Selected Press Coverage
“SciFri Picks: 2023 Science Books,” Science Friday, December 14, 2023
“The 18 best bios & memoirs of 2023,” Audible blog, November 8, 2023
“Having a bad day? Cheer up with one of these books with pick-me-up power“, USA Today, September 7, 2023
“I’m one of only 26 Black women astrophysicists in America. Acting helped me overcome the stereotypes I felt as a woman of color in STEM.”, Insider, August 11, 2023
“Actress who found true stardom in the Stars”, Mail on Sunday, August 6, 2023
“The Best Memoirs By Women Still to Come in 2023“, Glamour Magazine, July 28, 2023
“Only 26 Black Women Have Ever Become Astrophysicists in the U.S. Here’s One’s Story“, Scientific American, July 24, 2023
“St. Louis area Bestseller List“, Publishers Weekly, July 23, 2023
“Life on Other Planets: A Memoir of Finding My Place in the Universe“, Houston Style Magazine, July 17, 2023
“‘Be your own role model’: What one Black UC Irvine astrophysicist had to overcome“, LA Times, July 13, 2023
“An Astrobiologist’s Search for Life in Space—and Meaning on Earth“, WIRED, July 11, 2023
“July 2023 Reads for the Rest of Us“, Ms.Magazine, July 7, 2023
“19 July books to dive into this summer“, Good Morning America, June 27, 2023
“July 2023 Books by Black Authors We Can’t Wait to Read“, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 21, 2023
“Summer books: 40 new titles to make vacations more fun“, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 5, 2023
“Summer reading 2023“, Science, June 1, 2023
“Stars—They’re Just Like Us: New Books About Space“, Publishers Weekly, April 21, 2023
“Astrobiologist of the Month“, Lunatics, April 2023
“Most Anticipated Non-Fiction & Memoirs of Summer 2023“, Shereads, March 30, 2023
“‘Terminator zones’ on distant planets could harbor life, UC Irvine astronomers say”, UCI News, March 16, 2023
Featured Astronomer in Astrophysics Variety Hour Video produced by NASA’s Universe of Learning, March 29, 2022
“Aomawa Shields Visits Bowdoin as 2022 Kibbe Science Lecturer”, The Bowdoin Orient, February 25, 2022
“UCI’s Rising Stargirls Program Dawns Again This Summer”, UCI Physical Sciences Communications, January 19, 2022
StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson Season 12, Episode 22: “Cosmic Queries – Exoplanetary Exploration with Dr. Aomawa Shields”, August 31, 2021
“The Limit Does Not Exist” Podcast episode 111: “Star Power”, October 30, 2020
“Adler Planetarium’s Online Exhibit “Life on Other Worlds“, Adler Planetarium, October 13, 2020
“5 Women Writing About Science“, Wiki.Ezvid.com, July 8, 2020
Tonya Bolden’s book Changing the Equation: 50+ US Black Women in STEM March 16, 2020
How the Coolest, Smallest Stars Could Help Us Discover New Exoplanets
New Scientist, August 7, 2019
Oceans, Beaches, Cosmic Shorelines: Our Changing Views of Habitable Planets
NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration, June 18, 2019
The Importance of Women in STEM Aomawa Shields Features in Teen Vogue List of Female Advocates of STEM
Astrobiology at NASA-Life in the Universe, June 6, 2019
The Apollo 11 Moon Landing Anniversary Is a Reminder of the Importance of Women in STEM
Teen Vogue, June 5, 2019
Modeling the Climates of Worlds Beyond Earth
Earth and Space Science News, January 14, 2019
“Three UCI School of Physical Sciences Faculty Earn Prestigious NSF Early Career Awards”, UCI School of Physical Sciences Communications, June 18, 2018
“UCI Astronomer Wins NASA Habitable Worlds Grant to Study Surface Reflectivity of Exoplanets? UCI News, October 23, 2017
“What Do You Have to Do to Get a Water Covered Planet Around Here?“, Astrobites, June 1, 2017
“Astrobiology’s Rising Star“, UC News, February 7, 2017
“Faculty Highlight: Aomawa Shields“, Astronomy in Color, September 29, 2016
“What Should You Read This Summer? A Mega Reading List“, TED, July 20, 2016
“‘Super Earth’ 1,200 Light-Years Away Might Be Able to Sustain Life“, CBS News, June 2, 2016
“Kepler-62f Could Support Life and is 1,200 Light-Years Away“, Wired, May 31, 2016
“Planet Discovered 1,200 Light Years Away Could Support Life“, Huffington Post UK, May 30, 2016
“Is There Life on Kepler-62f? Rocky Planet 1,200 Light-Years Away Could Have Oceans of Water and Be Habitable“, Daily Mail, May 27, 2016
“Faraway Earth-Sized Planet Could Be Habitable“, Popular Mechanics, May 27, 2016
“Earth-Like Planet 1,200 Light Years Away ‘Could Be Habitable’“, Yahoo UK, May 27, 2016
“A Planet 1,200 Light-Years Away is a Good Prospect for a Habitable World“, UCLA Newsroom, May 26, 2016
“Kepler-62f: A Possible Water World“, Space.com, May 13, 2016
“Why I Changed My Life: Acting, Astronomy, and a One-of-a-Kind Career“, Glamour, May 10, 2016
“The Origins Project Announces Recipient of $10,000 Postdoctoral Lectureship Award“, February 24, 2016
“Aomawa Shields: Life in Unlikely Places”, Ozy.com, February 11, 2016
“Astronomer, actor, role model: TED Fellow Aomawa Shields looks for life on other planets“, TED blog, July 10, 2015
“NSF Fellow Pairs Art, Astronomy to Hook Girls on Science”, Education Week, March 18, 2015
“Rising Stargirls: Girls in Astronomy“, posted on Universe Awareness, February 16, 2015
“Rising Stargirls: Girls of All Colors Learning, Discovering, and Exploring” (posted on The Planetary Society Blog) February 7, 2015
“Postdoctoral scholar Aomawa Shields named 2015 TED fellow“, February 11, 2015
“Rising Stargirls: Girls of All Colors Learning, Discovering, and Exploring“, posted on the Women in Astronomy Blog, February 4, 2015
Talking exoplanets and alien life in WIRED magazine piece “The Best Bet for Alien Life May Be in Planetary Systems Very Different From Ours“, January 16, 2015
Mentioned in the Fall 2014 Newsletter of the University of Washington Astrobiology Program
“25 Women in Science Worth Promoting” , Dec. 21, 2014
Meet the 2015 class of TED Fellows and Senior Fellows
Profiled in the Fall 2014 issue of The Exeter Bulletin
“A warmer planetary haven around cool stars, as ice warms rather than cools”, UW Today, July 18, 2013
Quoted in article in Inside Science on Nick Cowan’s work “Mapping Distant Planet Surfaces Possible“, January 29, 2013
Featured in the Fall 2012 Newsletter of the University of Washington Astrobiology Program
Featured in the University of Washington Graduate Student Profiles, 2011
Co-host of the PBS/Wired magazine television show “Wired Science” in 2007
Photo: Ryan Lash/TED