Vivian U

Biography

Vivian U, Ph.D., is an Associate Research Scientist at Caltech/IPAC and Assistant Researcher at UC Irvine. She received a B.S. in Astrophysics from Caltech and Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and held a University of California Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship and a Thirty Meter Telescope Postdoctoral Scholarship earlier in her career. Her research focuses on the role of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and supermassive black holes in luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies, with particular emphasis on galaxy mergers, AGN feedback, and multiphase gas dynamics. She is a core member of the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey (GOALS) collaboration and has led observations with the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and Keck Observatory, among other facilities.

U has served as PI on multiple JWST, NASA, and NSF grants, including a NASA Astrophysics Decadal Survey Precursor Science award and an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Grant totaling over $1.1 million. She has an h-index of 35 with over 4,300 citations. She is a National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow and a recipient of the 2020 AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize. Her work has been featured in outlets including Scientific American, Nature, PBS Nova, and the New Scientist, and she has presented invited colloquia at institutions including the University of Chicago, UC Santa Cruz, and the Aspen Center for Physics.

U is the Chairperson of the Habitable Worlds Observatory Science Interest Group Leadership Council and serves on the JWST Users Committee. She is also Secretary of the US Liaison Committee for the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, Commission on Astrophysics C19, and a member of the Thirty Meter Telescope International Science Development Team. She has mentored students and postdoctoral researchers at multiple career stages and has been active in diversity and inclusion efforts through the UCI Committee on Inclusive Excellence and the APS-IDEA Team.

Education

• Ph.D. in Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2012
• M.S. in Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008
• B.S. in Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, 2006

Distinctions

• AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize, 2020
• National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow, 2019
• NASA Group Achievement Award for the Habitable Worlds Observatory Collaborative Team, 2024
• NASA Harriett G. Jenkins Predoctoral Fellowship, 2009-2012
• Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Predoctoral Fellowship, 2009-2012
• Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowship – Honorable Mention, 2009
• University of California Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2015-2017
• Commended Faculty Mentor, UCI Campuswide Honors Collegium, 2025
• Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Fellowship, 2011
• Earth, Planets and Space Excellent Reviewer, 2013