Dr. Nancy A. Levenson has been appointed Deputy Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland. The Institute is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Telescope (JWST) that is scheduled to launch in 2018. Levenson will arrive at STScI in early November.
“I am so pleased that Nancy will be taking on the role of Deputy Director at STScI. She has a strong track record of accomplishments and leadership that will be a tremendous asset for the busy years we have ahead operating Hubble, getting ready for JWST science and flight operations, preparing for the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), and operating the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes, said STScI Director Ken Sembach. “I’m looking forward to working with her to make sure that this multi-mission institute continues its long tradition of providing excellent service to NASA and the astronomical community.”
Since 2009, Levenson served as Deputy Director and Head of Science at the Gemini Observatory in La Serena, Chile. She also led the Gemini Observatory as Acting Director for several months in 2012.
“I am enthusiastically looking forward to joining the great team at STScI,” Levenson said. “It is an exciting time at the Institute, with facilities delivering results, missions to be launched, and major new projects under development. I hope that my contributions will further enable the scientific advancement that members of our international community lead. I expect to be surprised by the continuing discoveries!”
Prior to her Gemini appointment, she served as a professor at the University of Kentucky in the Department of Physics and Astronomy from 2002 through 2009.
Levenson was a postdoctoral fellow at The Johns Hopkins University from 1998 through 2001. She earned both a Ph.D. and M.A. in astronomy from the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a B.A. in physics and philosophy from the University of Oxford, and an A.B. in astronomy and astrophysics from Harvard University.
Her research interests include active and star-forming galaxies, dust emission and obscuration, and X-ray astrophysics.
Levenson is the recipient of the Mary Elizabeth Uhl Prize, a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, and a Rhodes Scholarship.
