*2018-2020: Vice President,

*2015: Elected member of the Royal Society of Canada's College for New Scholars * 2014: Royal Society of Canada Rutherford Memorial medal in physics * 2009: Faculty of Science excellence in research award * 2007:

NSERC The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; french: Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada, CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering rese ...

Discovery Accelerator grant * 2004:

Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, ...

Ovenden lecturer * 2004: American Astronomical Society

Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy The Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy is awarded annually by the American Astronomical Society (AAS) to a woman resident of North America, who is within five years of receipt of a PhD, for distinguished contributions to astronomy or for similar ...

* 2001:

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NG ...

PhD thesis prize (runner-up)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellison, Sara Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Alumni of the University of Kent Alumni of the University of Cambridge Academic staff of the University of Victoria Recipients of the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy 21st-century Canadian women scientists 21st-century Canadian astronomers Women astronomers Place of birth missing (living people) Canada Research Chairs Canadian women physicists