About

Our Team

Oxford

Campbell Allen

Campbell Allen, Developer

Responsible for building the Zooniverse's API infrastructure. Cam considers himself a music and fine wine connoisseur - others do not. In his spare time he enjoys playing an obscure form of rugby.
Chris Lintott

Chris Lintott, Zooniverse PI

Astronomer and co-founder of both Galaxy Zoo and the Zooniverse that grew from it, Chris is interested in how galaxies form and evolve, how citizen science can change the world, and whether the Chicago Fire can get their act together.
Helen Spiers

Helen Spiers, Researcher

After finishing a PhD studying the molecular basis of human brain development, Helen joined the Zooniverse as a Postdoc in citizen science and medical research.
Jim O'Donnell

Jim O'Donnell, UX Developer

Professional cynic but his heart's not in it. Web developer for the Zooniverse, Web Standards organiser, Amnesty UK activist.
Mary Westwood

Mary Westwood, Postdoctoral Researcher

Evolutionary ecologist, Mary spends arguably too much time thinking about parasites, biological timing, and the sex lives of insects.
Rebecca Smethurst

Rebecca Smethurst, Researcher

Becky is an astrophysicist working towards her doctorate in Oxford. She is interested in how galaxies change over time and how we can track this evolution. Happy-go-lucky about outreach, the Zooniverse and everything.
Sandor Kruk

Sandor Kruk, Researcher

Sandor is a graduate student working on his PhD in Astrophysics at Oxford. He is looking at how galaxies evolve using data from Galaxy Zoo and enjoys stargazing, using telescopes, and dancing in his free time.
Shaun A. Noordin

Shaun A. Noordin, Web Developer

Shaun was raised by Nintendo consoles and somehow transformed his love for video games into a love for creating interactive experiences. When not at his PC playing games or reading comics, he's at his PC studying web design and coding experimental apps.

The Adler Planetarium

Chelsea Troy

Chelsea Troy, Software Engineer

Chelsea is a software engineer and data scientist currently focused on The Zooniverse's citizen science mobile app. When she isn't writing code, she is lifting weights, enjoying the outdoors, or writing about tech at chelseatroy.com.
Cliff Johnson

Cliff Johnson, Science Lead

Cliff Johnson is a postdoctoral fellow jointly-appointed at the Adler Planetarium and the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) at Northwestern University. As an astronomer, he is a longtime Zooniverse collaborator as science lead for the Andromeda Project and currently leads the Local Group Cluster Search project. Cliff joined the Zooniverse team at the Adler in May 2019.
Delilah Clement

Delilah Clement, Web Developer

Delilah is a web developer for the Zooniverse team at Adler Planetarium. She joined the team in 2021 with a background in aquatic biology. You can find her longboarding on Chicago’s lakefront or learning kpop dances.
Kelly Borden

Kelly Borden, Educator

With a background in museum education, Kelly joined the Zooniverse in 2011 to bring an educator's perspective and spread the word amongst teachers and students. She's fond of several C's: chocolate, cats, coffee, and more chocolate.
Laura Trouille

Laura Trouille, Zooniverse Co-PI

In July 2015, Laura became VP of Science Engagement and Visualization at the Adler Planetarium and co-PI of the Zooniverse. While earning her Ph.D. in 2010 studying galaxy evolution, she embodied cosmic collisions as a roller derby queen aptly named ‘The Big Bang’.
Mark Bouslog

Mark Bouslog, Developer

Mark is a front-end web developer for the Zooniverse team at the Adler Planetarium. Joining in November 2015 from a career in accounting, he’s thrilled to focus his number crunching to 1’s and 0’s and is constantly inspired and humbled by the power of programming, citizen science and coffee.
Michelle Yuen

Michelle Yuen, Software Developer

Michelle is a software developer for the Zooniverse team at Adler Planetarium. Born and raised in Chicago, the Adler was one of her favorite places in the city (still is!). In her free time, you can find her on the tennis court, eating tacos, kickboxing, cuddling with her cat, or sharing her passion for math, logic problems and coding to anyone willing to listen.
Molly Simon

