Synthetic Biology in Space: NASA Astronaut Kate Rubins Visits Northwestern
On February 3, 2026, Microbiologist and retired NASA astronaut Kate Rubins visited Northwestern University to give a special seminar on conducting biology in space,...
News
One-Minute of Science and a Slice of Good Luck: CIERA Welcomes 2026
On January 29, 2026, The Center for Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) rang in the new year in time-honored fashion with its annual...
CIERA Director Vicky Kalogera Featured in GMT Gala Video
CIERA Director Vicky Kalogera was featured recently in a Giant Magellan Telescope Gala Video celebrating Dr. Walter E. Massey, whose decade guiding the Giant...
Cosmic crash caught on camera
In an unprecedented celestial event, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST) captured the dramatic aftermath of colliding space rocks within a nearby planetary system. When...
Rare image of Tatooine-like planet is closest to its twin stars yet
In a discovery that’s fit for a movie, Northwestern University astronomers have directly imaged a Tatooine-like exoplanet, orbiting two suns. While obtaining an image...
Students tackle real-world problems at CIERA-hosted Space Apps Challenge
More than 250 students—ranging from grade schoolers to graduate students—gathered both in-person and online at Chicago’s 1871 on Oct. 4–5, 2025, for the city’s...
A New Eye on the Universe: Harvard Physicist Christopher Stubbs Unveils the Promise of the Rubin Observatory at CIERA Annual Public Lecture
On Friday, October 3, 2025, a record-breaking audience of 350 filled Northwestern’s Ryan Auditorium for the Annual Public Lecture hosted by the Center for...
CIERA Hosts First POSYDON School, Training the Next Generation of Binary Star Modelers
Last month, an international group of astronomers gathered for the inaugural POSYDON School, an intensive training program dedicated to POSYDON, a groundbreaking software developed...
Dark universe and Rubin Observatory will be explored in public lecture
Christopher W. Stubbs, an astronomer and experimental physicist at Harvard University, will deliver the 2025 CIERA Annual Public Lecture at Northwestern University this week. ...
Two CIERA PhD Students Awarded 2025–2026 Board of Visitors Graduate Research Fellowships
CIERA is pleased to announce that PhD students Gideon McFarland and Nathalie Jones have been selected as the recipients of the 2025–2026 Board of...
CIERA Fellows Celebrate 15 Years of Astrophysics Innovation at Fellows@15 Conference
In a vibrant celebration of collaboration and discovery, over 80 leading faculty and postdoctoral researchers from across the U.S. and Canada converged at Northwestern...
CIERA’s 2025 REU Program Prepares the Next Generation of Interdisciplinary Astrophysicists
Northwestern University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) once again welcomed a cohort of promising undergraduate researchers to its prestigious National...