I work with Prof. Jason Wright as a 4th-year graduate student in the Astronomy & Astrophysics Department at Penn State University, working towards a PhD with a dual title in Astrobiology.
My research primarily focuses on radio SETI and exoplanet science. My SETI interests are in proof of concept search techniques and analysis of high frequency resolution radio data to look for narrowband signals of non-anthropogenic origins,
distinct from known astrophysical phenomenon and indicative of technologically produced emission. My exoplanet science centers on characterizing the dusty effluents of a disitegrating exoplanet using JWST's MIRI instrument to conduct
mid-IR transmission spectroscopy of K2-22b. The aim of this research is to identify the building blocks of a terrestrial sized planet and gain a deeper understanding of the building blocks of rocky worlds in service of teasing out
the possible substrates for life in the universe.
Affiliations:
The Penn State Extraterrestrial Intelligence (PSETI) Center
The Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds (CEHW)
The Astrobiology Research Center
Using the MIRI LRS instrument on JWST we observed 4 predicted transits of K2-22b.
This project uses transmission spectroscopy to determine the composition of the dust cloud around this disintegrating exoplanet and ultimately measure the interior composition of a terrestrial planet around a main sequence star for the first time!
Observations were taken in April 2024.
(Image from Sanchis-Ojeda et al. 2015)
Searching for narrowband transmission in observations of TRAPPIST-1 with the ATA, with particular focus on planet-planet occultation events.
Paper submitted to AAS journals and pending review.
A proof of concept experiment for a new search strategy conducted by the Fall 2020 Graduate SETI class.
Paper published in AJ and on arXiv in August 2022.
(Image by Dani Zemba, Penn State)
The best way to reach me is currently via e-mail: