Kelle Cruz is an
astrophysicist who specializes in studying
brown dwarfs. She currently works as an associate professor at
Hunter College in
New York City. With her study of brown dwarfs, Cruz hopes to better understand planets outside the
Solar System and map out the
universe, saying, "I hope that what I’m doing in our little bit of the galaxy is similar to what the explorers did by discovering and mapping the New World and North America."[1]