AAS Trustee Jane Rigby Named New JWST Senior Project Scientist

This post is adapted from a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center press release.

NASA has chosen Dr. Jane Rigby as the new senior project scientist for the JWST mission. Rigby, an American Astronomical Society (AAS) member and elected At-Large Trustee, is an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Maryland, and has worked on the mission for many years.

Rigby was one of the three commissioning scientists for JWST. She also led the characterization of JWST’s science performance. She is an active researcher studying how galaxies form stars, and leads one of JWST's Early Release Science programs. She steps in after John Mather, who held the position for almost 28 years since 1995. Mather is moving on to senior project scientist emeritus for JWST at NASA.

The JWST senior project scientist provides the scientific leadership necessary for the success of the mission by ensuring that it meets its science requirements. 

About Dr. Jane Rigby

Rigby earned degrees in both physics and astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University and her PhD in astronomy from University of Arizona. Rigby develops new techniques to study galaxy evolution, star-forming galaxies, and active galactic nuclei.

Rigby and her team at NASA, with international collaborators, have led many successful research campaigns, collecting data from the Keck and Magellan Observatories and the Hubble Space Telescope. She has published more than 140 peer-reviewed publications. She also has given numerous professional and public presentations on her research and on the JWST. Rigby has been recognized for her research, mentorship, and diversity-related work with awards such as NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal and served on a panel for the 2020 Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics for the National Academies.

In 2022, she was awarded the 2022 LGBTQ+ Scientist of the Year by Out to Innovate. This year, she was awarded the Explorers Club Citation of Merit jointly with John Mather, and she was named the Fred Kavli Prize Plenary Lecturer for the 241st AAS meeting.

Congratulations to Dr. Rigby!