Joseph Pesce

Joseph E. Pesce FRS is an astrophysicist and Program Director at the National Science Foundation. He received his bachelor's degree (cum laude and with honors) in physics from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and his M.Phil, M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in Astrophysics from Cambridge University (Peterhouse), UK and the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), in Trieste, Italy. He is a part-time professor at George Mason University and a visiting professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Professional career

Early in his career, Pesce conducted research into symbiotic binary stars and the atmospheres of late-type (AGB) giant stars at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy (CU Boulder). At Cambridge and the International School for Advanced Studies he studied the properties of clusters of galaxies and their member galaxies, active galactic nuclei (AGN), their host galaxies and extended environments, and the formation of jets near supermassive black holes.

Pesce held a postdoctoral position at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), in Baltimore, MD, extending his thesis work using high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images, and performing large-scale multi-wavelength studies of AGN. He held a Research Associate position at the Pennsylvania State University, in State College, PA, working with high-energy astrophysical data.

Pesce is a Program Director at the National Science Foundation, Division of Astronomical Sciences. He responsible for most of the US Federal Government's ground-based radio astronomy facilities.

He is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, a fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, a member of the American Astronomical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Physical Society. He is an alumnus of the Presidents Leadership Class at CU, and currently serves on their Board of Advisors.

He received the NSF Director's Award for Superior Accomplishment in 2018, and was nominated for the George Mason University Teaching Excellence Award in 2019 and the Career Connection Faculty Award in 2016.

Pesce appears regularly on the Hill.TV's morning program, Rising.