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Regina Jorgenson is the Director of the Maria Mitchell Observatory (MMO). As an undergraduate student, Jorgenson’s formative experience as an NSF-REU intern at the MMO helped inspire her to make a career out of her love for astronomy. Jorgenson received a B.S. in Physics from the University of Puget Sound and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California, San Diego. She held research positions at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom and at the Institute for Astronomy in Hawai’i before becoming Director of the MMO in 2016.

A long-time advocate for supporting underrepresented groups in STEM, Jorgenson leads the MMO’s NSF-REU program training undergraduates in research, as well as a newly established, NSF-funded, post-baccalaureate ‘Bridge’ research program aimed at training and retaining underrepresented groups in STEM. As a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, Jorgenson spent a year traveling around the world and investigating the effects of culture on science through the eyes of women astronomers. Jorgenson encourages young people in STEM through the various MMO research, mentoring, and education programs, including the Maria Mitchell Women of Science Symposium, and by sharing her love of science with the public via a bi-weekly NPR radio program and local newspaper column, Looking Skyward, on the latest news from the world of astronomy. She is currently serving on the American Astronomical Society’s Committee of the Status of Women in Astronomy. 

Favorite Constellation:

Delphinus (The Dolphin)