Associate Professor
Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Anna Frebel is Associate Professor in the Astrophysics Division of the Physics Department at MIT in Cambridge, MA. Originally from Germany, she received her PhD from the Australian National University’s Mt. Stromlo Observatory. Her postdoctoral work took her to the University of Texas at Austin and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA. For her research into the oldest stars in the universe and the early evolution of the chemical elements she has received national and international awards including the 2010 Annie Jump Cannon Award (Americal Astronomical Society). In 2013, she received a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, and in 2016 she was named one of ScienceNews Magazine’s 10 scientists to watch. Frebel also enjoys communicating science to the public, lately through her popular science book “Searching for the oldest stars: Ancient Relics from the Early Universe”.