Heckman’s research has focused on the evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes. He has authored or co-authored nearly 500 scholarly publications which have been cited nearly 75,000 times. He has given over 100 invited talks at national and international conferences and symposia. He has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and to the National Academy of Sciences, named by Thomas Reuters as a one of “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds,” was awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, has been named a Sackler Distinguished Lecturer and a Sackler Distinguished Visitor, and has been elected an Overseas Fellow of Churchill College of the University of Cambridge.