C. Megan Urry
Yale University
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Primary Section: 12, Astronomy Secondary Section: 13, Physics Membership Type:
Member
(elected 2016)
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Biosketch
Meg Urry is the Israel Munson Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Yale University, and Director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics. She chaired the Yale Physics Department 2007-2013 and led the American Astronomical Society 2013-2017. Professor Urry received her Ph.D. in 1984 from the Johns Hopkins University and her B.S. in Physics and Mathematics in 1977 from Tufts University. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Astronomical Society, the American Physical Society, American Women in Science; received an honorary doctorate from Tufts University; and was awarded the American Astronomical Society’s Annie Jump Cannon and George van Biesbroeck prizes, and Yale University’s Howard R. Lamar award.
Research Interests
Urry's scientific research focuses on active galaxies, which host accreting supermassive black holes in their centers. She has published more than 330 refereed research articles, including one of the most highly cited review papers in astronomy. Recent work includes multiwavelength surveys to quantify black hole growth over the past 12 billion years, using galaxy morphology to assess the influence of mergers on galaxy evolution, using clustering analyses to assess the dependence of black hole growth on AGN properties, and measuring galaxy properties using machine learning.
