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The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and physics. The twelve member presidential Committee on the National Medal of Science is responsible for selecting award recipients and is administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

National Medal of Science

The MacArthur Fellowship is a $800,000, no-strings-attached award to extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential.

MacArthur Fellow

The AAS Fellows program recognizes AAS members for their contributions toward the Society's mission of enhancing and sharing humanity's scientific understanding of the universe. Fellows may be cited for original research and publication, innovative contributions to astronomical techniques or instrumentation, significant contributions to education and public outreach, and noteworthy service to astronomy and to the Society itself.

Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society

The Research Corporation for Science and Advancement IMPACT Award recognizes the work of an outstanding Cottrell Scholar who has had a national impact in science through leadership and service activities.

Research Corporation for Science Advancement IMPACT Award

The Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math, and Engineering Mentoring is a prestigious award given by the White House to individuals and organizations that demonstrate exceptional commitment to mentoring students from underrepresented groups in STEM fields, recognizing their significant contributions to expanding diversity within the science, mathematics, and engineering workforce; it is administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math, and Engineering Mentoring

Two Young Eclipsing Binaries in Orion with Temperatures and Radii Affected by Spots and Third Bodies

The Evolution of Stellar X-Ray Activity and Angular Momentum as Seen by eROSITA, TESS, and Gaia

Detecting New Visual Binaries in Gaia DR3 with Gaia and Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) Photometry. II. Speckle Observations of 16 Low-separation Systems

The research of Keivan Stassun seeks to address questions related to the formation of stars and planetary systems. With the advent of all-sky surveys, large-format detectors, and high-performance computers, this work increasingly involves approaches at the interface of astronomy, physics, computer science, and informatics. 

After earning A.B. degrees in physics and astronomy from UC Berkeley, and the PhD in astrophysics from the University of Wisconsin, Stassun was a NASA Hubble postdoctoral 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, Stassun’s research on stars and exoplanets has appeared in more than 500 peer-reviewed journal articles. He is a co-investigator for the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission and chairs the executive committee of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. From 2004 to 2015, he served as founding director of the Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program, which has become one of the nation’s top producers of PhDs to underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences. To date, he has mentored 30 PhD dissertations in astronomy and astrophysics and placed more than 20 PhDs into academic research careers. He has served on the federal Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee, the NSF Committee for Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering, is a recipient of the American Physical Society’s Nicholson Medal for Human Outreach, and is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society, American Astronomical Society, and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has served as an expert witness to the US House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology. For the past ten years, Stassun has served as founding director of the Vanderbilt Initiative in Data-intensive Astrophysics. In 2017, Stassun launched the Center for Autism & Innovation, focused on advancing science and engineering through the engagement and advancement of individuals with autism. The Center has become permanently endowed by a $10 million gift from Frist Family Foundation. Most recently, Stassun was selected for a $1 million HHMI Professor award, was named Mentor of the Year by the AAAS, was honored by the White House with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Engineering Mentoring, and served on the National Academies’ Decadal Steering Committee for Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Star Formation

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Astronomy

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Neurodiversity

Physics

Exoplanets

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Vanderbilt professor Keivan Stassun receives prestigious $800K MacArthur fellowship grant

Astronomy Discoveries at Vanderbilt

Peering into space with Nashville astronomers

Want to see the total eclipse in 2024? Better make your plans now.

First images from NASA’s James Webb Telescope will be shared with researchers and students in Middle Tennessee

NASA Needs 'Multi-generational Commitment' for Space Mission DEI: Report

Fix the system, not the students

NASA’s biggest telescope is about to launch, and a Vanderbilt astronomer has a ‘front row seat’ to cosmic discovery

Recruiting for talent on the autism spectrum

Revealed: The ‘Next Hubble’ Space Telescope That Will Photograph Another Earth, Cost $11 Billion And Launch In The 2040s

expert-commentary-on-ada-anniversary-and-neurodiversity-in-the-workplace

Stevenson Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Keivan Stassun, Stevenson Professor of Physics and Astronomy and director of the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation, is available for media commentary on the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Specifically, Keivan can speak to the angel of acceptance and inclusiveness in the workplace for people on the autism spectrum. Keivan is the parent of an autistic son, which inspired his work in this area. The work includes:
Developing a strengths-based - rather than deficit-based - understanding of neurodiverse capabilities Inventing technologies that enable autistic and other neurodiverse individuals to succeed in employment and achieve their full potential Deploying an all-hands community-based approach, including educators, researchers, employers, philanthropists and community organizers to enhance the quality of life for autistic individuals through meaningful employment 

Expert commentary on ADA anniversary and neurodiversity in the workplace

A groundbreaking study, using data from NASA and a technique pioneered by a Vanderbilt professor, is giving humankind a glimpse at a distant exoplanet which may be very similar to Mercury or Earth’s Moon.

Located nearly 49 light years from Earth, the planet known as LHS 3844b was first discovered in 2018 by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Satellite Survey (TESS). In its current form, the planet is Earth-sized but has conditions similar to Earth’s moon: It has little to no atmosphere and could be covered in the same cooled volcanic material, known as mare, that composes the dark lunar regions.

LHS 3844b also orbits a star – in this case, a small, cool type of star called an M dwarf – making one full revolution around it in just 11 hours. The study describes the first time data from NASA’s Spitzer telescope has been able to provide information about the atmosphere and surface composition of a terrestrial world around an M dwarf.

