Dr. Tiffany R. Lewis
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Doron Chelouche Lab website
Dr. Lewis’s PhD in Physics from George Mason University dealt with active galaxies, where the light produced near the central supermassive black hole exceeds that of the rest of the galaxy combined. These active galactic nuclei (AGN) can power astrophysical jets that are the most energetic sustained phenomena in the Universe. When one jet of an AGN is pointed at Earth, it is called a blazar, and Dr. Lewis created theoretical models to describe the processes we observe from this jet emission. At the University of Haifa, in the Department of Physics, she plans to expand from blazars to explore the question of why jets form in some AGNs and not in others. She hopes that her work will eventually benefit the broader study of galaxy evolution. While pursuing her doctorate, Dr. Lewis organized bi-weekly astronomy open houses at the campus observatory, recruiting speakers, scheduling volunteers, and setting up equipment. She helped developed the observatory into a tool for genuine research as part of the KELT (Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope) collaboration, making follow-up observations of planets in solar systems beyond Earth (exoplanets). Dr. Lewis finds teaching rewarding, and hopes her students learn that “It’s hard,” is not predictive of “I can’t.”