Research Interests:  Theoretical and observational studies of extragalactic transients, including core-collapse supernovae and kilonovae. Development of statistical and deep learning methodologies for wide-field surveys, such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time and Nancy Grace Roman Observatory.

Professor Villar received her B.S. in Physics from MIT in 2014 and her Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics from Harvard University in 2020. She was formerly a Simons Junior Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University (2020-2021) and a faculty member at Penn State University (2021-2023), before joining the Harvard Astronomy faculty in 2023.