简介

Andrew West is an outstanding observational astrophysicist who joins us from a postdoctoral position at MIT. Dr. West earned his B.S. with honors at in Physics and Astronomy at Haverford College, and then his Ph.D. in Astronomy at the University of Washington in 2005. West is using the vast Sloan Digital Sky Survey to help assign ages to old stars by using measurements of their velocities. Older stars will have had more chance encounters with other stars, and because of these encounters are boosted to higher speeds. This technique is a novel approach that may solve a long-standing problem. Dr. West also is committed to increasing the diversity in the sciences. Although he is white, Dr. West is a member of the National Society of Black Physicists and routinely participates in mentoring programs for underrepresented high school students.