Nathalie Nguyen-Quoc Ouellette (on maternity leave)

Nathalie Ouellette is an astrophysicist and an avid science communicator. Her research is on the formation and evolution of galaxies, particularly those found in groups and clusters such as the Virgo Cluster. In addition to her role within the OMM, Nathalie is currently the Deputy Director of the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets. She is also the Outreach Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency.

Following her B.Sc. studies at McGill University, Nathalie attended Queen’s University in Kingston, ON for her M.Sc. and her Ph.D. — both under the supervision of Prof. Stéphane Courteau. She obtained her Ph.D. in 2016 after successfully defending her thesis titled “The SHIVir Survey: A Dynamical Catalogue of Virgo Cluster Galaxies and their Scaling Relations”. During her graduate studies, Nathalie lead many observing programs on telescopes in Hawaii, New-Mexico and Chile.

Her time at Queen’s University also provided her with numerous outreach opportunities which lead her to discover her passion for science communication; Nathalie was the Queen’s Observatory Coordinator from 2010 to 2016. She was also the Communications, Education & Outreach Officer for the McDonald Institute at Queen’s University in 2017-2018 where she developed and delivered this new astroparticle physics research institute’s education and public programs. She still serves as an analyst, contributor and speaker for various media outlets et organisations working to promote science and astronomy to the general public and youth.