Due to the lapse in federal government funding, NASA is not updating this website. We sincerely regret this inconvenience.
NASA Logo in the header
Astrophysics Science Division

Aki Roberge

(Astrophysicist)

Aki Roberge's Contact Card & Information.
Email: aki.roberge-1@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.286.2967
Org Code: 660
Address:
NASA/GSFC
Mail Code 660
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer:
NASA

Missions & Projects

Brief Bio


Dr. Aki Roberge is a civil servant Astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She is the Associate Director for Technology & Strategy in the Astrophysics Division and currently serves as the interim Pre-Formulation Scientist for the Habitable Worlds Observatory mission concept.


Habitable Worlds Observatory

Complete CV (PDF)

Complete Publications on ADS

Research Interests


Planet Formation

Astrophysics: Planetary Disk Formation

Study of planet formation through multi-wavelength observations of circumstellar disks of gas and dust around nearby young stars.

More info at my personal research webpage.


Mission Concept Development

Astrophysics: Technology & Missions

Development of future space telescopes to observe exoplanets (planets around other stars) and/or perform ultraviolet astronomy.

Positions/Employment


Associate Director for Technology and Strategy

Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, MD

2022 - Present


Acting Deputy Director

Sciences and Exploration Directorate, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, MD

2021 - 2021


Discipline Scientist

Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters - Washington, DC

2020 - 2021


Research Astrophysicist

Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, MD

2008 - Present


NASA Postdoctoral Fellow

Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Lab, Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, MD

2005 - 2008


Carnegie Postdoctoral Fellow

Dept. of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution for Science - Washington, DC

2002 - 2005

Education


  • 2003: Ph.D in Astrophysics, Johns Hopkins University
  • 1999: M.A. in Physics, Johns Hopkins University
  • 1996: B.S. in Physics w/ Planetary Science minor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Special Experience


Professional Service


Selected Professional Service

  • Core Team Member, NASA Science Mission Directorate Large Mission Study (2019-2021)
  • Member, NASA Planetary Science Advisory Committee (2018-2020)
  • Member, NASA Astrophysics Visionary Roadmap Team (2013)
  • Member, NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) Executive Committee (2009-2013)

Selected Publications


Refereed

2025. "The Mega-MUSCLES Treasury Survey: X-Ray to Infrared Spectral Energy Distributions of a Representative Sample of M Dwarfs." The Astrophysical Journal 978 (1): 85 [10.3847/1538-4357/ad9251] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Low CI/CO abundance ratio revealed by HST UV spectroscopy of CO-rich debris discs." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 531 (4): 4482-4502 [10.1093/mnras/stae1328] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Prospects for Cryovolcanic Activity on Cold Ocean Planets." The Astrophysical Journal 956 (1): 29 [10.3847/1538-4357/ace9b6] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Modeling and performance analysis of the LUVOIR coronagraph instrument." Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 8 (03): [10.1117/1.jatis.8.3.034001] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "A Radiatively Driven Wind from the η Tel Debris Disk." The Astronomical Journal 162 (6): 235 [10.3847/1538-3881/ac21d1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "A planet within the debris disk around the pre-main-sequence star AU Microscopii." Nature 582 (7813): 497-500 [10.1038/s41586-020-2400-z] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Multiple Rings of Millimeter Dust Emission in the HD 15115 Debris Disk." The Astrophysical Journal Letters 877 (2): L32 [10.3847/2041-8213/ab21c2] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "The Large Ultraviolet/Optical/Infrared Surveyor." Nature Astronomy 2 (8): 605--607 [10.1038/s41550-018-0543-8] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Finding the Needles in the Haystacks: High-fidelity Models of the Modern and Archean Solar System for Simulating Exoplanet Observations." Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 129 (982): 124401 [10.1088/1538-3873/aa8fc4] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "UV Spectroscopy of Star-Grazing Comets Within the 49 Ceti Debris Disk." The Astrophysical Journal 824 (2): 126 [10.3847/0004-637x/824/2/126] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "Lower Limits On Aperture Size for an ExoEarth Detecting Coronagraphic Mission." The Astrophysical Journal 808 (2): 149 [10.1088/0004-637x/808/2/149] [Journal Article/Letter]

2014. "Molecular Gas Clumps from the Destruction of Icy Bodies in the β Pictoris Debris Disk." Science 343 1490 [10.1126/science.1248726] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Herschel Observations of Gas and Dust in the Unusual 49 Ceti Debris Disk." The Astrophysical Journal 771 69 [10.1088/0004-637X/771/1/69] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "The Exozodiacal Dust Problem for Direct Observations of Exo-Earths." Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 124 799 [10.1086/667218] [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Herschel discovery of a new class of cold, faint debris discs." Astronomy & Astrophysics 536 L4 [10.1051/0004-6361/201117797] [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "GAS in Protoplanetary Systems (GASPS): I. First results." Astronomy and Astrophysics 518 L127 [Full Text] [10.1051/0004-6361/201014595] [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Debris Disks around Nearby Stars with Circumstellar Gas." The Astrophysical Journal 676 509 [Full Text] [10.1086/527314] [Journal Article/Letter]

2007. "A Low-Mass H2 Component to the AU Microscopii Circumstellar Disk." The Astrophysical Journal 668 1174 [Full Text] [10.1086/521348] [Journal Article/Letter]

2006. "Stabilization of the disk around β Pictoris by extremely carbon-rich gas." Nature 441 724 [Full Text] [10.1038/nature04832] [Journal Article/Letter]

2005. "Spatially Resolved Spectroscopy and Coronagraphic Imaging of the TW Hydrae Circumstellar Disk." The Astrophysical Journal 622 (2): 1171-1181 [10.1086/427974] [Journal Article/Letter]

2004. "Evidence for wind and accretion in the Herbig Be star HD 100546 from FUSE observations." Astronomy and Astrophysics 418 (2): 577-591 [10.1051/0004-6361:20035598] [Journal Article/Letter]

2003. "FUSE observations of H2 around the Herbig AeBe stars HD 100546 and HD 163296." Astronomy and Astrophysics 407 935 [10.1051/0004-6361:20030924] [Journal Article/Letter]

2002. "Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Observations of Possible Infalling Planetesimals in the 51 Ophiuchi Circumstellar Disk." The Astrophysical Journal 568 343 [10.1086/338877] [Journal Article/Letter]

2001. "Deficiency of molecular hydrogen in the disk of β Pictoris." Nature 412 706 [Journal Article/Letter]

2000. "High-Resolution Hubble Space Telescope STIS Spectra of C I and CO in the β Pictoris Circumstellar Disk." The Astrophysical Journal 538 904 [10.1086/309157] [Journal Article/Letter]

Non-Refereed

2019. "Telling the story of life in the cosmos: the LUVOIR telescope concepts." SPIE UV/Optical/IR Space Telescopes and Instruments: Innovative Technologies and Concepts IX 11115 111150O [10.1117/12.2530475] [Proceedings]

2009. "Exoplanet Characterization and the Search for Life." astro2010: The Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey 2010 151 [Proceedings]

2009. "THEIA: Telescope for Habitable Exoplanets and Interstellar/Intergalactic Astronomy." American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #45804; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol 41, p362 213 362 [Full Text] [Proceedings]