The BDNYC team is thrilled to congratulate Dr. Jackie Faherty and Dr. Kelle Cruz for both being named Fellows of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in 2022.
Kelle Cruz and Jackie Faherty
This year, the AAS named 23 new Fellows for extraordinary achievement and service. Fellows are recognized for original research and publications, innovative contributions to astronomical techniques or instrumentation, significant contributions to education and public outreach, and noteworthy service to astronomy and to the Society itself. All Fellows are honored with a certificate and a lapel pin.
Jacqueline Faherty (American Museum of Natural History; AMNH), is a senior scientist jointly in the departments of Astrophysics and Education at AMNH. She is a faculty member in the Richard Gilder Graduate School at AMNH, an adjunct professor in CUNY’s graduate center, and she is the co-founder of the Brown Dwarfs in New York City (BDNYC) research group. Faherty is recognized for outstanding accomplishments in the study of brown dwarfs and directly imaged exoplanets; a dedication to public outreach; and service as an advocate, role model, and mentor to astronomers from underrepresented groups (see for example the 2030STEM project).
Kelle Cruz is the co-PI of BDNYC and is an Associate Professor at CUNY Hunter College and an In-Residence Research Associate at AMNH. She is recognized for her continuous dedication to the betterment of the scientific process and community, including her efforts founding the AstroBetter blog, serving in important leadership roles within the AAS, and authoring seminal papers in brown dwarf science (for example, Cruz et al. 2003 and Cruz et al. 2007).
When interviewed about the honor, Kelle notes, “I am very proud and grateful to have received this recognition and I look forward to continuing to contribute to astronomy and the AAS for many years to come!”
Jackie adds, “The AAS is an organization that brings together professional researchers, educators, citizen scientists, planetarians, and more. I love that they recognize work across all the facets of participation.”.
The entire BDNYC team is proud to extend their most heartfelt congratulations to Kelle and Jackie for this extraordinary recognition of their research and service!