About Me

I am a fourth year graduate student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow at The University of Texas at Austin pursuing a PhD in Astronomy. My advisor is Prof. Brendan Bowler. We work on using long-term astrometric accelerations detected between Hipparcos and Gaia to find and characterize imaged exoplanets and brown dwarfs. My goal is to use astrometry and direct imaging to improve our understanding of the formation, demographics, and atmospheric evolution of wide-separation planet and brown dwarf companions. I have focused on two related projects at Texas: measuring dynamical masses of known substellar companions and searching for new planets and brown dwarfs around young accelerating stars through a multi-facility high-contrast imaging survey. Before coming to UT, I majored in Physics with a minor in Computer Science at the University of Michigan. There, I worked with Prof. David Gerdes on finding new minor planets in the outer solar system that were hiding in Dark Energy Survey data. I am also passionate about mentorship and outreach, serving as an informal mentor for several undergraduate students and co-organizing Starbound planetarium visits at local schools. Outside of astronomy, I love to play music. I play clarinet, piano, and the guitar; was in the marching band at Michigan; and even conducted a clarinet choir at one point!

Here is my CV, which contains an updated publication list.

Research

The Astrometric Accelerations as Dynamical Beacons Survey

I am leading a multi-facility high-contrast imaging survey of the most promising young, nearby accelerating stars to discover new long-period planet and brown dwarf companions. Stars are targeted that have significant proper motion difference between Hipparcos and Gaia that point to the presence of planets and brown dwarfs at separations accessible to direct imaging. Targets are first vetted with short high-resolution and speckle imaging sequences to remove binaries from our sample, which can produce the same small astrometric accelerations as closer-in planets and brown dwarfs. We then obtain deep, high-contrast imaging sequences of the remaining young and single accelerating stars to image the predicted planets and brown dwarfs. By focusing on stars with dynamical evidence of the presence of wide-separation substellar companions, my survey aims to be a more efficient route for discovering and characterizing new planets and brown dwarfs through direct imaging.

Discovery of HIP 21152 B: First Brown Dwarf Companion in the Hyades Cluster

The first discovery from our program is a brown dwarf companion around the accelerating Hyades (650 Myr) star HIP 21152. HIP 21152 B has a dynamical mass of 24 MJup, which is slightly lower than predictions from evolutionary models given the companion's age and luminosity. The object resides near the L/T transition, and has a separation of ~0.35 arcsec. This is the first imaged brown dwarf companion in the Hyades cluster.

Dynamical Masses of Known Substellar Companions

I also work on measuring dynamical masses of known substellar companions around stars with significant astrometric accelerations. The masses of imaged planets and brown dwarfs are traditionally inferred using evolutionary models and the luminosity and age of the companion. Rare cases where we can directly measure the mass of an imaged companion offer the opportunity to test these evolutionary models. Only about 20 substellar companions have dynamical mass measurements, which usually requires establishing the acceleration the companion induces on its host star. Hipparcos-Gaia astrometric accelerations offer an excellent opportunity to expand this list of benchmark systems.

Dynamical Mass of the Young Brown Dwarf Companion HD 984 B

HD 984 is a young field star with an imaged low-mass companion that has model-inferred masses that range from 30 MJup to 90 MJup, spanning both the brown dwarf and low-mass star regimes. The star exhibits a significant astrometric acceleration between Hipparcos and Gaia. We measured the dynamical mass of HD 984 B by combining the relative astrometry of the companion including new Keck/NIRC2 imaging, radial velocities from HARPS and the Habitable-Zone Planet Finder, and the Hipparcos-Gaia acceleration. We measured a dynamical mass of 61 ± 4 MJup, which places the companion firmly in the brown dwarf regime.