Dr. Abbie Stevens designs and produces innovative, experimental public programs to expand on exhibition themes. She also founded and runs Ignite Talks MSU, a forum for students at any level doing original research in any field to develop their research communication skills. In addition to training the next generation of science communicators at MSU, Abbie presents on the intersection of science and society at venues like ComSciCon-MI 2024. Alongside this work, Abbie helps facilitate the MSUFCU Arts Power Up Artist Residency with the MSU Museum and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB).
Before joining the MSU Museum, Abbie was an NSF- and NASA-funded astronomer and educator. She maintains active involvement in science advising on creative projects, data science and science literacy education, and mental health initiatives in academia. During her years as an active researcher, she gave over 30 invited colloquia, seminars, and conference talks, and authored or co-authored several papers published in scientific journals (ORCID: 0000-0002-5041-3079). Abbie’s decade of experience as an academic informs her passion for research communication and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Affiliations
MSU CIRCLE, Affiliate faculty (2025-present)
Informal Learning Network at MSU, Planning committee member (2024-present)
MSU Libraries Digital Scholarship Lab, Faculty Advisory Board member (2023-2025)
Conference Presentations
A. Stevens, “Igniting Connection Among Student Researchers Across Disciplines,” 2025 a2ru National Conference, Madison, WI; 23-25 October 2025.
D. Blair, B. Carter, A. Stevens, C. White, and M. Akwali, “You Can’t Miss First Fridays: Fostering University Student Belonging through a Student-Centered, Extra-Curricular Program Series,” Association of Academic Museums and Galleries 2024 Conference, virtual; 24 June 2024.
A. Stevens, “Igniting Connection Among Student Researchers Across Disciplines,” Association of Academic Museums and Galleries 2024 Conference, virtual; 24 June 2024.
Selected Publications
A.W. Shaw et al. (incl. A.L. Stevens) 2025, “Calibrating the Clock of JWST,” The Astronomical Journal, vol. 169, issue 1, id. 21.
M. Bachetti et al. (incl. A.L. Stevens) 2024, “Stingray 2: A fast and modern Python library for spectral timing,” Journal of Open Source Software, vol. 9, issue 102, id. 7389.
Degrees
Ph.D., Astronomy and Astrophysics, Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy at the University of Amsterdam, 2018
M.Sc., Physics, University of Alberta, 2013
B.A., Physics, Bard College, 2011