Keivan Stassun

Vanderbilt University | Nashville, TN | 2014

Keivan  Stassun Portrait Photo

Contact Information

Vanderbilt University
Professor of Physics and Astronomy

keivan.stassun@vanderbilt.edu
Nashville TN 37235

Biography

After earning A.B. degrees in physics and astronomy from University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Wisconsin, Keivan Stassun was a NASA Hubble fellow before joining the Vanderbilt faculty in 2003. A recipient of a CAREER award from NSF and a Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, his research on stars and exoplanets has appeared in more than 500 peer-reviewed journal articles. He is co-investigator for the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission, and serves on the National Academy of Sciences' Space Studies Board. He is director of Vanderbilt's Initiative in Data-intensive Astrophysics and founding director of the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program, which as become one of the nation's top producers of Ph.D.s to underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences. He has served on the NSF Committee for Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering; is a recipient of the American Physical Society Nicholson Medal for Outreach; and is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society, American Astronomical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and American Academy of Arts & Sciences. In 2017, he launched Vanderbilt's Frist Center for Autism & Innovation to advance science and engineering through the engagement and advancement of individuals with autism. Stassun was selected for a $1 million Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor award, was named Mentor of the Year by AAAS, and served on the National Academies' Decadal Steering Committee for Astronomy & Astrophysics. In 2023, Stassun was appointed by President Joseph Biden to the National Science Board.