KAROLINE GILBERT

As Mission Scientist in the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope mission office, Dr. Karoline Gilbert provides scientific leadership for the institute’s Roman Space Telescope science operations, which include the mission’s planning and scheduling system, the data processing system for the Wide Field Instrument, and the mission's data archive. Dr. Gilbert also holds a position as an Associate Research Scientist in the The Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Dr. Gilbert joined the institute in 2013. Before joining the Roman mission office, she worked on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as part of the NIRSpec Instrument Team and led the team responsible for providing scientific guidance for the development of the JWST Exposure Time Calculator. Prior to joining the institute, Dr. Gilbert spent three years as a Hubble Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Dr. Gilbert's primary research interest is in reconstructing the history of nearby galaxies by studying their resolved stellar populations. She uses optical spectroscopy with large ground-based telescopes and ultraviolet through near-infrared imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope to study the stellar dynamics, chemical abundances, and star formation histories of nearby galaxies. Dr. Gilbert compares these detailed observations with predictions from simulations of galaxy formation and evolution to infer the merger history of galaxies in the local universe.

Education:

PhD in Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz
MS in Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz
BA in Physics & Astronomy, The Ohio State University

Science Interests:

• Formation and evolution of stellar halos
• Star formation histories of Local Group and Local Volume galaxies
• The accretion history of galaxies as traced by their resolved stellar populations
• The interstellar medium in Local Group and Local Volume galaxies

Research Topics: Star Formation, Histories, and Evolution; Local Group Galaxies; Interstellar Medium; Resolved Stellar Populations; Astrochemistry, Chemical Abundances

Professional Websites:

Professional Website

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-0394-8377