She received her BSc in Physics and Astronomy from UBC (1995) and her PhD in Astronomy from Harvard University (2001). Barmby’s research uses telescopes all over the world and in space to capture detailed images of nearby galaxies to determine how their stars, gas, dust, and black holes affect each other. She is interested in the use of computer data-mining techniques and community-developed software to facilitate knowledge extraction from astronomical data. She received the Faculty of Science’s Florence Bucke Prize in 2014. Her non-astronomical interests include knitting, curling, and running.