Alyssa Goodman

Alyssa A. Goodman is the Robert Wheeler Willson Professor of Applied Astronomy at Harvard University and a Research Associate of the Smithsonian Institution. She received her Sc.B. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1984 and her Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University in 1989, followed by a President's Fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley from 1989 to 1992. Goodman joined Harvard as Assistant Professor of Astronomy after her fellowship and was promoted to full Professor in 1999. She co-founded the Initiative in Innovative Computing at Harvard and served as its Director from 2005 to 2008, and previously acted as co-Director for Science at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Goodman has chaired the Astronomy Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, served on the National Academy of Sciences' Board on Research Data and Information, and participates in the International Astronomical Union and American Astronomical Society Working Groups on Astroinformatics and Astrostatistics. She holds positions on boards and steering committees for Authorea, ComSciCon, the Harvard Data Science Initiative, and WorldWide Telescope.

In Space Science, Goodman's research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics focuses on interstellar gas dynamics, star formation processes, and the three-dimensional structure of the Milky Way, utilizing observations across X-ray to radio wavelengths. She served as Principal Investigator for the COMPLETE Survey of Star-Forming Regions, which comprehensively mapped key Galactic star-forming areas. Recent efforts by her collaborations have identified major structures including the Bones of the Milky Way, the Radcliffe Wave, the Perseus-Taurus Supershell, and star formation associated with the Local Bubble. Goodman leads the development of glue, a high-dimensional linked-view data visualization software initially for the James Webb Space Telescope and now applied in medical imaging, genomics, and machine learning. She organizes the Seamless Astronomy collaboration and the HarvardX PredictionX course, tracing prediction from ancient divination to modern simulations. Notable publications include "Dense cores in dark clouds. VIII. Velocity gradients" (1993), "Structural analysis of molecular clouds: dendrograms" (2008), "The COMPLETE survey of star-forming regions: Phase I data" (2006), and "Ten simple rules for responsible big data research" (2017). Her honors include the American Astronomical Society's Newton Lacy Pierce Prize (1997), election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2009), and Harvard Foundation Scientist of the Year (2015).

Professional Email: agoodman@cfa.harvard.edu