Molly Simon, Education Postdoctoral Fellow

Molly Simon is a postdoctoral fellow at the Adler Planetarium leading the development, assessment, and implementation efforts of new curricular material for classroom.zooniverse.org. In her spare time, Molly enjoys reading non-fiction, hanging out with her dog "Mr. T" and trying out new restaurants.
Samantha Blickhan

Samantha Blickhan, Humanities Lead

Samantha Blickhan is a postdoctoral fellow at the Adler Planetarium, leading humanities research efforts for the Zooniverse. Likes music notation, old books, and memento mori.
Sean Miller

Sean Miller, Designer

Sean is a UI and UX designer for the Zooniverse. He also assists the Adler with design projects having to do with technical aspects such as 3d printing. His background as a maker contributes to unique perspectives and solutions to problems. In his free time he likes playing baseball or jamming with friends.
Zach Wolfenbarger

Zach Wolfenbarger, Developer

Zach is a software developer. He was a molecular biologist, but then the lab needed some code to be written and the die was cast. He’s also in a couple of bands and can be found playing shows at bars and comic conventions all over the midwest.

Minnesota

Kameswara Mantha

Kameswara Mantha, Post-doctoral Researcher

Kameswara is a post-doctoral researcher with the Zooniverse team at the University of Minnesota working on implementing novel machine learning based anomaly detection frameworks on extragalactic astrophysical datasets. His goal is to enhance citizen-science outcomes using new human-computer optimization strategies. His main field of study is galaxy evolution, where he specializes in galaxy mergers. In his spare time, he enjoys playing chess, cooking, and reading medical encyclopedias.
Lucy Fortson

Lucy Fortson, University of Minnesota Zooniverse Director

Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Minnesota. One of the Zooniverse co-founders, she leads the UMN data science and machine learning teams along with project wrangling (aka management) and strategic planning while trying to squeeze a bit of gamma ray and galaxy evolution science in.
Ramana Sankar

Ramana Sankar, Post-doctoral Researcher

Ramana is a post-doctoral researcher with the Zooniverse team at UMN working on human-computer optimization problems and applying machine learning frameworks on Zooniverse data. His background is in studying the physics behind different cloud features in planetary atmospheres, particularly on gas giants. When his head is not in planetary clouds, you will find him playing video games and learning new cuisines.
Sarah Huebner

Sarah Huebner, Post-doctoral researcher

Sarah is a wildlife ecologist who studies the impacts that elephants, lions, and other megafauna exert on natural ecosystems when they are reintroduced or become locally extinct. A long-time Zooniverse collaborator, she directs the ecological monitoring network Snapshot Safari. In her present capacity with Zooniverse, she is working on building connections with other platforms commonly used by ecologists, including CitSci.org and Wildlife Insights and provides assistance to other project managers. You can often find her hiking with her dogs, rocking out at concerts, or burning through a stack of novels.
Travis Kiefer

Travis Kiefer, Developer

Travis is a software developer by day, philomath by night. He is fascinated by mathematical concepts and their ability to illuminate relations within physics, programming, and design. When not lost in thought, he enjoys contemplative walks, basking in the sun, and afternoon naps.

Portsmouth

Coleman Krawczyk

Coleman Krawczyk, Data Scientist

Coleman is helping to create new data analysis and visualization tools for existing Zooniverse projects as well as identifying new projects within the University of Portsmouth. He received his PhD in astrophysics from Drexel University.
Jen Gupta

Jen Gupta, Educator

Jen works on Galaxy Zoo education in her role as the SEPnet/Ogden Outreach Officer for the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, and has a PhD in astrophysics. Active galactic nuclei were her first love.

Lancaster

Brooke Simmons

Brooke Simmons, Researcher

Brooke is an astrophysicist studying black holes, galaxies, and how citizen science can be applied to other non-traditional problems.

Haverford

Karen Masters

Karen Masters, Researcher

Karen is an astronomer and the Project Scientist of Galaxy Zoo, which she's been involved in as a researcher since 2008. She's particularly interested in the evolution of spiral galaxies.

Belfast

Meg Schwamb

Meg Schwamb, Researcher

Meg is a planetary scientist and astronomer involved in the Planet Four projects, and Comet Hunters for which she is project scientist. She studies small bodies in the Solar System, exoplanets, and Mars. Meg has a fondness for baking, soccer, and champagne.