The intriguing lives of galaxies without dark matter

Dr. Jorge Moreno is an Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Pomona College, and the fourth Mexican scholar to receive tenure in astronomy/astrophysics in the United States. He is also the 2023-2025 IDEA Scholar(Flatiron Institute), and the recipient of the 2023 Vera Rubin Distinguished Professorship (UC Santa Cruz). His field of expertise is computational astrophysics, and he works on various aspects of galaxy evolution and structure formation.  He has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles, received ~1 million dollars in funding, and has recently solved the puzzle behind the existence of dark matter deficient galaxies, which gathered significant media coverage.

He also enjoys exploring the intersections of astronomy, pedagogy, mentoring and art. At the national level, he has served as the chair of the AAS Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy. On the eve of the Trump presidency he led a Town Hall on Racism in Astronomy at the 229th AAS Meeting, attended by over 2000 astronomers. He was also the director of the Harvard Aztl'n Institute, a summer research program aimed to uplift minoritized undergraduate students in astronomy.

In recent years, he has focused his advocacy efforts to the way we teach and mentor the next generation. This includes work at his own institution and the delivery of (paid) workshops nationwide. In 2023 he coined the term astromimicry as a way to allow the universe to inspire us to create more inclusive communities.