Awards

Alan Boss Selected As AAS Fellow

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The honorees were chosen for their “extraordinary achievement and service” to the field.
Date
Scientist
Dr. Alan P. Boss
Division
Earth & Planets Laboratory
Alan Boss Portrait

Washington, DC— Carnegie’s Alan Boss was named one of 23 new Fellows of the American Astronomical Society. The honorees were chosen for their “extraordinary achievement and service” to the field.

Boss, whose contributions to the fields of astronomy and astrophysics are numerous, was specifically recognized for “innovative theoretical investigations of the formation of stars and exoplanets” as well as “tireless leadership within the exoplanet exploration community in ensuring that NASA executes a credible and successful exoplanet program.”

The AAS fellowship program began in 2020 and its members include professional astronomers, amateur astronomers, and astronomy educators. Fellows are selected for excellent original research and publications, innovative astronomical techniques or instrumentation, influential education and public outreach, or noteworthy service to astronomy and the AAS.

A theorist and an observational astronomer, Boss’ expertise includes both hunting for planets orbiting distant stars and probing the phenomena that enables the formation of stellar and planetary systems, the sources of the raw materials from which exoplanets are born, and the processes that shape the evolution of planets and the architecture of planetary systems.

He has also advanced the national scientific enterprise in several capacities, including as a member of the Science Working Group for NASA’s Kepler mission, as chair of the Technology Assessment Committee for the NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program, and as a member of the National Academies of Sciences’ Committee on Astrobiology Science Strategy for the Search for Life in the Universe, among many other national space-related initiatives.

“Congratulations to Alan on this well-deserved distinction,” said Earth and Planets Laboratory Director Michael Walter. “His impact on the fields of astronomy and astrophysics are commensurate with his dedication to advancing them, as is evident in both the breadth of his experience and the magnitude of his impact.”