Brandon Lawton

Dr. Brandon Lawton is a Project Scientist in the Office of Public Outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute. He leads the portfolio of STScI public outreach projects for the NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and supports communications efforts at STScI around NASA's next flagship astrophysics mission, the Habitable Worlds Observatory. He also co-leads NASA's Astrophoto Challenge, a data and authentic experience project for NASA's Universe of Learning program. 

Dr. Lawton has researched and authored papers on the presence of organics in the universe and star formation rate indicators in nearby galaxies using data from many ground- and space-based observatories, including Spitzer, Hubble, Keck, and the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico.

Education:

PhD in Astronomy, New Mexico State University
MS in Astronomy, New Mexico State University
BS in Physics and Astronomy, University of Washington

Science Interests:

• Studying organics and dust through cosmic time
• Studying the star formation in the Magellanic Clouds, and exploring their use as proxies for galaxies in the early universe
• Star formation indicators in galaxies
• Applying the NASA astrophysics Big Questions to outreach and learning projects (How did we get here? How does the universe work? Are we alone?)
• Exploring the use of emerging technologies in NASA outreach and learning programs

Research Topics: Star Formation, Histories, and Evolution; Local Group Galaxies; Galaxy Formation and Evolution; Interstellar Medium; Dust

Professional Websites:

Professional Website

NASA's Universe of Learning

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5972-9555