Charlotte Christensen

Prof. Charlotte Christensen is an associate professor of physics at Grinnell College. Her research is focused on understanding the process of galaxy formation through the use of detailed computer simulations. In 2018, she received the National Science Foundation CAREER Grant, which supports her research into the cessation of star formation in satellite galaxies and her work incorporating computational instruction into the physics curriculum. She has mentored numerous undergraduate students in her research, which has resulted in many of them holding authorship on scholarly articles or earning prestigious awards.

Prof. Christensen completed her B.A. in physics at Carleton College, Minnesota, in 2005. She earned her Ph.D. in astronomy at the University of Washington. Her thesis into the role of molecular hydrogen in star formation was partially supported by her National Science Foundation Graduate Student Research Fellowship. While at the University of Washington, she also assisted teaching elementary school mathematics through the NSF Graduate Stem Fellows in K-12 Education program. Subsequently, Prof. Christensen was the theory postdoctoral fellow at the University of Arizona.