About Me

Hello! I am a second-year Astronomy PhD student at the University of Florida, working with Dr. Jamie Tayar to calculate the masses and ages of low-metallicity (old) red giants using asteroseismology and recent TESS data.

Background

I grew up in Johns Creek, GA (just north of Atlanta) and have always known that I wanted to study stars! I went to Georgia Tech and graduated with a B.S. in Physics with an Astrophysics Concentration. I also spent two summers as a NASA intern (first at Goddard and then Marshall) before coming to UF for grad school. I'm passionate about outreach, and work with the Scientist in Every Florida School program to do planetarium shows at local public schools and get young students excited about astronomy. Outside of astronomy, I enjoy watching movies, baking, and hanging out with my cat!

Research

I enjoy research that uses observations to determine and study the properties of stellar populations so that we can better understand stellar and galactic evolution. Currently, my research focuses on asteroseismology, which studies acoustic oscillations in stars to determine characteristics such as age, mass, and radius. My research has only deepened my interest in stars, and I plan to further explore stellar characterization throughout grad school. I have also enjoyed my research in observational high-energy astronomy, and hope to participate in a study that combines it with my stellar astronomy research. If you'd like to read more about my research, please check out my page about it here.

Created by Corin Marasco (Aug. 2023, updated Jan. 2024)