Head, Hubble Space Telescope Mission Office
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)Galaxy Formation, Hubble, Hubble Space Telescope, Star Formation, stellar populations
As the head of the Hubble Space Telescope mission office, Dr. Tom Brown is responsible for leading the observatory鈥檚 staff and science operations center at the institute, collaborating with mission partners to represent scientific and operational interests, and managing the mission鈥檚 budget. He previously served the institute as a mission scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope, which allowed him to lead the work of the instrument and optics teams. Earlier in his career, Dr. Brown served as a postdoctoral research associate at NASA鈥檚 Goddard Space Flight Center and as an adjunct professor at Loyola University in Baltimore. As a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University, he was involved in the integration, testing, and ground control of the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) for the Astro-2 space shuttle mission. Dr. Brown has acted as the principal investigator of over a dozen Hubble programs. Dr. Brown publishes his work in the Astronomical Journal and the Astrophysical Journal, and presents his research in a variety of settings for both the public and astronomical community.
Distinguished Astronomer ; Chair, Science Staff
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)Cosmology, Galaxy Clusters, Galaxy Evolution, Hubble, Hubble Space Telescope
As the chair of the Space Telescope Science Institute鈥檚 science staff, Dr. Marc Postman works to strengthen the Institute's research productivity by advocating for the needs of the research staff. He monitors the use of research-enabling resources, oversees the peer mentoring program, seeks ways to enhance the scientific environment, and consults with the research staff to guide the institute toward exciting research initiatives. From 2005 to 2019, Dr. Postman led the community missions office, where he guided the institute鈥檚 role in providing science operations support for a number of ground- and space-based observatories that are led by independent astronomical groups in partnership with STScI, Dr. Postman鈥檚 primary research interest has been the formation and evolution of structure in the universe, from galaxies to the largest superclusters. He was a member of the science investigation team for the Advanced Camera for Surveys instrument that was deployed on the Hubble Space Telescope in 2002. From 2010 to 2017, Dr. Postman lead an international team of researchers to conduct a 525-orbit survey with the Hubble telescope to study dark matter in galaxy clusters and to detect some of the most distant galaxies in the universe. Dr. Postman has published over 185 refereed research articles and currently holds the title of Distinguished Astronomer.
Globular Clusters, Hubble, Hubble Space Telescope
Dr. Laura Watkins is an ESA-AURA Astronomer working in the Science Mission Office at the Space Telescope Science Institute on various Hubble-related activities. Her primary research interests are the spatial and velocity distributions of small stellar systems, both internal and global, and what they can tell us about their formation, evolution, and present state. She studies the kinematics using proper motions from Hubble and from Gaia, and uses dynamical models to connect the observations to the underlying physics. She also works with simulated systems to test models and inform future observations. Before taking up her current role at the Institute , Dr. Watkins was a postdoc at the University of Vienna, the European Southern Observatory Headquarters in Garching, STScI, and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg.