Joshua Winn is an associate professor of physics at MIT. His research goals are to explore the properties of planets around other stars, understand how planets form and evolve, and make progress on the age-old question of whether there are other planets capable of supporting life. His group uses optical and infrared telescopes to study exoplanetary systems, especially those in which the star and planet eclipse one another. He is a member of the NASA Kepler team and Deputy Science Director of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, a NASA mission scheduled for launch in 2017. Over the years, he and his group have also pursued topics in stellar astronomy, planetary dynamics, radio interferometry, gravitational lensing, and photonic bandgap materials.
