Dr. Brittany Miles joins faculty at Steward Observatory, advancing UofA’s legacy in infrared instrumentation innovation

Dr. Brittany Miles will be joining the faculty of the UofA Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory this fall—a role that will position her to lead as a researcher, an educator, and an innovator in instrumentation development.

Dr. Miles studies the atmospheres of exoplanets and isolated, rogue worlds, known as brown dwarfs. She uses JWST and large ground-based telescopes to understand the composition and weather behavior of these objects. She wants to improve and build new instruments that can find and characterize, smaller and cooler exoplanets.

Miles first joined Steward Observatory as a 51 Pegasi b and Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow in Fall 2022. During her fellowship, she continued her observations of brown dwarf atmospheres to obtain data on cloud composition and behavior. As co-principal investigator on a James Webb Space Telescope proposal, she explored the coldest known brown dwarf to inspect possible water clouds and water vapor and infer how such features may behave on gas giant exoplanets.

A remarkable strength Miles brings to her new faculty role is her sharp capability as an instrumentalist, where she retrofits and tests detector capabilities to support more precise characterization of exoplanets. Miles stands to advance Steward Observatory’s legacy of infrared instrumentation development. ““The University of Arizona has a proud history in leading the development of near and mid-infrared astronomy to study the entire Universe,” said Buell Jannuzi. Head of the Department of Astronomy and Director of Steward Observatory. “Kuiper, Johnson, Low, Hoffman, McCarthy, George Rieke, and Marcia Rieke, to name a few of our past and current leaders.” 

“Finding talented faculty who can both develop the transformative instruments that produce great science, but also lead the teams that will make the discoveries is very challenging — so we are thrilled that Miles, a rapidly developing instrumentalist and astrophysicist studying exoplanets has agreed to join our faculty as we renew our commitment to being a world leading institution in astronomy and astrophysics,” said Jannuzi.

Miles got her bachelor’s in physics with a minor in geophysics and planetary physics at UCLA in 2016. From UCLA she moved to the University of California, Santa Cruz where she was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and Eugene Cota-Robles Fellow. Miles earned her master’s in 2018, followed by a PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics in 2022. After graduate school, she was a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Irvine during summer 2022.

Along her career path, Miles said “my greatest point of pride was getting out of my comfort zone and doing work that made me happy. I earned time on JWST as PI for an idea I have wanted to pursue for a long time. I also tested out a new long-wavelength spectroscopic mode with the LBT. Executing ambitious observational programs is key to pushing the boundaries of our understanding of planetary atmospheres.”

When she isn’t caring for her cat Lorenzo or playing competitive video games, Miles aims to continue to push boundaries in astronomy. “I want to build instruments that can find and characterize smaller, cooler exoplanets at longer wavelengths,” she said. “I also want to develop a dedicated observatory to study the weather and climate on brown dwarfs. Arizona has provided me with resources, facilities, and long-term stability to support the development and execution of these goals.”

As she looks ahead to stepping into her new faculty position, Miles said “I'm elated to take on the role of educator and support more students on their respective journeys.”