Professor Sarah Wellons is a theoretical astrophysicist who uses numerical simulations to study how galaxies form and evolve.  Her work investigates the physical processes involved in galaxy formation, from the large-scale gravitational collapse of dark matter structure to the formation of stars from cool dense gas and the role played by supermassive black holes.  She is especially interested in the most massive galaxies which cease forming stars and become "red and dead," as well as galaxies which formed at very early times in our Universe's history.

Dr. Wellons earned her Bachelor's degree at Princeton University and her PhD at Harvard University in 2017.  She did her postdoctoral work at Northwestern University, first as a CIERA fellow and then as an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics postdoctoral fellow.  She joined the faculty at Wesleyan in 2022.