She received her A.B. in astronomy and astrophysics and physics from Harvard University in 1995. In 2002 she earned her Ph.D. in planetary science from the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Stewart’s research interests include collisional processes, planet formation, and the evolution of planetary surfaces. She is the director of the Shock Compression Laboratory at Harvard University, where she conducts impact experiments on planetary materials to simulate large impact events and collisions in the solar system.