Sarah Ballard (born 1984, NYU Special ublicColloqium, 2013 October 11.) is an American astronomer who is a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

. She has been a Torres Fellow at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

, a L'Oreal Fellow, and a NASA Carl Sagan Fellow. Ballard was part of a collaborative team that was the first to successfully use the

transit-timing variation Transit-timing variation is a method for detecting exoplanets by observing variations in the timing of a transit. This provides an extremely sensitive method capable of detecting additional planets in the system with masses potentially as small a ...

method. This resulted in her team's confirmation of this theoretical search procedure and the discovery of the

Kepler-19 Kepler-19 (TYC 3134-1549-1, 2MASS J19214099+3751064, GSC 03134-01549, KOI-84) is a G7V star that is host to three known planets - Kepler-19b, Kepler-19c, and Kepler-19d. It is located about away in the constellation Lyra (constellation), Ly ...

planetary system with that technique. 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, about

imposter syndrome Impostor syndrome, also known as impostor phenomenon or impostorism, is a psychological experience in which a person suffers from feelings of intellectual and/or professional fraudulence. One source defines it as "the subjective experience of pe ...

, and about the controversy over the proposed

Thirty Meter Telescope The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is a planned extremely large telescope (ELT) proposed to be built on Mauna Kea, on the Hawaii (island), island of Hawai'i. The TMT would become the largest visible-light telescope on Mauna Kea. Scientists hav ...

at the

Mauna Kea Observatories The Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO) are a group of independent astronomical research facilities and large telescope observatories that are located at the summit of Mauna Kea on Hawaii (island), Hawaiʻi, United States. The facilities are located i ...

Education

As an undergraduate, Ballard started out as a

gender studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field n ...

major at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. She completed a bachelor's degree from Berkeley in astrophysics in 2007, with a minor in physics. She did her graduate studies at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, completing a doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics in 2012 under the supervision of

David Charbonneau David Brian Charbonneau is a professor of Astronomy at Harvard University. His research focuses on the development of novel techniques for the detection and characterization of Exoplanet, exoplanets orbiting nearby, Sun-like stars. Early life ...

Fellowships

Ballard was a NASA Carl Sagan Fellow at the University of Washington where she did postdoctoral work; 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

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet was in 1992 around a pulsar, and the first detection around a main-sequence star was in 1995. A different planet, first det ...

s before she turned 30 years old, including

Kepler-19c Kepler-19c is an extra-solar planet orbiting the star Kepler-19 approximately 717 light years from Earth. Discovery The planet was discovered as a result of examinations of data from the previously discovered exoplanet, Kepler-19b. Timing vari ...

, the first exoplanet found using the

method on data from the

Kepler space telescope The Kepler space telescope is a defunct space telescope launched by NASA in 2009 to discover Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars. Named after astronomer Johannes Kepler, the spacecraft was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocentric orb ...

mission.

Transit-timing variation

The

method (TTV) is one of two techniques, along with the transit-duration variation method, proposed in 2001 by astronomer Jordi Miralda-Escudé. TTV was amplified upon in 2004 by astronomers Matthew J. Holman and Norman W. Murray; and by Eric Agol, Jason Steffen, Re’em Sari, and Will Clarkson. Ballard was the principal investigator in the 2009 application to use the

Spitzer Space Telescope The Spitzer Space Telescope, formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), was an infrared space telescope launched in 2003, that was deactivated when operations ended on 30 January 2020. Spitzer was the third space telescope dedicate ...

to examine "The First Exoplanet Smaller than the Earth". Ballard led the team which precisely estimated the diameter of Kepler-93b to within 1 percent, using TTV.

Activism

When exoplanetologist

Geoffrey Marcy Geoffrey William Marcy (born September 29, 1954) is an American astronomer. He was an early influence in the field of exoplanet detection, discovery, and characterization. Marcy was a professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berke ...

resigned from the

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

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. 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". Ballard has written and conducted workshops on

impostor syndrome Impostor syndrome, also known as impostor phenomenon or impostorism, is a psychological experience in which a person suffers from feelings of intellectual and/or professional fraudulence. One source defines it as "the subjective experience of pe ...

. She was involved in a controversy about the proposed

Mauna Kea Observatory The Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO) are a group of independent astronomical research facilities and large telescope observatories that are located at the summit of Mauna Kea on Hawaiʻi, United States. The facilities are located in a 525-acre (21 ...

. Her friend, Keolu Fox, a native

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

an, helped her see the issue from an

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

perspective. Ballard spoke about the issue despite fears about the effects it may have on her career. Ballard was one of a number of scientists who expressed concern in "An open letter to

SCOTUS The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on questions ...

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.

References

External links

*
I Parasailed Planet KOI 314.02 And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt
''

The Takeaway ''The Takeaway'' was a weekday radio news program co-created and co-produced by Public Radio International and WNYC. Its editorial partner was GBH; at launch the BBC World Service and ''The New York Times'' were also editorial partners. In a ...

'' (radio show), March 3, 2015, guest Sarah Ballard * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballard, Sarah University of Washington people American women astronomers UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Living people 1984 births 21st-century American astronomers American planetary scientists American women planetary scientists