About - Seiji Fujimoto

Short Biography

I grew up in a rural town in Kyoto, Japan, surrounded by mountains that sparked my early curiosity about the world. I played baseball passionately until elbow injuries forced me to stop at 15, after which I took up badminton and Double Dutch — eventually becoming a world champion of Double Dutch in 2014.

Driven by a fascination with the unknowns of the universe, I earned my PhD in astronomy from the University of Tokyo in 2019. I enjoyed my postdoc life as a DAWN Fellow in Copenhagen and a NASA Hubble Fellow in Austin before joining the University of Toronto as a faculty member in 2025. My research focuses on distant galaxies and black holes, using multi-wavelength observations from world-class telescopes such as JWST and ALMA.

Outside of astronomy, I enjoy traveling, playing sports, photography, camping, and board games — but above all,
I find joy in sharing simple good times with friends.

Curriculum Vitae

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Work Experience

2025–present: Assistant Professor, University of Toronto, Canada
2022–2025: NASA Hubble Fellow, UT Austin, USA
2021–2022: Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND INTERACTIONS Fellow, Cosmic Dawn Center, Denmark
2019–2022: DAWN Fellow, Cosmic Dawn Center, Denmark
2019: ALMA Project Researcher, NAOJ / University of Waseda, Japan
2019: ICRR Project Researcher, University of Tokyo, Japan

Education

2016–2019: PhD in Astronomy (University of Tokyo)
Thesis: Demographics of the cold Universe with ALMA: From Interstellar and Circumgalactic Media to Cosmic Structures (Supervisor: Prof. M. Ouchi)
2014–2016: Master of Astronomy (University of Tokyo)
Thesis: ALMA Faint-mm Sources Down to 0.02 mJy: Physical Origins and Contribution to the Extragalactic Background Light (Supervisor: Prof. M. Ouchi)
2010–2014: Bachelor of Astronomy (University of Tokyo)
Thesis: Search for Dusty Starburst Galaxies at z > 6 (Supervisor: Prof. K. Kohno)

Award & Prize

2023: The ASJ Young Astronomer Award Recipients
2022: NASA Hubble Fellowship
2022: Inoue Research Award for Young Scientists
2021: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Seal of Excellence
2019: University of Tokyo School of Science Research Award for PhD Thesis
2019: Springer Thesis Prize
2016: University of Tokyo School of Science Research Award for Master Thesis
2016: Institute for Cosmic Ray Research President's Award for Master Thesis
2015: University of Tokyo President's Award

PI Grant & Funding

2025–2028: NASA JWST Cycle4 PI Award, USD 1,287,810 (US admin: D. Coe, J. Chisholm)
2025–2027: NASA JWST Cycle3 PI Award, USD 218,086
2024–2026: NASA JWST Cycle2 PI Award, USD 63,617
2022–2024: NASA JWST Cycle1 PI Award, USD 85,945 (US Admin: E. Egami)
2022–2025: NASA Hubble Fellowship, USD 417,215
2022–2024: NASA Keck PI Awards, USD 28,725
2021–2022: INTERACTIONS Fellowship, USD ∼123,000

Publications

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First author

Journal Article: (16 published/submitted; Full list also available from ADS and Google Scholar)
16. Fujimoto, S., Naidu, R., Chisholm, J., et al. (ApJ, 989, 49, 2025)
GLIMPSE: An ultra-faint ≃10⁵M_⊙ PopIII Galaxy Candidate and First Constraints on the PopIII UV Luminosity Function at z ≃ 6–7
15. Fujimoto, S., Ouchi, M., Kohno, K., et al. (Nature Astronomy in press)
Primordial Rotating Disk Composed of ≥15 Star Forming Clumps at Cosmic Dawn
14. Fujimoto, S., Bezanson, R., Labbé, I., et al. (ApJS, 278, 45, 2024)
DUALZ -- Deep UNCOVER-ALMA Legacy High-Z Survey
13. Fujimoto, S., Wang, B., Weaver, J., et al. (ApJ, 977, 2, 2024)
UNCOVER: A NIRSpec Census of Lensed Galaxies at z = 8.50–13.08 Probing a High AGN Fraction and Ionized Bubbles in the Shadow
12. Fujimoto, S., Kohno, K., Ouchi, M., et al. (ApJS, 275, 36, 2024)
ALMA Lensing Cluster Survey: Deep 1.2 mm Number Counts and Infrared Luminosity Functions at z ≃ 1–8
11. Fujimoto, S., Arrabal-Haro, P., Dickinson, M., et al. (ApJL, 949, 25, 2023)
CEERS Spectroscopic Confirmation of NIRCam-Selected z ≳ 8 Galaxy Candidates with JWST/NIRSpec: Initial Characterization of their Properties
10. Fujimoto, S., Ouchi, M., Nakajima, K., et al. (ApJ, 964, 2, 2024)
JWST and ALMA Multiple-Line Study in and around a Galaxy at z = 8.496: Optical to FIR Line Ratios and the Onset of an Outflow Promoting Ionizing Photon Escape
9. Fujimoto, S., Finkelstein, S., Burgarella, D., et al. (ApJ, 955, 130, 2023)
ALMA FIR View of Ultra High-redshift Galaxy Candidates at z ∼ 11–17: Blue Monsters or Low-z Red Interlopers?
8. Fujimoto, S., Brammer, G., Watson, D., et al. (Nature, 604, 261, 2022)
A dusty, compact object bridging galaxies and quasars at cosmic dawn
7. Fujimoto, S., Oguri, M., Brammer, G., et al. (ApJ, 911, 99, 20, 2021)
ALMA Lensing Cluster Survey: Bright [C II] 158 μm Lines from a Multiply Imaged Sub-$L^{\star}$ Galaxy at z = 6.0719
6. Fujimoto, S., Silverman, J. D., Bethermin, M., et al. (ApJ, 900, 1, 2020)
The ALPINE-ALMA [C II] Survey: Size of Individual Star-forming Galaxies at z = 4–6 and Their Extended Halo Structure
5. Fujimoto, S., Oguri, M., Nagao, T., et al. (ApJ, 891, 64, 8, 2020)
Truth or Delusion? A Possible Gravitational Lensing Interpretation of the Ultraluminous Quasar SDSS J010013.02+280225.8 at z = 6.30
4. Fujimoto, S., Ouchi, M., Ferrara, A., et al. (ApJ, 887, 107, 17, 2019)
First Identification of 10 kpc [C II] 158 μm Halos around Star-forming Galaxies at z = 5–7
3. Fujimoto, S., Ouchi, M., Kohno, K., et al. (ApJ, 861, 7, 12, 2018)
ALMA 26 Arcmin² Survey of GOODS-S at One Millimeter (ASAGAO): Average Morphology of High-z Dusty Star-forming Galaxies in an Exponential Disk (n ≃ 1)
2. Fujimoto, S., Ouchi, M., Shibuya, T., et al. (ApJ, 850, 83, 21, 2017)
Demonstrating a New Census of Infrared Galaxies with ALMA (DANCING-ALMA). I. FIR Size and Luminosity Relation at z = 0–6 Revealed with 1034 ALMA Sources
1. Fujimoto, S., Ouchi, M., Ono, Y., et al. (ApJS, 222, 1, 28, 2016)
ALMA Census of Faint 1.2 mm Sources Down to ∼ 0.02 mJy: Extragalactic Background Light and Dust-poor, High-z Galaxies