Rate Professor Fiona Harrison

Academic Profile

Academic Background: Fiona Harrison received her BS in Physics from Dartmouth College in 1985 and her PhD in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1993.

Research Interests: Her research focuses on high-energy astrophysics, including gamma-ray bursts, black holes, and neutron stars. She is the principal investigator of NASA's NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) mission, studying high-energy X-ray sources in the universe.

Appointments: She holds the Kent and Joyce Kresa Leadership Chair and is a Professor of Physics at Caltech. She has been a faculty member since 1995.

Awards: Harrison received the NASA Outstanding Public Leadership Medal (2015), the Bruno Rossi Prize (2015), and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2014.

Publications: She has authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles, including key papers in The Astrophysical Journal on black hole emissions and X-ray binary systems.

Additional Contributions: Harrison leads major observational astrophysics projects and has served on advisory panels for NASA and the National Science Foundation.