Sarah Ballard

Sarah Ashley Ballard
Born 1984[1] (Age 31: 2015)[2]
Fields Exoplanetary astrophysics
Education B.A. Astrophysics, UC Berkeley
Ph.D. Astronomy and Astrophysics, Harvard (2012)
Thesis In Pursuit of New Worlds: Searches for and Studies of Transiting Exoplanets from Three Space-Based Observatories (2012)
Doctoral advisor David Charbonneau
Known for Discovery of Kepler-19c (first exoplanet by transit-timing variation)
Website
space.mit.edu/~sarahba

Sarah Ballard (born 1984)[1] is an American exoplanetary astronomer currently at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as a Torres Fellow[3] and L’Oreal Fellow.[2] Ballard has been a NASA Carl Sagan Fellow.[1][3]

She was part of a collaborative team that was the first to successfully use the transit-timing variation method. This resulted in her team’s confirmation of this theoretical search procedure and the discovery of the Kepler-19 planetary system with that technique.[4] Ballard took part in the discovery of four exoplanets (early numbered) in the Kepler spacecraft mission prior to its finding of significant quantities of planets around other stars.

Ballard has also spoken about her experience as a victim of sexual harassment,[5][6][7] about imposter syndrome, and about the controversy over the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatories.

Education

As an undergraduate, she started out as a gender studies major at the University of California, Berkeley.[8][9] She completed a bachelor's degree from Berkeley in astrophysics in 2007, with highest distinction, with a minor in physics.[3] She did her graduate studies at Harvard University, completing a doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics in 2012 under the supervision of David Charbonneau.[3]

Exoplanet discoveries

She took part in the discovery of four exoplanets before she turned 30 years old, including Kepler-19c, the first exoplanet found using the transit-timing variation method on data from the Kepler mission.[8][10][11]

Planet Discoveries of Sarah Ballard
Planets Discovered: 4
Number Planet
Designation		 Type Size Class System Constellation Discoverer(s) Year Discovery Method Telescope
1 Kepler-19b[11] Exoplanet Kepler-19 Lyra Sarah Ballard et al. Transit Kepler
2 Kepler-61b[11] Exoplanet Kepler-61 Lyra Sarah Ballard et al. Transit Kepler
3 Kepler-93b[11] Exoplanet Super-Earth[12][13] Kepler-93 Lyra Sarah Ballard et al. Transit Kepler
4 Kepler-19c Exoplanet Kepler-19 Lyra Sarah Ballard et al. 2011 Transit-timing variation Kepler
Table Legend:

Size class = Planet radius distribution (radius of Earth).[14]
 • Earths[14] = 1.0 to 1.3 Earth radii.[14]
 • Super-Earths[14] = 1.3 to 2.0 Earth radii.[14]
 • Small Neptunes[14] = 2.0 to 4.0 Earth radii.[14]
 • Large Neptunes[14] = 4.0 to 6.0 Earth radii.[14]
 • Giant Planets[14] = 6.0 to 22.6 Earth radii.[14]

Discovery method =
 • Transit
 • Transit-timing variation

Transit-timing variation

The transit-timing variation method (TTV) is one of two techniques, along with the transit-duration variation method, proposed in 2001 by the Sloan Fellow astronomer Jordi Miralda-Escudé.[15] TTV was amplified upon in 2004 by astronomers Matthew J. Holman and Norman W. Murray;[16] and by Eric Agol, Jason Steffen, Re’em Sari, and Will Clarkson.[17] Ballard was the principal investigator in 2009's application to use the Spitzer Space Telescope to examine "The First Exoplanet Smaller than the Earth".[18] She led the team which very precisely estimated the diameter of Kepler-93b to within 1 percent, using TTV.[12][19]

Other contributions

When pioneering exoplanetologist Geoffrey Marcy resigned from the UC Berkeley faculty over charges that he had sexually harassed female undergraduate students, Ballard came out publicly as one of his victims in order to help bring attention to sexual harassment in academia.[20][21][22] In an interview published by Wired,[23] she described that "In the parking lot outside her apartment [...] he gave her advice about her current relationship. She opened the door and stuck her legs out, eager to leave. [...] He put his hand on the back of her neck and told her to relax, that everything would work out with that boy".

She has written and conducted workshops on impostor syndrome.[24][25][26][27] Ballard was also involved in the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory controversy. Her friend, Keolu Fox, a native Hawaiian, helped her see the issue from an indigenous perspective.[28] Ballard spoke about the issue despite fears about the effects it may have on her career.[28]

Scientists, including Ballard, have expressed concern in "An open letter to SCOTUS from professional physicists drafted by the Equity & Inclusion in Physics & Astronomy group"[29] following oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court case commonly known as Fisher II involving inclusiveness in admissions policies at the University of Texas.

