:Sarah Ballard
{{Short description|American astronomer}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Sarah Ashley Ballard
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| image = File:Sarah Ballard.jpg
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| caption = Ballard in 2021
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1984}}
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| fields = Exoplanetary astrophysics
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| education = B.A. Astrophysics, UC Berkeley
Ph.D. Astronomy and Astrophysics, Harvard (2012)
| thesis_title = In Pursuit of New Worlds: Searches for and Studies of Transiting Exoplanets from Three Space-Based Observatories
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| thesis_year = 2012
| doctoral_advisor = David Charbonneau
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| known_for = Discovery of Kepler-19c (first exoplanet by transit-timing variation)
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| website = {{URL|http://drballard.space}}
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}}
Sarah Ballard (born 1984{{Youtube|9Ll0xQVE7nA|Sarah Ballard, "Directions to the Nearest Alien Earth-like Planet"}}, NYU Special [Public] Colloqium, 2013 October 11.) is an American astronomer who is a professor at the University of Florida.{{citation |title=University of Florida, Department of Astronomy Faculty |url=https://www.astro.ufl.edu/people/faculty}} She has been a Torres Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,{{citation |title=Meet 5 Scientists Paving the Path for Women in STEM: L'Oréal announces recipients of the For Women in Science Fellowship |work=Elle |date=October 13, 2015 |last=Rodulfo |first=Kristina |url=http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/g27139/loreal-usa-women-in-science-fellows-2015/}}{{citation |title=Congresswoman Speier to Host Discussion about Sexual Harassment in Science |date=July 13, 2016 |website=United States House of Representatives official website |last=Speier |first=Jackie |author-link=Jackie Speier |url=https://speier.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congresswoman-speier-host-discussion-about-sexual-harassment-science}} a L'Oreal Fellow,{{citation |title=L'Oréal USA Announces 2015 For Women in Science Fellows |date=October 13, 2015 |url=http://www.lorealusa.com/press-releases/loreal-usa-announces-2015-for-women-in-science-fellows.aspx |publisher=L'Oréal USA}} and a NASA Carl Sagan Fellow.
Ballard was part of a collaborative team that was the first to successfully use the transit-timing variation method. This resulted in her team's confirmation of this theoretical search procedure and the discovery of the Kepler-19 planetary system with that technique.{{citation |last=Ballard |first=Sarah |display-authors=etal |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=743 |issue=2 |pages=200 |year=2011 |arxiv=1109.1561|title=The Kepler-19 System: A Transiting 2.2 R⊕ Planet and a Second Planet Detected via Transit Timing Variations |bibcode = 2011ApJ...743..200B |doi = 10.1088/0004-637X/743/2/200 |doi-access=free}} Ballard took part in the discovery of four exoplanets (early numbered) in the Kepler spacecraft mission prior to its finding of significant quantities of planets around other stars.
Ballard has spoken about her experience as a victim of sexual harassment,{{cite journal |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2015/1014/Was-UC-Berkeley-too-easy-on-professor-accused-of-sexual-harassment-video |title=Was UC Berkeley too easy on professor accused of sexual harassment? |date=14 October 2015 |journal=Christian Science Monitor}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/science/astronomer-apologizes-for-behavior.html |title=Geoffrey Marcy, Astronomer at Berkeley, Apologizes for Behavior |first=Dennis |last=Overbye |date=10 October 2015 |newspaper=The New York Times }} about imposter syndrome, and about the controversy over the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatories.
Education
As an undergraduate, Ballard started out as a gender studies major at the University of California, Berkeley.{{cite web |last=Meinbresse |first=Debbie |title=3Q: Sarah Ballard on astrophysics and gender equity in science |url=https://news.mit.edu/2015/3q-sarah-ballard-astrophysics-and-gender-equity-science-1113 |website=MIT News |date=November 13, 2015}} She completed a bachelor's degree from Berkeley in astrophysics in 2007, with a minor in physics.{{citation |url=http://www.drsarahballard.com/s/Ballard_longform_CV.pdf |title=Curriculum vitae: Sarah Ballard |access-date=2015-10-13}}{{better source|date=October 2017}} She did her graduate studies at Harvard University, completing a doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics in 2012 under the supervision of David Charbonneau.{{cite web|url=https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~dcharbon/charbonneau_cv.pdf | title=Charbonneau CV 2017|access-date=March 22, 2021}}
Fellowships
Ballard was a NASA Carl Sagan Fellow at the University of Washington where she did postdoctoral work;{{citation |title=Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow and Michelson Fellow Recipients: 2012 Class of Sagan Fellows |publisher=NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech |url=http://nexsci.caltech.edu/sagan/postdocRecipients.shtml |access-date=2017-10-18}} and in 2015 was awarded a Women in Science Fellows postdoctoral fellowship by L'Oréal USA to continue her research at MIT.
