Dr Beth Willman Rocket Scientist

Today on The Neil Haley Show, Neil "The Media Giant" and Kim
Sorrelle of The Love Is Podcast interview Dr Beth Willman. Dr.
Beth Willman joined LSST Discovery Alliance on September 7, 2022.
She is a leader in the science and management of ground-based
astronomy facilities. Her 20 years of research accomplishments
have utilized wide-field survey datasets that are precursors to
the Rubin LSST. Her primary scientific focus has been near-field
cosmology, the detailed study of the nearby universe to answer
questions such as “How has the universe formed and evolved?” and
“What is the nature of dark matter?” Willman led the research
team that discovered the first ultra-faint dwarf galaxies
(Willman 1 and Ursa Major I), now known to be the most numerous
type of galaxy in the Universe. Willman was the Deputy Director
of NOIRLab and the Lab’s Project Director for the US Extremely
Large Telescope Program. NOIRLab is the preeminent US national
center for ground-based, nighttime optical, and infrared
astronomy with a ~$100M annual budget supported by ~500 staff
members located in Arizona, Hawai’i, and Chile. Rubin Observatory
Operations is part of NOIRLab, along with Gemini Observatory,
CTIO/KPNO, and the Community Science and Data Center. She served
as Deputy Director of the Rubin Observatory construction project
for three years. As Rubin’s Deputy Director, she convened
community-based initiatives in support of LSST science and led
the development of Rubin’s operations plan. Prior to her
management role at Rubin, she chaired an LSST science
collaboration and contributed to the original LSST Science Book
released in 2009. Willman earned a BS in Astrophysics from
Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University
of Washington and has held prize fellowships at the NYU Center
for Cosmology and Particle Physics and the Center for
Astrophysics | Harvard-Smithsonian. Willman spent seven years as
a faculty member and department chair at Haverford College,
during which time she earned multiple teaching awards.