About Me

I'm an Astrophysics Ph.D. Candidate and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at UC Berkeley. My research focuses on the dectection and characterization of extrasolar planets. I completed my undergraduate education at the University of Maryland, College Park, before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area for my Ph.D. I have worked on a variety of problems in exoplanetary science ranging from 3D simulations of cloudy hot Jupiters to modeling exomoon transits in noisy datasets. Currently my research focuses on identifying and characterizing potential target stars and systems for the planned Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), which will directly image and spectroscopically characterize habitable zone exoplanets to search for evidence of life. When I'm not thinking about astronomy, I enjoy hiking, birding, admiring my cat, and exploring the produce section at Berkeley Bowl.
My pronouns are they/them.

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Research

Planets are among the most fascinating phenomena in the Universe. As remnants of star formation, they help tell the story of how solar systems form and evolve over time. Decades of detailed investigation have shown that they are an extremely diverse class of small objects, spanning a vast range of sizes, masses, temperatures, and environments. Perhaps most intriguingly, they are the only objects known to support the phenomenon of biology. We are still in the earliest stages of understanding planets beyond our Solar System, enabled by cutting-edge astrophysics and recent technological advancements. I use telescopes on the ground and in space, combined with the tools of computer science, statistics, mathematics, and physics, to discover and characterize new planets, investigate their atmospheres, and study their potential to be habitable.

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Other Projects

Sometimes I work on coding side projects for fun. These range from fully open-source Python packages to little pedagogical animations/demos. Feel free to use these for your own needs, as long as you remember to give me credit where credit it due!

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