Division Leadership
John Mulchaey, Crawford H. Greenewalt Chair and Director of the Carnegie Observatories Director, joined the Institution as a Staff Scientist in 1999. He was named Director in 2015. Mulchaey is renowned astronomer, well-regarded for his work on groups and clusters of galaxies—most of which, including our own Milky Way, exist collectively. He is also the Institution's Deputy for Science.
Visit BioExperimental petrologist Michael Walter became Director of the recently formed Carnegie Earth & Planets Laboratory in 2022, where he was previously Deputy Director. His recent research focuses on the period early in Earth’s history, shortly after the planet accreted from the cloud of gas and dust surrounding our young Sun, when the mantle and the core first separated into distinct layers.
Visit BioAlycia Weinberger is an observational astronomer interested in planet formation, exoplanets, and brown dwarfs. She explores the early history of planets and how they interact with their natal environment, the circumstellar disk. She studies how material is distributed in disks, how disks dissipate, and how the compositions of disks may translate into those of planets. As Associate Division Director she works closely with Director Michael Walter to help set and execute the overall scientific and cultural vision for EPL, manages the postdoctoral fellows program, and oversees the division's colloquium and EPIIC programs.
Visit BioRelated Divisions
Drawing on more than a century of science, our multidisciplinary department discovers exoplanets, creates new materials, illuminates Earth's inner workings, and seeks to better understand the universe that is our home.
Earth & Planets LaboratoryFrom the revelation of the universe’s expansion to the discovery of dark energy, Carnegie Observatories researchers have transformed humankind’s understanding of the cosmos. The groundbreaking work continues today at our world-famous Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.
ObservatoriesCross-disciplinary, Collaborative & Boundary Pushing:
Carnegie Experts Investigate the planets found in our Solar System, as well as those orbiting distant stars.
Astrobiology
Studying life’s chemical and physical evolution—from its pre-solar beginnings through planetary formation to the emergence of life on Earth.
Learn moreCosmochemistry
Studying the formation and early evolution of our Solar System, of meteorites and asteroids, and larger bodies like Mars, Mercury, and the Moon.
CosmochemistryMineralogy & Mineral Physics
Investigating the origin and dynamic evolution of Earth and planetary interiors, from their crusts to their cores, and the processes that lead to surfaces capable of supporting life.
Learn MorePlanet Formation and Evolution
From direct observation of protoplanetary disks to complex mathematical models, Carnegie astronomers are working to piece together the processes that shape a planetary system's formation and early evolution.
Learn moreSolar System and Exoplanets
Using a variety of pioneering detection techniques and instruments, our astronomers probe the outer reaches of our own planetary system and to discover the diversity of extrasolar planets.
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