Janna Levin is a distinguished professor in Space Science at Columbia University, serving as the Claire Tow Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College. She holds a B.A. in Physics and Astronomy from Barnard College and a Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Levin joined the Barnard faculty in January 2004 after conducting research at the Center for Particle Astrophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge, U.K. She also held the appointment of the first scientist-in-residence at the Ruskin School of Fine Art and Drawing at Oxford University, supported by an award from the National Endowment for Science, Technology, and the Arts.

Professor Levin's research centers on theories of the early universe, chaos, and black holes, with interests in the topology of the universe, cosmology of extra dimensions, and string cosmology. Her key publications include the paper “A Periodic Table for Black Hole Orbits” with G. Perez-Giz in Physical Review D 77, 103005 (2008), “Dark Energy and Stabilization of Extra Dimensions” with B. Greene in Journal of High Energy Physics 11 (2007), “Topology and the Cosmic Microwave Background” in Physics Reports 365 (2002), and “Gravity Waves from Relativistic Binaries” with R. O’Reilly and E. J. Copeland in Physical Review D 62 (2000). She has authored influential books such as How the Universe Got Its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space (2003) and Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space, alongside the novel A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines (2006), which earned the PEN/Bingham Fellowship for Writers, the Mary Shelley Award for Outstanding Fictional Work, and runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway Award. A Guggenheim Fellow since 2012, Levin has significantly impacted theoretical astrophysics and public understanding of gravitational waves and cosmic structures through her scholarly and outreach contributions.

Professional Email: jlevin@barnard.edu