↳ Astronomer · Science Communicator · Public Scholar
VP of Science Engagement, Adler Planetarium &
Principal Investigator, Zooniverse
Connecting people to the universe through cutting-edge participatory research, public scholarship, and a belief that discovery belongs to everyone.
Credit: The Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois
About
Dr. Laura Trouille has been leading the Adler Planetarium's Science Engagement efforts since 2015, serving as VP of Science Engagement. The Division includes the Adler's Zooniverse Team and the Astronomy Department. Her work is guided by a core belief: science is most powerful when the public is invited not just to observe it, but to participate in it.
Before her leadership role at the Adler, she held a joint astronomer appointment between Northwestern University and the Adler, after serving as a CIERA Postdoctoral fellow studying galaxy evolution and the role of supermassive black holes, while simultaneously collaborating with the School of Education on how to integrate computational thinking into K-12 STEM education.
She earned her B.A. summa cum laude in Physics from Dartmouth College and her Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She maintains a Visiting Scholar affiliation with CIERA at Northwestern University.
Zooniverse
As Principal Investigator of Zooniverse, Dr. Trouille leads the world's largest platform for participatory research — a global collaboration among the Adler Planetarium, the University of Oxford, and the University of Minnesota.
The platform welcomes millions of volunteers to contribute to real research, from classifying galaxies and hunting for exoplanets to analyzing gravitational wave data and tagging wildlife. At the same time, with so many eyes on the data, Zooniverse has led to numerous serendipitous discoveries of the unusual, rare, and unexpected.
The Adler hosts over half of the Zooniverse web development and research infrastructure team, working in close partnership with colleagues at Oxford and Minnesota. In 2023, the platform was recognized by the White House OSTP as a Champion of Open Science.
"Democratizing access to scientific spaces and discovery … not only advances research, but also builds trust in science and fosters meaningful engagement within our global community."
— Dr. Laura Trouille
Research
Dr. Trouille leads research into the learning and attitudinal impacts of participation in citizen science projects — including large-scale volunteer surveys, studies of personal values and engagement patterns, and the integration of human classification with machine learning methods.
↳ Science Education ResearchDr. Trouille's original doctoral research focused on the evolution of galaxies and the properties of galaxies hosting supermassive black holes. This work, pursued at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, examined how central black holes influence the large-scale structure and fate of their host galaxies.
↳ Observational AstrophysicsDuring her postdoctoral work at Northwestern University, she continued research into how supermassive black holes affect their host galaxy — combining observational astronomy with computational approaches to characterize the role of active galactic nuclei in galaxy formation and evolution.
↳ Post-doctoral Research · Northwestern/AdlerThrough the Gravity Spy project, Dr. Trouille supported the team in pioneering the use of hybrid human+machine classification techniques for analyzing LIGO gravitational-wave detector noise. Volunteer classifications now routinely support detector characterization studies across the global gravitational wave community.
↳ LIGO · Zooniverse CollaborationAs part of the Planet Hunters TESS team, Dr. Trouille helped engage the public in discovering planets around distant stars and obtaining follow up telescope time to confirm candidates. This work has contributed directly to peer-reviewed discoveries and helped further demonstrate the power of crowd-sourced astronomical analysis.
↳ NASA TESS · Planet HuntersAlongside her astronomy research while at Northwestern University, Dr. Trouille investigated effective ways to embed computational thinking into high school STEM curricula and effectively provide training workshops for teachers in these materials.
↳ STEM Education · K-12 & UndergraduateInitiatives
Adler's Astronomy Conversations program brings practicing researchers — Adler astronomers and 100+ researchers across Chicagoland and beyond — directly onto the museum floor to engage guests about their cutting-edge research. Dr. Trouille herself regularly participates, speaking on topics from citizen science to galaxy evolution. Guests steer the conversation toward any astronomical topic that sparks their curiosity.
Learn more →Far Horizons is the Adler's high-altitude balloon program, sending experiments to the stratosphere aboard weather balloons and engaging students, volunteers, and the public in real hands-on space science and engineering. Since 2006, the program has launched over 100 stratospheric missions carrying hundreds of experiments. Its Mission NiteLite initiative maps light pollution using cutting-edge balloon-based imaging technology.
Explore Far Horizons →As VP of Science Engagement, Dr. Trouille leads a vibrant community of in-house researchers, engineers, data scientists, and science educators. The Adler's research mission is grounded in authenticity: public scholars who engage museum guests and online audiences directly in their work — from seeding youth programs with real research questions to communicating results across both professional and public channels to engage a global community of volunteers in real research through Zooniverse.
Research at the Adler →Background
Recognition
Contact
Interested in collaborations, speaking engagements, Zooniverse partnerships, or research inquiries? Dr. Trouille welcomes new connections from researchers, educators, science communicators, artists, and institutions worldwide.
"Providing the public direct access to professional researchers is a powerful tool in conveying the excitement about, and building trust in, science and scientific results."— Adler Planetarium Research Value Statement
Adler Planetarium
1300 S. DuSable Lake Shore Dr.
Chicago, IL 60605