The findings, published this week in ​Nature​ by a team of researchers from Harvard, MIT and more,​ ​are illustrative of the broader scientific mission to understand the factors that could preserve or destroy atmospheres in planets with Earth-like characteristics, as scientists embark on research for habitable environments beyond our solar system.

Keivan Stassun​, Stevenson Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Vanderbilt, co-authored the study and measured the size of the M dwarf star – most importantly its diameter – so that the research team could then, in turn, understand the size and composition of the planet.

The study reports that LHS 3844b has a radius 1.3 times that of Earth, which Stassun discovered by using pseudo-interferometry, a technique he pioneered. His technique measures the total intensity of starlight reaching Earth and combines it with the distance to the star – a process that resembles the sophisticated process of interferometry, which measures the interference of light, radio or sound waves.

"In our quest to place our own solar system and planetary home in context, we have to understand the broad diversity of other Earth-like worlds out there,” noted Stassun. “Here we have an exciting, and perhaps humbling, example of a possibly once Earth-like planet that has been laid waste, uninhabitable, because it has been left with no air -- no anything for that matter -- to breathe."


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Rare study of Earth-sized planet uses technique pioneered by Vanderbilt professor

Keivan Stassun, the Stevenson Professor of Physics and Astronomy and senior associate dean for graduate education and research at Vanderbilt University’s College of Arts and Science, has been chosen as the winner of the 2018 AAAS Mentor Award. Stassun was selected for personally mentoring dozens of underrepresented minority students and for building “innovative mentoring models that bridge critical attrition points in the development of underrepresented minority physicists and astronomers.”

In award materials, AAAS noted that Stassun maintains “a strong dedication to his mentees’ growth as scientists,” and further noted that the extent of his mentoring influence is “wide and truly remarkable.”

From 2003 to 2015, Stassun co-directed a partnership between Vanderbilt University and Fisk University, which aims to reach talented, underrepresented minority students who are interested in pursuing a Ph.D. Students attending Fisk University, a historically black institution, are mentored as they take classes and conduct research before eventually entering Ph.D. programs at Vanderbilt University and beyond. As of spring 2017, the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program, now co-directed by Stassun’s colleague, astrophysicist Kelly Holley-Bockelmann, had produced 27 Ph.D. graduates in physics, astronomy, materials science, chemistry and biology. The program’s participants have included Jedidah Isler, the first African American woman to graduate with a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Yale University. His mentees have published in the journal Nature, received the nation’s top postdoctoral fellowships in astrophysics from NSF and NASA, and have gone on to postdoctoral appointments at institutions such as Harvard University and faculty positions at institutions such as Penn State University.

In a letter supporting Stassun’s nomination, astrophysicist Deatrick Foster wrote that he was immediately struck by Stassun’s mentoring instincts when they met at the 2007 Joint Annual Meeting of the National Society of Black Physicists and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists. With encouragement from Stassun, Foster applied for and participated in the Bridge program and went on to complete a Ph.D. in physics at Vanderbilt University in 2013. Over the past 10 years, Foster has come to know Stassun as a mentor, colleague and friend.

“His unwavering support for me personally and professionally has been invaluable,” Foster wrote. “I am thankful that I can lean on Keivan’s experience and wisdom, and I appreciate his sincere interest in my success.”

Stassun earned his bachelor’s degree in physics and astronomy from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed his Ph.D. in astronomy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2000. He has previously been honored with the Research Corporation for Science Advancement SEED Award and the American Physical Society Nicholson Medal for Human Outreach, as well as the Vanderbilt Affirmative Action and Diversity Initiatives Award and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award.

Despite Stassun’s various institutional responsibilities, he remains committed and connected to his students. “He has never lost that personal touch and… that means a great deal to his mentees,” wrote Hutson.

Today, Stassun has expanded the reach of his mentoring efforts to include neurodiversity, as founding director of the Vanderbilt Initiative for Autism, Innovation & the Workforce, which seeks to expand STEM workforce engagement of individuals with autism with a strengths-based approach that matches unique autistic capabilities with 21st century workforce needs.

The AAAS Mentor Award honors AAAS members who have mentored significant numbers of underrepresented students, including women, minorities and persons with disabilities, pursuing Ph.D.s in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and who have demonstrated scholarship, activism and community building on behalf of underrepresented groups in STEM fields. The award includes a $5,000 prize and a commemorative plaque, and complimentary registration to the AAAS Annual Meeting as well as reimbursement for expenses to attend the meeting.

The award will be bestowed upon Stassun during the 184th AAAS Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas on Feb. 18, 2018.

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Astrophysicist Keivan Stassun Wins 2018 AAAS Mentor Award

During this talk, Dr. Keivan Stassun summarizes the promise of the TESS mission for detecting other worlds like our own and identifying other places in the universe where life just might be possible. 

This talk took place at Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory on March 3rd, 2017.

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Meet the Astronomer: Dr. Keivan Stassun

Meet Keivan Stassun, a science educator, astronomer, and 2024 #MacFellow expanding opportunities in STEM education and careers for neurodiverse and underrepresented populations.  

Keivan has pioneered initiatives to support students of color obtaining their STEM PhDs and to help neurodiverse students attain meaningful employment.  

Learn more about Keivan: 
https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2024/keivan-g-stassun

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