Our current graduate students are engaged in a wide variety of research projects summarized below.
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Mark Ammons
I am currently working in the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics (LAO) on a Multi-Object Adaptive Optics (MOAO) testbed, in support of the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) and the Gemini MCAO projects. I am also involved in the construction of a visible light LGSAO system for the 1-meter Nickel telescope at Lick Observatory. My current science interest is combining HST imaging of AGN at intermediate redshifts with Keck K-band AO data, in collaboration with the CfAO Treasury Survey (CATS), to investigate the formation history of the bulges in those systems. (Advisor: Max, Koo) |
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Jacob Arnold
I am interested in the dynamics involved in the evolution and interaction of galaxy systems, in particular, the processes involved with close galaxy passes and mergers. However, there are many other interesting areas of astrophysics that I would be content to pursue. |
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Judy Cheng
I am currently working with Sandra Faber and Genevieve Graves at UC Santa Cruz to study the properties of red galaxies. I am trying to determine a method of classifying red galaxies imaged by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using an automated program. Of particular interest is a method of distinguishing between red elliptical galaxies and red disk galaxies. These two types are likely to have followed different evolutionary tracks, and classifying a large samples of red galaxies is the first step toward understanding the nature of these differences.
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Candace Church Canandace Church
I'm primarily interested in studying type-II supernovae with (magneto)hydrodynamics codes. I'm currently using the FLASH code to model the Rayleigh-Taylor instability that mixes the stllar layers as the explosive shock propagates through the star. This instability determines the nucleosynthetic yields and influences the observation signatures of type-II supernovae. |
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Kathy Cooksey
My research centers around
characterizing metals in the intergalactic medium, primarily at low redshift. I
am working with archived HST/STIS spectra, complemented by FUSE and GHRS spectra, and in the
near future,
synthetic spectra from hydrodynamic simulations. (Advisor: Prochaska) |
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Erica Davis
My main research interests are in Galactic structure and extrasolar planets. I am currently researching the structure of the outer Galaxy at low latitudes using SEGUE (Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration) photometic data, and I am also involved in a project concerned with the possible detection of earth-like planets in the Alpha Centauri system. |
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Karrie Gilbert
I am part of a team that is investigating the structure, kinematics, and
metallicity of the Andromeda Galaxy's newly discovered extended stellar halo.
Using the DEIMOS spectrograph on the Keck telescope, we are able to isolate Red Giant Branch stars in Andromeda from dwarf stars in our
own galaxy. This allows us to explore the halo of the Andromeda galaxy out to very large radial distances. I am particularly interested
in probing the amount
and characteristics of substructure in the halo of the Andromeda galaxy,
and comparing our observations to what is predicted from simulations of the formation
of galactic halos. Advisors:Guhathakurta (Andromeda) and Madau (Black
Holes) |
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Valentino Gonazlez-Corvalan
Currently, I'm working with LRIS (Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) data to study the complexity of the DEEP 2 (Deep Evolutionary Probe) survey sample. The sub-sample I'm working with corresponds to galaxies whose redshift couldn't be identified with the original DEIMOS (Deep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph) spectra. The initial goal of my project is to find out the reason for that with a big potential of finding sub-samples of interesting and not yet studied objects. (Advisor: David Koo)
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Genevieve
Graves
I am working to understand the nature of red sequence galaxies: What are
the range of
galaxy types that wind up on the red sequence? What are
their star formation histories? How and when did they move onto the red
sequence? I address these questions using
stellar population models to
determine ages and chemical abundances for sets of stacked SDSS spectra. (Advisor: Faber,
Koo) |
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Javiera Guedes
I'm currently working on the dynamics of black hole recoil and its role on galaxy evolution. The recoil is caused by strong, beamed gravitational wave emission during a black hole merging even and may result in the ejection of black hole system from its host galaxies. This process may be responsible for the depletion of black holes at the center of dwarf galaxies and globular clusters and lead to a population of black holes in the IGM. |
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James Guillochon
I am currently using numerical simulations coupling hydrodynamics and radiation to study close encounters between main sequence stars and black holes. In addition, I look at the light produced in these simulations to predict what these events would look like to observers on Earth. I am also interested in other computational astrophysics problems. |
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Justin Harker |
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Kirsten Howley
I am currently working on a project involving the interaction between the dwarf elliptical, NGC 205 and the Andromeda spiral galaxy. Other interests including galaxy-galaxy lensing, weak gravitational lensing (cosmic shear), cosmic strings, and numerical optimization techniques.
