C. Megan Urry, the Israel Munson Professor of Physics and Astronomy, director of the Center for Astronomy and Physics, and chair of the physics department at Yale University, has been elected as the next president of the American Astronomical Society. When she takes office next year, she will be the society’s 45th president in its 114-year history.
Professor Urry is an expert in supermassive black holes and is a strong advocate for expanding opportunities for women in science. She has served on the Yale faculty since 2001. From 1987 to 2001, Dr. Urry served as an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Professor Urry is a summa cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in physics from Johns Hopkins University.