Status as Fellow

She was a NASA Carl Sagan Fellow[1][3] at the University of Washington[1] where she did postdoctoral work; and in 2015 was awarded a Women in Science Fellows postdoctoral fellowship by L'Oréal USA to continue her research at MIT.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Sarah Ballard, "Directions to the Nearest Alien Earth-like Planet" on YouTube, NYU Special [Public] Colloqium, 2013 October 11.
  2. 1 2 3 L'Oréal USA Announces 2015 For Women in Science Fellows, L'Oréal USA, October 13, 2015
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Curriculum vitae: Sarah Ballard (PDF), retrieved 2015-10-13
  4. ↑ Ballard et al. (31 authors) (2011), The Kepler-19 System: A Transiting Planet and a Second Planet Detected via Transit Timing Variations, arXiv:1109.1561Freely accessible
  5. ↑ http://www.nature.com/news/science-and-sexism-in-the-eye-of-the-twitterstorm-1.18767
  6. ↑ http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2015/1014/Was-UC-Berkeley-too-easy-on-professor-accused-of-sexual-harassment-video
  7. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/science/astronomer-apologizes-for-behavior.html
  8. 1 2 Rachel Bell (September 10, 2014), Seattle astronomer discovers four planets before she turns 30, KIRO radio, archived from the original on 2015-04-20
  9. ↑ Meinbresse, Debbie (November 13, 2015). "3Q: Sarah Ballard on astrophysics and gender equity in science". MIT News.
  10. ↑ Mike Wall (September 8, 2011), Stealth Alien Planet Discovered By New Technique, Space.com
  11. 1 2 3 4 Jake Uitti (October 15, 2014), "The Seattle astronomer who discovered 4 planets before age 30", Crosscut
  12. 1 2 Phillips, Tony (August 19, 2014). "Exoplanet measured with remarkable precision". NASA Science News. Retrieved 16 May 2016. A team led by Sarah Ballard...
  13. ↑ O'Neill, Ian (July 25, 2014). "Most Precise Measurement of an Alien World Achieved". Discovery.com. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Sarah Ballard, "Exoplanet Validation by Asteroseismology" on YouTube, NYU Physics Colloqium, 2013 October 10.
  15. ↑ Miralda-Escudé, Jordi (2001), “Orbital perturbations of transiting planets: A possible method to measure stellar quadrupoles and to detect Earth-mass planets”, 2001 arXiv: 0104034; 2002 ApJ 564 1019.
  16. ↑ Holman, Matthew J.; and Murray, Norman W. (2004), “The Use of Transit Timing to Detect Extrasolar Planets with Masses as Small as Earth”, 2004 arXiv: 0412028; 2005 Science 307 1288.
  17. ↑ Agol, Eric; Steffen, Jason; Sari, Re'em; and Clarkson, Will (2004), “On detecting terrestrial planets with timing of giant planet transits”; 2004 arXiv: 0412032; 2005 MNRAS 359 567.
  18. ↑ "Spitzer Space Telescope - Directors Discretionary Time Proposal #541". Spitzer Science Center. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  19. ↑ "Astrophysics: Best gauge of exoplanet size". Nature. 512 (7512): 9–9. doi:10.1038/512009b – via EBSCO. (subscription required (help)).
  20. ↑ "UC Berkeley astronomy professor quits amid sexual harassment allegations". The Guardian. October 14, 2015.
  21. ↑ Pohle, Allison (October 16, 2015). "Local astronomer helped bring attention to issue of sexual harassment in science". Boston.com.
  22. ↑ Kleinfeld, Zoe (October 15, 2015). "Light shed on a dark matter". Daily Californian.
  23. ↑ "What Happens When a Harassment Whistleblower Goes on the Science Job Market". Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  24. ↑ Sarah Ballard, "Impostor syndrome workshop", Official website, University of Washington Dept. of Astronomy
  25. ↑ Sarah Ballard (2011), The Mismeasure of Woman, Scientista Foundation
  26. ↑ Katherine Pratt (October 7, 2015), Tips to Defeat Your Inner Imposter, Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering
  27. ↑ Jason T. Wright (June 2, 2015), "Impostor syndrome", blog, Pennsylvania State University
  28. 1 2 Lemonick, Michael (18 April 2015). "INSIGHT Mauna Kea Controversy". New Scientist. 226 (3017): 1. Retrieved 14 May 2016 – via EBSCO. (subscription required (help)).
  29. ↑ https://eblur.github.io/scotus/ , entry 901.
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