Moiya McTier, Ph.D.

Moiya McTier, Ph.D. is an astrophysicist, folklorist, and science communicator based in New York City. She is the author of the 2022 book The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy.

After graduating from Harvard as the first person in the school’s history to study both astronomy and mythology, Dr. McTier earned her Ph.D. in astrophysics at Columbia University where she was selected as a National Science Foundation research fellow.

Dr. McTier has consulted with companies like Disney and PBS on their fictional worlds, helped design exhibits for the New York Hall of Science, and given hundreds of talks about science around the globe (including features on MSNBC, NPR, and NowThis News). To combine her unique set of expertise, she hosts and produces the Exolore podcast that explores fictional world-building through the lens of science.