Former Scholars Recipients of American Astronomical Society Prizes

The American Astronomical Society (AAS) has announced its awards and prizes for 2023. This includes three former scholars in the School of Natural Sciences, who were given a Buchalter Cosmology Prize, which supports research that has “the potential to produce breakthrough advances in our understanding of the origin, structure, and evolution of the universe beyond current standard cosmological models.” 

Those scholars are Angelo Esposito (Member, 2021–22; Visitor, 2022), James Colin Hill (Member, 2017–19), and Lam Hui (Member, 1999–2000; Visitor, 2010–11), who received the $10,000 First Prize for their work “Squeezing fNL out of the matter bispectrum with consistency relations,” along with their collaborators Samuel Goldstein and Oliver Philcox, a visiting graduate student at IAS.

Additionally, Frank Shu, a 1982 Visitor in the School of Natural Sciences, was named as the recipient of the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship “for his seminal contributions to theoretical astrophysics.” He is cited for his work on the formation of stars and planetary systems, and for his role in the astronomical community, including the publication of several influential textbooks. 

Established in 1899, the AAS includes about 8,200 physicists, mathematicians, geologists, engineers, and additional scholars who focus on the astronomical sciences. Every year, it awards scholars for outstanding research and education.