Vanessa Brown

My name is Vanessa Brown and I’m a first-year PhD student in the APS department at the University of Colorado Boulder. I received my M.S. Astrophysics from the City University of New York (CUNY) in 2024, where I researched magnetic draping in galaxy clusters at the Center for Computational Astrophysics in the Flatiron Institute, and my B.A Astronomy from Columbia University in 2016. In the interim I taught introductory astronomy and astrobiology at several CUNY colleges. My broad research interests are the first stars, high-redshift galaxies, and the growth channels of early supermassive black holes. I currently research the connection between galaxy structure and quenching at cosmic noon with Dr. Erica Nelson.

I am dedicated to outreach and have provided cultural astronomy education to children in Queens as a Science Storyteller; run astrobiology workshops at the World Science Festival; written science curriculum for an elementary charter school network; and given presentations for Astronomy on Tap NYC. I am also passionate about the intersection of art and science, and have participated in the inaugural cohort of Microcosms, a collaborative program between the American Museum of Natural History and The Public Theater in NYC; presented as the Science Speaker at New Mexico's longest-running science fiction and fantasy convention, Bubonicon; and also published my own science fiction and fantasy novels.

Outside of astronomy, you can find me practicing Wing Chun kung fu with my husband or writing my next book with my cats, Faust and Mephi.