Rate My Professor Kristen Dage

Dr. Kristen Dage is a Lecturer at the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Curtin University, a position she assumed in 2024. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2014, Master of Science in Astrophysics from Michigan State University in 2017, and Doctor of Philosophy in Astrophysics from Michigan State University in 2020. Prior appointments include NASA Einstein Fellow at Wayne State University from 2023 to 2024, Postdoctoral Fellow at McGill University from 2020 to 2023, and Postdoctoral Research Associate at Michigan State University in 2020.

Dage employs multiwavelength observations, spanning radio to gamma rays, to detect and study compact remnants such as black holes and neutron stars in dense stellar environments, including globular clusters. Her work examines accreting black hole candidates, their formation mechanisms, and high-energy signatures. She co-chairs the Rubin Observatory's Stars, Milky Way and Local Volume Collaboration and the Star Clusters Science Working Group. With over 54 refereed publications, key contributions include "Detecting the Black Hole Candidate Population in M51’s Young Massive Star Clusters: Constraints on Accreting Intermediate Mass Black Holes" (The Astrophysical Journal, 2025), "A JWST View of the Overmassive Black Hole in NGC 4486B" (The Astrophysical Journal, 2025), "A Supermassive Black Hole in a Diminutive Ultra-compact Dwarf Galaxy Discovered with JWST/NIRSpec+IFU" (The Astrophysical Journal, 2025), "Monitoring Observations of SMC X-1’s Excursions (MOOSE) III: X-ray Spectroscopy of a Warped, Precessing Accretion Disc" (Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2024), and "The Secret Lives of Open Clusters: a Multiwavelength Examination of Three Open Clusters" (Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 2026). Major awards encompass the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (2025), NASA Einstein Fellowship (2023), McGill University Mentorship Award (2022), and Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologies Postdoctoral Fellowship (2022).