Sara Ellison

Sara Ellison is an Astronomy Professor at University of Victoria. Her work involves observational extragalactic astronomy, galaxy mergers and evolution, galactic chemistry and active galactic nuclei.

Background and education Ellison was inspired to study astronomy by a teacher who was also an astronomer. The only student in a physics class in her small, all-girls school, Ellison finished the standard curriculum quickly and spent the remainder of class time discussing astronomy with her teacher. The same year, she was selected as Canada Research Chair (Tier II), a grant given to extraordinary emerging researchers by the Canadian government. In 2008, she became an associate professor and in 2014 a full professor at the University of Victoria.

Research The main themes of Ellison's research are studying absorption lines in quasar spectra and studying the effects of environment on galaxy evolution. and the Lyman-alpha forest. Much of Ellison's most recent work has focused on using close pairs of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to investigate how galaxy interactions affect galaxy evolution.

Personal In addition to her work in astronomy, Ellison has been involved in science outreach since 1992. She appeared on CBC Radio's Quirks & Quarks to answer questions about lunar landing sites. In a 2015 interview with the Vancouver Sun, she spoke about how she got interested in astronomy. Her hobbies include painting on stretched canvas in acrylics. An accomplished amateur athlete, Ellison has a Boston Qualifying marathon time and age group wins in both running and triathlon.

Honours and awards 2021: Canadian Astronomical Society Peter G. Martin Award for mid-career achievement 2020-2022: President, Canadian Astronomical Society 2018-2020: Vice President, Canadian Astronomical Society 2015: Elected member of the Royal Society of Canada's College for New Scholars 2009: Faculty of Science excellence in research award 2007: NSERC Discovery Accelerator grant 2004: Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Ovenden lecturer 2004: American Astronomical Society Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy 2001: Royal Astronomical Society PhD thesis prize (runner-up)