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Risa Wechsler is the Humanities and Sciences Professor at Stanford University and Director of both the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) and the new Center for Decoding the Universe @ Stanford. She holds faculty appointments in the Department of Physics at Stanford and the Department of Particle Physics & Astrophysics at SLAC. She is a cosmologist whose work investigates some of the most profound questions about our universe — how it formed, what it is made of, how it is structured, and what its future holds.
Her research focuses on understanding the evolution of galaxies, the large-scale structure of the universe, and the nature of dark matter and dark energy. She uses sophisticated simulations combined with cutting-edge observational data to explore these forces that shape the cosmos. Her recent work also investigates the formation and cosmological context of the Milky Way and probes dark matter through small-scale cosmic structure, and explores how data science and AI/ML can drive new understanding. Dr. Wechsler has played key leadership roles in major international collaborations such as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which is mapping tens of millions of galaxies to unravel the mysteries of dark energy, and the Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), a decade-long survey that will reveal the dynamic universe in unprecedented detail. Her work combines detailed theoretical models of the universe with the new three-dimensional maps created by these surveys to illuminate the hidden forces driving cosmic evolution — and our place in it. Dr. Wechsler is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has served on advisory committees for the National Academy of Sciences, the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, and several major foundations, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Aspen Center for Physics and the LSST Discovery Alliance and on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Flatiron Institute. She is passionate about broadening access to physics and astronomy and engaging the public with scientific discovery. She has written about and discussed science in numerous public venues, including TED, Teen Vogue, PBS, and the BBC. More about her previous trajectory can be found here |