Our Team
This directory includes Bridge staff and leadership.
Marcel Agüeros is a professor in the Department of Astronomy. His research interest is in observational stellar astrophysics, and specifically in using new data sets and technologies to address classic questions in stellar evolution. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 2006, came to Columbia as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Astronomy & Astrophysics Post-doctoral Fellow that year, and joined the faculty in 2010.
Professor Agüeros has worked on increasing the numbers of women and underrepresented minorities in the sciences since starting graduate school. At the University of Washington, he helped create the Pre-Major in Astronomy Program, through which first-year underrepresented students interested in astronomy are exposed to research, and which now has over 100 alumni. And he help launch and directed the Bridge to the Ph.D. Program for a decade. In 2008, the National Society of Black Physicists awarded Marcel a Certificate of Excellence in recognition of "distinguished personal initiative on diversity in astronomy."
Professor Agüeros is a recipient of an NSF CAREER award and of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), and he has won Columbia University's Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award, its Presidential Teaching Award for Faculty, and its Faculty Service Award. In 2022-23, Professor Agüeros was a U.S. Department of State Fulbright Scholar and was hosted by the Laboratoire d'astrophysique de Bordeaux, in France. Professor Agüeros was selected as a Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2023. In 2024, he received the Robert Holland Jr. Award for Research Excellence and Contributions to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement.