{{Short description|American astronomer}} {{Use mdy dates|cs1-dates=ly|date=July 2022}} {{Use list-defined references|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist | name = Jennifer Lotz | image = Astronomer Jennifer Lotz 01 (cropped) 3.jpg | birth_name = Jennifer Mae Lotz | birth_date = | workplaces = {{Plainlist| * University of California, Santa Cruz * National Optical Astronomy Observatory * Space Telescope Science Institute * NOIRLab }} | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * Bryn Mawr College * Johns Hopkins University }} | thesis_title = The History of the Evolution of Dwarf Galaxies | thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/288153524 | thesis_year = 2003 | doctoral_advisor = {{Flatlist| * Henry Ferguson * Rosemary Wyse }} }}
'''Jennifer Mae Lotz''' is an American astronomer who studies the shape and evolution of galaxies, including galaxy mergers. She is currently the director of the Space Telescope Science Institute.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jennifer M. Lotz |url=https://www.stsci.edu/home/who-we-are/leadership/jennifer-m-lotz |access-date=2025-06-27 |website=STScI |language=en}}</ref> She previously worked at the NOIRLab, a project of the National Science Foundation, as director of the Gemini Observatory.{{r|noir}}
==Early life and education== Lotz is originally from Florida; she became interested in astronomy through watching the 1980 television series ''Cosmos: A Personal Voyage'' with her father, and seeing Space Shuttle trails in the sky above her home.{{r|lucky}} She majored in physics at Bryn Mawr College,{{r|orcid}} and was a summer intern at the Maria Mitchell Observatory on Nantucket in 1994, when Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 collided with Jupiter.{{r|lucky}}
After graduating in 1996,{{r|orcid}} she did her graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University with the support of a research fellowship from the Space Telescope Science Institute.{{r|lucky}} She completed her Ph.D. in 2003.{{r|noir}} Her dissertation, ''The history of the evolution of dwarf galaxies'', was supervised by Henry C. Ferguson and Rosemary Wyse.{{r|diss}}
==Career== She became a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz,{{r|noir|orcid}} where she participated in research combining observations from the Hubble Space Telescope and W. M. Keck Observatory to study colliding galaxies.{{r|ucsc}} She was a Leo Goldberg Fellow at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, and then, from 2010 to 2018, an associate astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, also affiliated with Johns Hopkins University as a research scientist.{{r|noir|orcid}}
At the Space Telescope Science Institute, she led the Hubble Frontier Fields program from 2013 to 2017;{{r|lucky|deeper}} this program used Hubble Space Telescope to find images of distant galaxies, magnified by gravitational lensing.{{r|frontier|dawn}}
She was named director of the Gemini Observatory in 2018, succeeding interim director Laura Ferrarese.{{r|gemini}} She is also a participant in the next-generation Deep Extragalactic Exploratory Public (DEEP) survey, a project to re-examine the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field using the James Webb Space Telescope.{{r|nextgen}}
She was appointed director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in February, 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dr. Jennifer Lotz Appointed Space Telescope Science Institute Director |url=https://www.stsci.edu/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-401 |access-date=2025-06-27 |website=STScI |language=en}}</ref>
==References== <references>
<ref name=dawn>{{citation|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/hubble-telescope-spots-galaxies-from-13-billion-years-ago-1.2488580|title=Hubble telescope spots galaxies from 13 billion years ago: Telescope glimpses 'cosmic dawn' from infancy of our universe|work=CBC News|date=January 8, 2014}}</ref>
<ref name=deeper>{{citation|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/sciencemain/nasa-telescopes-peer-deeper-universe-ever-8c11469353|title=NASA telescopes to peer deeper into universe than ever before|work=NBC News|date=October 25, 2013|first=Mike|last=Wall}}</ref>
<ref name=diss>{{citation|title=The history of the evolution of dwarf galaxies|first=Jennifer Mae|last=Lotz|type=Doctoral dissertation|publisher=Johns Hopkins University|year=2003|id={{ProQuest|288153524}}|bibcode=2003PhDT........12L}}</ref>
<ref name=frontier>{{citation|url=https://frontierfields.org/|title=Frontier Fields|work=HubbleSite|publisher=Space Telescope Science Institute|access-date=2022-07-13}}</ref>
<ref name=gemini>{{citation|url=http://www.gemini.edu/pr/dr-jennifer-lotz-appointed-gemini-observatory-director|title=Dr. Jennifer Lotz Appointed Gemini Observatory Director|date=September 6, 2018|publisher=Gemini Observatory|access-date=2022-07-13}}</ref>
<ref name=lucky>{{citation|url=https://noirlab.edu/public/blog/jen-lotz/|title='I feel lucky to have been in the right place at the right time, a number of times!': International Gemini Observatory Director, Jennifer Lotz, provides a behind-the-scenes look at her career and hobbies|work=NOIRLab Stories|first=Gemma|last=Lavender|date=September 7, 2021|publisher=NOIRLab|access-date=2022-07-13}}</ref>
<ref name=nextgen>{{citation|url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-to-uncover-riches-of-the-early-universe|title=NASA's Webb to Uncover Riches of the Early Universe|publisher=NASA|date=June 22, 2022|access-date=2022-07-13}}; {{citation|url=https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/what-will-the-james-webb-space-telescope-reveal/|title=What the James Webb Space Telescope's First Year Will Reveal|magazine=Sky & Telescope|first=Monica|last=Young|date=July 11, 2022}}</ref>
<ref name=noir>{{citation|url=https://noirlab.edu/science/about/leadership|title=About NOIRLab: Leadership|publisher=NOIRLab|access-date=2022-07-13}}</ref>
<ref name=orcid>{{citation|url=https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3130-5643|title=Jennifer M. Lotz|work=ORCiD|access-date=2022-07-13}}</ref>
<ref name=ucsc>{{citation|url=https://news.ucsc.edu/2005/01/621.html|title=New view of distant colliding galaxies captured by Keck laser system|date=January 11, 2005|first=Tim|last=Stephens|publisher=University of California, Santa Cruz|access-date=2022-07-13}}</ref>
</references>
==External links== *[https://jenlotz.github.io/ Home page] *{{Google Scholar id|ZcYscoEAAAAJ}}
{{Authority control|state=collapsed}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Lotz, Jennifer}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:21st-century American astronomers Category:American women astronomers Category:Bryn Mawr College alumni Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni