Research. Discover. Inspire.

Dr. Adam J. Burgasser is an observational astrophysicist, educator, and author. He is a professor and founding faculty member of the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at UC San Diego, where he directs the Cool Star Lab. He studies the coldest stars, brown dwarfs, and extrasolar planets—work that includes defining the T dwarf spectral class, discovering the first halo brown dwarfs, and discovering and analyzing the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. He has published over 900 articles in astrophysics and education research. He is co-author of How to Critically Read the Scientific Research Literature: Introducing the CERIC Method, with Genevive Bjorn (Cambridge University Press, 2026), an evidence-based method for reading research with free resources at cericmethod.com.