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Jess Johnson
My research
interests are currently divided in two directions. I am working with Don Gavel, Claire Max, and
the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics, investigating new methods of wavefront
sensing (Pyramid Wavefront
Sensing) and new configurations for adaptive optics systems (Woofer/Tweeter AO). I am also beginning to
work with Greg Laughlin, investigating both
the modeling of planetary atmospheres and mechanisms for the
dispersal of life through the galaxy. |
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Evan
Kirby
Primarily, I study the star formation histories of dwarf galaxies using data from AEGIS (All-Wavelength Extended Groth International Survey).
Additionally, I am finishing up two DEEP2 (Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe) projects:
confirming the identity of Lyman alpha emission lines observed in the optical and deriving spectroscopic
redshifts for galaxies whose spectra display only one emission line. In the near future, I plan
to work with Shannon Patel to examine DEEP2 spectra with principal components analysis. |
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Bulent Kiziltan
My primary research focuses on Neutron Stars,
Pulsars, Supernova Remnants and related phenomena. I am
currently a part of the GLAST (Gamma-Ray Large Area Sky Telescope) collaboration. We are trying to review
the current
status of pulsar observations and their implications to evolutionary theories. In the past, I
have been involved with the radio observations of pulsars in Arecibo, Puerto Rico;
X-ray observations of
Neutron stars in SNRs with Chandra; and creating a pipeline+database for Hubble-WFPC2 parallel data. In the
future, I am planning on getting more involved
with 3-D anelastic magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of
Neutron Star-Magnetar formation, Gamma-Ray observations of pulsars as well as modelling orbital behaviour
of extrasolar
planets. (Advisor: Thorsett) |
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Priya Kollipara
I am interested in cosmology and galaxy formation and evolution. My current research studies the manner in which galaxies acquire mass via mergers vs. smooth gaseous infall and examines the resulting impacts on the star formation rate, galactic morphologies, and stellar chemodynamics.
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Nick Konidaris
My research is focused on testing star formation history
models in the Extended Groth Strip (EGS). The EGS
is the premier field for this work, as it provides deep imaging from X-Ray to Radio. I am particular
interested in advanced
algorithms to take advantage of the large quantities of data in hand. In addition,
the engineering side of me works on the design and construction of the Automated Planet
Finder. (Advisor: Faber, Koo) |
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Katherine Kretke
My main research interest is planet formation. I am currently working with Doug Lin studying dust grain growth and dynamics
in protoplanetary
disks. |
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David Lai
I am working on the
abundances of extremely metal poor stars (Fe/H <~
-3). These potentially provide constraints on the early chemical
evolution of the Galactic halo. By accurately determining
the
metallicities of these stars, the metal-poor end of the metallicity
distribution can also be better constrained. These stars also provide
an ideal site to find clues about
nucleosynthesis in the early Galaxy. (Advisor: Bolte) |
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Laura Langland-Shula
I'm using HIRES on the Keck telescopes to try to confirm the
discovery
of sodium in the atmosphere of the transiting extrasolar giant planet
HD209458B. I am also studying links between comets and circumstellar
disks. (Advisor:
Smith) |
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Laura Lopez
My primary research interests are in high-energy astrophysical phenomena (e.g., jets, accretion disks, explosions). Presently,
I am working with Dr. Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz to develop new
mathematical approaches to quantify ejecta properties in supernova
and gamma-ray burst explosions. We apply methods to measure the
relative distributions and abundances of individual ions as a
means to probe the explosion histories and evolutions of SNR and
GRBs. (Advisor: Ramirez-Ruiz) |
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Haitao Ma
I am currently using a 2D
grid-based code to study the carbon ignition in type Ia supernovae. I plan to use 3D spectral
method to study this in the future. Also I am interested in studying convection in
massive stars with 2D and 3D numerical
simulation. (Advisor: Woosley) |
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Sarah Martell
I am studying the chemical abundances of red giant stars in globular clusters associated with the Milky Way. There are distinctive abundance patterns observed in globular cluster red giants which are not observed in analogous halo stars, and one goal of my research is to understand that difference in the context of hierarchical galaxy formation.
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Stefano Meschiari
I am intersted in working on theoretical topics in the field of stellar dynamics and celestial mechanics. In particular, I am interested in the understanding and modelling of the structure of elliptical galaxies; the formation and dynamical properties of extrasolar planetary systems; N-body simulations of stellar systems; and the role of chaos in galaxies. |
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Neil Miller
I am interested in stellar physics, and more generally hydrodynamics and magnetohydrodynamics in all astrophysical contexts. Recent work has been in modeling convection with Reynolds stress closure models.
