Rich Townsend

I'm a Professor within the Department of Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I arrived at UW-Madison in Fall 2008, having followed a rather meandering post-graduate career path that started at University College London; veered off into voluteer work and the Real World; and then — after a few years back at UCL — took me across the ocean to the University of Delaware, where I was a research scientist for a while. Since fall 2020, I've been serving as the Chair of the Department.

My research interests are quite varied, but mostly focus on the stellar structure, evolution and seismology. I lean toward the more theoretical side of the field, although I do like to go observing when the chance presents itself.

Outside of work, I enjoy mucking around with computers (on both software and hardware sides); gaming; cooking; gardening; building and flying drones; and playing Dungeons & Dragons with my daughter.

A copy of my Curriculum Vitae can be found here. And, if you want to learn more about where I come from, have a gander at the Townsend Family Records.