Alyssa Goodman

Robert Wheeler Willson Professor of Applied Astronomy

Harvard University

Alyssa A. Goodman's research and teaching interests span astronomy, data visualization, and online systems for research and education. In addition to her Harvard faculty role, she is a research associate of the Smithsonian Institution. Goodman received her undergraduate degree in physics from MIT in 1984 and a PhD in physics from Harvard in 1989. She was awarded the Newton Lacy Pierce Prize from the American Astronomical Society in 1997, became full professor at Harvard in 1999, was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2009, and was chosen as Scientist of the Year by the Harvard Foundation in 2015. She has served as chair of the Astronomy Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and on the National Academy’s Board on Research Data and Information, as well as several other committees and boards charting the future of astronomy and data science, nationally and internationally. Goodman’s personal research currently focuses primarily on new ways to visualize and analyze the tremendous data volumes created by large and/or diverse astronomical surveys, and on improving our understanding of the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy. She is principal investigator for the NSF and NASA-sponsored glue software effort, which creates new tools for high-dimensional data visualization across science and education. She also works closely with colleagues at the American Astronomical Society and Harvard to expand the use of the WorldWide Telescope Universe Information System in both research and education. Goodman leads the Prediction project at Harvard University, which traces the roots of modern computer simulation, as prediction, through history, all the way back to the sheep entrail divination practiced in Mesopotamia.