Dr. Joel Villasenor earned his degree in physics from Caltech and completed his postgraduate studies at MIT.

Throughout his career, Villasenor has contributed to major research initiatives in astrophysics. He was part of the international team behind HETE-2, a satellite mission that studied gamma-ray bursts—cataclysmic cosmic events believed to mark the birth of black holes. He has also worked on projects involving rapidly spinning neutron stars and is currently a member of the team behind NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which searches for planets beyond our solar system.