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NASA Hubble Fellowship Program Announces 24 New Postdoctoral Scientists for 2026 Class

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NASA Hubble Fellowship Program Announces Competitive 2026 Class

The NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP) has announced its 2026 class, comprising 24 postdoctoral scientists selected to conduct independent research in NASA Astrophysics. These highly competitive fellowships provide up to three years of support at a U.S. institution.

With over 650 applicants vying for the positions, the program experienced an oversubscription rate of 27 to 1, highlighting the prestige and demand for these opportunities.

Program Focus Areas

Fellows are assigned to one of three sub-categories, each aligned with NASA's pivotal scientific inquiries into the universe:

  • Einstein Fellows: These researchers focus on understanding how the universe works and operates. Their projects delve into fundamental physics, black holes, and the large-scale structure of the cosmos.
  • Hubble Fellows: Their work investigates how the universe evolved, including its origins. This category explores galaxy formation, stellar evolution, and the early universe.
  • Sagan Fellows: This category explores the potential for life beyond Earth. Researchers in this group investigate exoplanets, astrobiology, and the conditions necessary for life.

Shawn Domagal-Goldman, Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters, stated that the 2026 class is expected to contribute significantly to NASA's overarching research objectives regarding the universe's function, evolution, and potential for life.

2026 NHFP Awardees, Institutions, and Research Topics

Einstein Fellows:

  • Hollis Akins, Princeton University: "Charting the Growth of the First Supermassive Black Holes through 'Little Red Dots'"
  • Dhayaa Anbajagane, Stanford University: "Building a Multi-Probe Approach to Primordial Physics"
  • Hannah Gulick, California Institute of Technology: "Probing Compact Object Demographics with a New Generation of Space-Based Observatories"
  • Casey Lam, Carnegie Observatories: "A Portrait of Galactic Black Hole Demographics"
  • Benjamin Lehmann, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: "New Tools for Dark Matter Physics"
  • Sizheng Ma, Johns Hopkins University: "Listening Beyond the Ring: A New Paradigm for Black Hole Spectroscopy"
  • Megan Masterson, Harvard University: "The Dynamic Astronomical Sky as a Probe of Supermassive Black Holes"
  • Simona Miller, City University of New York: "Probing High-mass Binary Black Hole Formation and Fundamental Physics with the Remnants of our Cosmos' Most Extreme Collisions"
  • Martijn Oei, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory: "The Widespread Impact of Megaparsec-scale Jets on the Cosmic Web"
  • Frank Qu, Stanford University: "Mapping Dark Matter and Baryons Across the Universe with the Cosmic Microwave Background"

Hubble Fellows:

  • James Beattie, Institute for Advanced Study: "The Glue Between the Stars: Unraveling Turbulence and Magnetism Across All Scales"
  • Vedant Chandra, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: "Dark Matter at the Threshold of Galaxy Formation"
  • Roman Gerasimov, University of Notre Dame: "New Frontiers in Galactic Archaeology"
  • Jared Goldberg, Columbia University: "Massive Stars, Inside and Out: Bridging 1D and 3D Models of Stars and Supernovae"
  • Vasily Kokorev, University of Texas at Austin: "The Cosmic Frontier: Uncovering Faint Galaxies that Ignited the Early Universe"
  • Konstantinos Kritos, Stony Brook University: "Unveiling the Mystery of Massive Black Hole Seeds Through Gravitational and Electromagnetic Waves"
  • Anna O'Grady, Carnegie Mellon University: "Stay Close to Go Far: Resolved Stellar Populations in Nearby Galaxies as Critical Benchmarks for Binary Evolution Models"
  • David Setton, Johns Hopkins University: "A Multi-Wavelength View of Quenching Across Cosmic Time"

Sagan Fellows:

  • Hayley Beltz, University of Kansas: "From Magnetic Fields to Measurable Signals: 3D MHD Modeling of Sub-Jovian Exoplanets"
  • Rachel Bowens-Rubin, Harvard University: "From Ice Giants to Exorings: New Frontiers in Exoplanet Characterization with JWST & Roman CGI Direct Imaging"
  • Collin Cherubim, University of Chicago: "Mass Fractionation in the Escaping Atmospheres of Small Planets, and the Hunt for Helium and Oxygen Worlds"
  • Arvind Gupta, University of Arizona: "Securing the Doppler Legacy in the Hunt for Earth-like Exoplanets"
  • Henrik Kneirim, California Institute of Technology: "Decoding the Formation of Extreme Giant Planets"
  • Samantha Scibelli, National Radio Astronomy Observatory: "Zooming in on Prebiotic Chemistry at the Earliest Stage of Low-mass Star and Planet Formation"

Annual Symposium

The NHFP hosts an annual symposium where fellows present their research and engage with scientific and administrative staff. The 2025 symposium, held at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, featured discussions on topics such as exoplanet atmospheric chemistry, early galaxies, and the expansion of the universe. This event fosters collaboration and knowledge exchange among the fellows and the broader scientific community.

Program Administration

The NHFP is administered by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, on behalf of NASA. STScI collaborates with the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute and Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, in its administration, ensuring comprehensive support for the program.