Joshua Pepper at Lehigh University

I am an astronomer and associate professor at the Department of Physics of Lehigh University.  My research involves the discovery of extrasolar planets; planets that orbit stars other than our sun. The main focus of my research for many years was the KELT project - a pair of small, wide-field telescopes that we used to search for transiting planets orbiting bright stars. My work now mostly centers on the NASA TESS mission, a space telescope that is searching for transiting planets, and making many other astrophysical discoveries.  See my Research page for more information.

I received my PhD from the Department of Astronomy at The Ohio State University and I received my undergraduate degree at Princeton University.  Previously, I was the VIDA postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Vanderbilt University.

A recent paper out from my group is about using data from the upcoming Roman Space Telescope to detect exoplanets using the technique of microlensing.  The paper is led by my former graduate student Somayeh Khakpash: "Classifying High-cadence Microlensing Light Curves. I. Defining Features".

In May 2022, I started a two-year leave from Lehigh to work as a Program Scientist in the Astrophysics Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate.  I will not be teaching or taking on new students during that time.  [Edit in 2024] That leave has been extended for a third year, so I will not be back to Lehigh until May 2025.

Contact Information:

joshua.pepper@lehigh.edu
(610) 758-3649
413 Deming Lewis Lab
16 Memorial Drive East
Bethlehem, PA  18015