Exoplanet discoveries
Ballard took part in the discovery of four exoplanets before she turned 30 years old, including Kepler-19c, the first exoplanet found using the transit-timing variation method on data from the Kepler space telescope mission.{{citation |title=Seattle astronomer discovers four planets before she turns 30 |date=September 10, 2014 |last=Bell |first=Rachel |publisher=KIRO radio |url=http://kiroradio.com/874/2605620/Seattle-astronomer-discovers-four-planets-before-she-turns-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150420011016/http://kiroradio.com/874/2605620/Seattle-astronomer-discovers-four-planets-before-she-turns-30 |archive-date=2015-04-20}}{{citation |publisher=Space.com |title=Stealth Alien Planet Discovered By New Technique |last=Wall |first=Mike |date=September 8, 2011 |url=http://www.space.com/12879-stealth-alien-planet-kepler-transit-timing-variation.html}}{{citation |title=The Seattle astronomer who discovered 4 planets before age 30 |last=Uitti |first=Jake |work=Crosscut |date=October 15, 2014 |url=http://crosscut.com/2014/10/seattle-astronomer-sarah-ballard-carl-sagan/}}
| class="wikitable" |
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! colspan="10" style="background: LightSteelBlue;"|Planet Discoveries of Sarah Ballard |
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! colspan="10" style="background: {{star-color|M}};"|Planets Discovered: 4 |
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! Number ! Planet ! Type ! Size Class ! System ! Constellation ! Discoverer(s) ! Year ! Discovery Method ! Telescope |
| 1
| Exoplanet | | Lyra | Sarah Ballard et al. | | Transit | Kepler |
| 2
| Exoplanet | | Lyra | Sarah Ballard et al. | | Transit | Kepler |
| 3
| Exoplanet | Super-Earth{{cite news |last=Phillips |first=Tony |title=Exoplanet measured with remarkable precision |url=https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/18aug_sizeup/ |access-date=16 May 2016 |work=NASA Science News |date=August 19, 2014 |quote=A team led by Sarah Ballard...}}{{cite news |last=O'Neill |first=Ian |title=Most Precise Measurement of an Alien World Achieved |url=http://news.discovery.com/space/alien-life-exoplanets/most-precise-measurement-of-an-alien-world-achieved-140725.htm |access-date=16 May 2016 |work=Discovery.com |date=July 25, 2014}} | Kepler-93 | Lyra | Sarah Ballard et al. | | Transit | Kepler |
| 4
| Exoplanet | | Lyra | Sarah Ballard et al. | 2011 | Transit-timing variation | Kepler |
| class="sortbottom"
! colspan="10" | Table Legend: |
| class="sortbottom"
| colspan="5" style="text-align:left" | Size class = Planet radius distribution (radius of Earth).{{Youtube|26ZOrszExvs|Sarah Ballard, "Exoplanet Validation by Asteroseismology"}}, NYU Physics Colloqium, 2013 October 10.
| colspan="5" style="text-align:left"|Discovery method =
|
Transit-timing variation
The transit-timing variation method (TTV) is one of two techniques, along with the transit-duration variation method, proposed in 2001 by astronomer Jordi Miralda-Escudé.Miralda-Escudé, Jordi (2001), "Orbital perturbations of transiting planets: A possible method to measure stellar quadrupoles and to detect Earth-mass planets", 2001 arXiv: 0104034; 2002 ApJ 564 1019. TTV was amplified upon in 2004 by astronomers Matthew J. Holman and Norman W. Murray;Holman, Matthew J.; and Murray, Norman W. (2004), "The Use of Transit Timing to Detect Extrasolar Planets with Masses as Small as Earth", 2004 arXiv: 0412028; 2005 Science 307 1288. and by Eric Agol, Jason Steffen, Re’em Sari, and Will Clarkson.Agol, Eric; Steffen, Jason; Sari, Re'em; and Clarkson, Will (2004), "On detecting terrestrial planets with timing of giant planet transits"; 2004 arXiv: 0412032; 2005 MNRAS 359 567.
