Amy Mainzer is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 astronomer

Astronomer

An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...

, specializing in astrophysical instrumentation and infrared astronomy. She is the Deputy Project Scientist for the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer is a NASA infrared-wavelength astronomical space telescope launched on December 14, 2009, and decommissioned/hibernated on February 17, 2011 when its transmitter was turned off...

 and the Principal Investigator for the NEOWISE project to study minor planets. She has appeared a number of times in the History Channel series The Universe

The Universe (TV series)

The Universe is an American documentary television series that features computer-generated imagery and computer graphics of astronomical objects in the universe plus interviews with experts who study in the fields of cosmology, astronomy, and astrophysics...

. She also appears in the documentary featurette "Stellar Cartography: On Earth" included on the Star Trek Generations home video release (March 2010).

Asteroid (234750) Amymainzer

234750 Amymainzer

234750 Amymainzer is an outer main belt asteroid. It was discovered by NEAT on July 8, 2002 at Palomar Observatory. 234750 Amymainzer is named after Amy Mainzer, an American astronomer, specializing in astrophysical instrumentation and infrared astronomy....

 was named after her.

Mainzer holds the following qualifications:

• B.S.
  Bachelor of Science
  A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
  
   in Physics, Stanford University
  Stanford University
  The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
  
  , with honors (1996)
• M.S.
  Master of Science
  A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
  
   in Astronomy, California Institute of Technology
  California Institute of Technology
  The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
  
   (2000)
• Ph.D.
  Doctor of Philosophy
  Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
  
   in Astronomy, University of California
  University of California
  The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
  
  , Los Angeles (2003)

Her research interests include: asteroids, brown dwarfs, planetary atmospheres, debris disks, star formation

Star formation

Star formation is the process by which dense parts of molecular clouds collapse into a ball of plasma to form a star. As a branch of astronomy star formation includes the study of the interstellar medium and giant molecular clouds as precursors to the star formation process and the study of young...

as well as design and construction of new instrumentation for ground and space.