(Adviser: Garaud)
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Ryan Montgomery
At present I'm doing simulations of the late stages of terrestrial planet
formation and looking at the possibilities for detecting them via transits
around low mass stars. My thesis will probably be doing simulations of
planet-planet collisions and seeing what dynamic and emission effects would
result. (Advisor:
Laughlin) |
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Katie Morzinski
Katie does research
for the CfAO in the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics.
She studies how the physical characteristics of MEMS deformable mirrors
affects their performance, and how this limits
aberrations that can be
corrected for with AO. This work focuses on the extreme adaptive optics
coronagraphic planet-imager being developed for the Gemini telescope. (Advisor:
Max) |
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Mark Mozena
I am working with Claire Max, David Koo, and Mark Ammons on the COSMOS field. I am using observations from HST and Keck adaptive optics. I am studying the color and size of the bulge to disk components of galaxies. I am looking at the morphology of the bulge and disk components in K and I bands. I am using GALFIT, Gim2D, and GALAPAGOS to make these multicomponent fits of the galaxies.
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Jill Naiman
I am interested in computational and theoretical astrophysics with a possible emphasis on accretion disk theory.
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Greg Novak
I'm most interested in the origin, evolution, and structure of extrasolar planets. |
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Shannon Patel
I study galaxies in the outskirts of two massive clusters at z~0.8 that will become cluster members by z=0. While these infalling galaxies will transform into the familiar passively evolving ellipticals and S0s that occupy the cores of clusters today, at half the age of the universe their morphologies and star formation histories may have been very different. The goal of my thesis is to understand the properties of these future cluster members using a combination of ground based (Keck, Magellan, du Pont) and space based data (HST, Spitzer, Chandra).
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Lindsey Pollack
I'm interested in learning about
the history of star formation in galaxy mergers. To estimate
overall star formation rates and to understand where stars preferentially form in merging systems,
I'm currently
analyzing images of NGC 6240 taken by the Hubble Space Telecope and by the Keck
Telescope, using the adaptive optics system. In addition to learning about stellar populations
in
this merging galaxy system, I'd also like to understand the kinematics of the merger by comparing
the observations to simulations of mergers. (Advisor:
Max) |
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Gabriel Prochter
I'm working on several projects, mostly in the field of Quasar Absorption. My main focus is on Strong Mg II absorption
andLyman Limit Systems. On the Mg II side we have compiled a database of absorbers culled from the SDSS Data Release 3 (> 7000
systems). This database allows us to probe the
density of such systems and how that density evolved during the early epochs
of galaxy formation. We are interested to learn how these systems arrise and persist, and what that
can tell us about the
formation of galaxies and stars. Our Lyman Limit System studies are aimed at collecting high resolution spectra of around
100 systems. These systems,
though easily detected in Quasar spectra, are currently a surprisingly understudied class of
absorbers, and may possibly be the bridge between galaxies and the IGM. They may be
a significant resevoir of both HI gas
and metals in the universe, and could shed light on processes of galaxy formation and feedback into the IGM. (Advisor:
Prochaska) |
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Anne Rajala
I am working with Claire Max and Mark Ammons on OSIRIS integral field spectroscopy of NGC6240, two colliding AGN. My current focus involves using the stellar kinematics of CO bandhead absorption in the central parts of each nucleus to find constraints on masses of the black holes. |
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Luke Roberts
I am interested in stellar explosions and nucleosynthesis. Currently, I am working on understanding nuclear reaction flow during type I x-ray bursts using monte carlo techniques to determine how sensitive the nuclear energy generation rate is to uncertainties in particular nuclear reactions.
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Sally Robinson
I am interested
in planet formation and detection. For my second-year
project, I have developed a way to get precise (+/- 0.08 dex) [Fe/H]
estimates from low-resolution spectra, and I am using
it to survey
nearby stars and identify good targets for planet searches. I am also
starting a project on high-resolution linear stability analysis of
protostellar disks. For
my thesis, I hope to use both simulations and
observations to study chemical differentiation of protostellar disks. (Advisor:
Laughlin) |
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Kate Rubin
I am studying white dwarfs in open clusters for my second-year project. I hope to further constrain
the
relationship between the main sequence masses of stars and the masses of the white dwarfs they produce. (Advisor:
Bolte) |
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Kevin Schlaufman
I'm interested in star formation, galactic structure, and applications of probability and statistics to theoretical and observational astronomy, in particular stochastic modeling, multivariate analysis, and data mining. (Advisor: Rockosi) |
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Scott Seagroves
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Jeremy
Wertheimer
I am interested in galactic dynamics and the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Currently, I am working
with data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to study the distribution of stars in our galaxy. (Advisor: Rockosi) |
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