Natalie H. Allen

Born on Bainbridge Island in the Pacific Northwest, I spent my childhood in the outdoors, playing sports and surrounded by friends and family (and dogs!). I have been interested in space as long as I can remember, heavily bolstered by regular visits to Hawaii to visit family during which I could see the faraway observatories on the peak of Mauna Kea.

I am pursuing my PhD in Astrophysics at Johns Hopkins University and Space Telescope Science Institute. I am advised in my thesis by Dr. Néstor Espinoza and Prof. David Sing, broadly researching exoplanet atmospheres with many observatories, including JWST. I am particularly interested in studying terrestrial exoplanets, which in the current era means also studying the messy M dwarfs that host the planets most amenable to characterization.

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I previously completed my undergraduate degree in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester. I was involved in research with Prof. Dan Watson, Dr. Joel Green, and Dr. Karl Stapelfeldt studying outflows from young stellar objects and how they affect the star formation process. on similar projects. I also worked with Prof. Miki Nakajima to simulate the formation of the Vredefort crater, Earth's largest impact crater. ​