Haley Gomez
Haley Gomez (née Morgan) (born 1979) MBE, FRAS, FLSW is a Welsh Professor of Astrophysics at Cardiff University. She studies the formation and evolution of cosmic dust using the Herschel Space Observatory. She is Deputy Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy. She was awarded an Order of the British Empire in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honour’s. Early life and education Gomez was born in Barry and educated in a state school. She earned an undergraduate degree at Cardiff University in 2001. She was the first in her family to go to university and was inspired by Vera Rubin. She stayed at Cardiff University for her postgraduate study, where she completed a PhD with Mike Edmunds and Steve Eales. Her PhD thesis "The Origin and Evolution of Dust", explored the origins of smoke-sized particles in space. She graduated in 2004 and was awarded the Royal Astronomical Society prize for the best UK doctoral thesis. Research and career Gomez was awarded a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Fellowship which allowed her to remain at Cardiff University. She presented her research to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace. She identified that supernovae could be factories of cosmic