Ballard was the principal investigator in the 2009 application to use the Spitzer Space Telescope to examine "The First Exoplanet Smaller than the Earth".{{cite web |title=Spitzer Space Telescope - Directors Discretionary Time Proposal #541 |url=http://ssc.spitzer.caltech.edu/warmmission/scheduling/approvedprograms/ddt/541.txt |website=Spitzer Science Center |access-date=16 May 2016}} Ballard led the team which precisely estimated the diameter of Kepler-93b to within 1 percent, using TTV.{{Cite journal |title=Astrophysics: Best gauge of exoplanet size |journal=Nature |volume=512 |issue=7512 |pages=9 |doi=10.1038/512009b |bibcode=2014Natur.512R...9.|year=2014 |s2cid=52838387 |doi-access=free }}
Activism
When exoplanetologist Geoffrey Marcy resigned from the UC Berkeley faculty over charges that he had sexually harassed female undergraduate students, Ballard came out publicly as one of his victims in order to help bring attention to sexual harassment in academia.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/14/uc-berkeley-astronomy-professor-quits-amid-sexual-harassment-allegations |newspaper=The Guardian |title=UC Berkeley astronomy professor quits amid sexual harassment allegations |date=October 14, 2015}}{{cite news |url=https://www.boston.com/news/science/2015/10/16/local-astronomer-helped-bring-attention-to-issue-of-sexual-harassment-in-science |newspaper=Boston.com |date=October 16, 2015 |first= Allison |last=Pohle |title=Local astronomer helped bring attention to issue of sexual harassment in science}}{{cite news |url=http://www.dailycal.org/2015/10/15/light-shed-dark-matter-campus-professor-geoffrey-marcys-resignation-comes-concerns-sexual-harassment-sciences/ |newspaper=Daily Californian |title=Light shed on a dark matter |date=October 15, 2015 |first=Zoe |last=Kleinfeld}} In an interview published by Wired, she said that "In the parking lot outside her apartment [...] he gave her advice about her current relationship. She opened the door and stuck her legs out, eager to leave. [...] He put his hand on the back of her neck and told her to relax, that everything would work out with that boy".{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/2016/07/happens-harassment-whistleblower-goes-science-job-market/ |title=What Happens When a Harassment Whistleblower Goes on the Science Job Market |magazine=Wired |access-date=2016-07-17|date=2016-07-17 }}
Ballard has written and conducted workshops on impostor syndrome.{{citation |title=Impostor syndrome workshop |work=Official website |last=Ballard |first=Sarah |publisher=University of Washington Dept. of Astronomy |url=http://www.astro.washington.edu/users/sarahba/Impostor_Syndrome_Workshop.html}}{{citation |title=The Mismeasure of Woman |last=Ballard |first=Sarah |year=2011 |publisher=Scientista Foundation |url=http://www.scientistafoundation.com/imposture-effect.html}}{{citation |title=Tips to Defeat Your Inner Imposter|date=October 7, 2015 |last=Pratt |first=Katherine |publisher=Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering |url=http://csne-erc.org/engage-enable/post/tips-defeat-your-inner-imposter}}{{citation |title=Impostor syndrome |last=Wright |first=Jason T. |work=blog |publisher=Pennsylvania State University |date=June 2, 2015 |url=http://sites.psu.edu/astrowright/2015/06/02/imposter-syndrome/}} She was involved in a controversy about the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory. Her friend, Keolu Fox, a native Hawaiian, helped her see the issue from an indigenous perspective. Ballard spoke about the issue despite fears about the effects it may have on her career.{{Cite journal |last=Lemonick |first=Michael |date=April 18, 2015 |title=INSIGHT Mauna Kea Controversy |url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=102169335&site=ehost-live |journal=New Scientist |volume=226 |issue=3017 |page=1 |access-date=14 May 2016 |url-access=subscription |via=EBSCO}}
Ballard was one of a number of scientists who expressed concern in "An open letter to SCOTUS from professional physicists drafted by the Equity & Inclusion in Physics & Astronomy group"https://eblur.github.io/scotus/ , entry 901. following oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court case commonly known as Fisher II involving inclusiveness in admissions policies at the University of Texas.
See also
References
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External links
- {{Official website|http://drballard.space/}}
- [http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/i-parasailed-planet-koi-31402-and-all-i-got-was-lousy-t-shirt/ I Parasailed Planet KOI 314.02 And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt], The Takeaway (radio show), March 3, 2015, guest Sarah Ballard
- {{citation|url=http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/spitzer/kepler/precise-measurement-alien-world-20140723|title=The Most Precise Measurement of an Alien World's Size|publisher= NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory|date=July 24, 2014|quote=Ballard and her team have made a major scientific advance...}}
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Category:University of Washington people
Category:American women astronomers
Category:UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni
Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Category:21st-century American astronomers