CV

Hi! I am an Astronomy PhD candidate at Indiana University - Bloomington (IU), graduating May 2026. I am broadly interested in exoplanetary and planetary research, as well as mission development and support, and I am an alumnus of NASA's 2023 Planetary Science Summer School (PSSS). My dissertation, under the advisorship of Dr. Songhu Wang, involves the use of numerical and observational efforts to constrain the origins of so-called "hot Jupiters" and other gas giants on close-in orbits to their host stars. Additionally, I am very passionate about scientific outreach and service, and am PI on a NASA Space Grant aimed at bringing astronomy and Python to pre-college students and the greater public of Indiana (read more about it here).

Me in front of the nearly fully-assembled 
									Europa Clipper spacecraft at JPL.

I previously earned my B.S. in Astronomy-Physics as well as Physics, in addition to a Certificate in Computer Sciences, from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in May of 2020.

I'm a native midwesterner and when not doing science, I am likely on my feet either hiking, running, climbing, or playing ultimate frisbee (more about me here).

Research Highlights

Stellar obliquities of exoplanetary systems

Measuring the spin-orbit angles of short-period giant planets via the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect to infer their evolutionary history or intrinsic properties.

N-body simulations of multi-planet exoplanetary systems

Observationally-motivated numerical simulations of short-period giants in multi-planet systems to test certain evolutionary pathways.

Planetary and mission science

A novel mission concept for an orbiting spacecraft at Saturn's moon, Titan, and a summary of science overlaps to NASA's upcoming HWO flagship mission, as part of a community working group.

AGN activity across cosmic time

Constraining the evolution of AGN density, luminosity, and spectral type as a function of redshift.

Atomic, molecular, and optical physics

Development of electronics, software, and optical systems for use in quantum computation with neutral atoms.