Download a copy of my full CV here.
Aomawa Shields
UCLA
Division of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Box 951547
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547 USA
ashields AT astro.ucla.edu
Interests: Climate and habitability of extrasolar planets orbiting low-mass stars. Multi-dimensional climate models. Interdisciplinary science education and communication.
Education:
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Ph.D., Astronomy and Astrobiology, August 2014
“The Effect of Star-Planet Interactions on Planetary Climate”
Supervised by Victoria Meadows and Cecilia Bitz
M.Sc., Astronomy, December 2011
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA
MFA, Acting, June 2001
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Sc.B., Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, June 1997
Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH
Graduated with High Honors, June 1993
Recent Appointments:
UC Irvine, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Irvine, CA
Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor (on leave through June 2017)
UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow (Fall 2014-Present)
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
NSF Graduate Research Fellow (2011–2014)
Academic Mentor, Pre-Major in Astronomy Program (2013–2014)
NSF IGERT Trainee (2009–2011)
Research & Teaching Assistant, Department of Astronomy (2009–2014)
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
Scientific Analysis Associate, Observatory Planning and Scheduling Team (2008–2009)
Scientific Analysis Assistant, Science User Support Team (2005–2008)
Selected Fellowships, Awards, and Honors:
Origins Project Postdoctoral Award Lectureship, ASU (2016)
Kavli Fellow (2015)
TED Fellow (2015)
NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship (2014-2017)
UC President’s Postdoctoral Program Fellowship (2014-2015)
First Place, Astrobiology Science Conference Student Poster Competition (2012) “Audience Choice”, US FameLab Astrobiology communication competition (2012)
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2011-2014)
NASA Group Achievement Award, Spitzer Science Operations Planning Team (2010)
NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (2009-2011)
NASA Public Service Group Achievement Award, Spitzer Observatory Planning/Scheduling Team (2009)
Recent Publications:
Wolf, E.T., Shields, A. L., Kopparapu, R. K., Haqq-Misra, J., Toon, O. B. (2017) Constraints on Climate and Habitability for Earth-like Exoplanets Determined from a General Circulation Model, Astrophysical Journal, 837, 2.
Shields, A. L., Ballard, S., Johnson, J. (2016) The Habitability of Planets Orbiting M-dwarf Stars, Physics Reports, 663:1-38.
Shields, A. L., Barnes, R., Agol, E., Charnay, B., Bitz, C. M., Meadows, V. S. (2016) The Effect of Orbital Configuration on the Possible Climates and Habitability of Kepler-62f, Astrobiology, 16, 6.
Shields, A. L., Bitz, C. M., Meadows, V. S., Joshi, M. M., Robinson, T. D. (2014) Spectrum- driven Planetary Deglaciation Due to Increases in Stellar Luminosity, Astrophysical Journal Letters, 785, 9.
Shields, A. L., Meadows, V. S., Bitz, C. M., Pierrehumbert, R. T., Joshi, M. M., Robinson, T. D. (2013) The Effect of Host Star Spectral Energy Distribution and Ice-Albedo Feedback on the Climate of Extrasolar Planets, Astrobiology, 13, 8.
Other Publications:
Shields, A. L. (2016) The Rising Stargirls Teaching and Activity Handbook.
Press Coverage:
“What Do You Have to Do to Get a Water Covered Planet Around Here?“, Astrobites, June 1, 2017
“Astrobiology’s Rising Star“, UC News, February 7, 2017
“Faculty Highlight: Aomawa Shields“, Astronomy in Color, September 29, 2016
“A Planet 1,200 Light-Years Away is a Good Prospect for a Habitable World“, UCLA Newsroom, May 26, 2016
“Why I Changed My Life: Acting, Astronomy, and a One-of-a-Kind Career“, Glamour, May 10, 2016
“The Origins Project Announces Recipient of $10,000 Postdoctoral Lectureship Award“, The Origins Project, February 24, 2016
“Astronomer, actor, role model: TED Fellow Aomawa Shields looks for life on other planets“, TED blog, July 10, 2015
“NSF Fellow Pairs Art, Astronomy to Hook Girls on Science”, Education Week, March 18, 2015
Talking exoplanets and alien life in WIRED magazine piece “The Best Bet for Alien Life May Be in Planetary Systems Very Different From Ours“, January 16, 2015
A Warmer Planetary Haven Around Cool Stars, as Ice Warms Rather Than Cools, University of Washington News Release, July 18, 2013
Recent Invited Talks:
Breakthrough Discuss Conference, Stanford University, April 20-21, 2017
Colloquium, UCLA, April 12, 2017
Colloquium, Cal Poly Pomona, November 10, 2016
Colloquium, Carnegie Observatories, May 24, 2016
Seminar, Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, UC San Diego, May 18, 2016
Origins Project Public Lecture and Colloquia, Arizona State University, April 4-8, 2016
ITC Colloquium, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, February 25, 2016
Seminar, Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Yale University, February 23, 2016
Seminar, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, UC Santa Cruz, November 20, 2015
Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium, Beckman Center of the National Academies, November 5, 2015
Colloquium, University of Rochester, October 14, 2015
AST Colloquium, Rochester Institute of Technology, October 12, 2015
Astrophysics Colloquium, UC Irvine, September 8, 2015
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