I am a Physics Teaching Specialist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where I lead discussion and lab sections for introductory physics classes. I was previously an Astronomy Educator at the Bell Museum in St. Paul. I conducted virtual astronomy programs for school groups of all ages and presented live planetarium shows for school groups the general public.
I recently completed my Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory. I earned my B.S. in Astronomy and Physics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2015 and my M.S. in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Arizona in 2018.
I have a strong interest in science education and public engagement. I have worked with groups like the Teen Astronomy Cafe, Astronomy Camp, and Project ASTRO, where I collaborated with teachers and students for hands-on astronomy learning. For more information, please see the Science Communication section.
I study gravitationally lensed dusty star-forming galaxies originally discovered by the South Pole Telescope (SPT). In observing these galaxies, I study what the universe looked like one billion years after the Big Bang. I use the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to study resolved, rest-frame far-infrared fine-structure lines. Dusty star-forming galaxies are some of the most extreme objects in our universe, forming thousands of solar masses in stars each year. My goal is to study the structure of these galaxies, determining where the gas is in the galaxies and how it is moving. Please see the Research section for more information and a list of publications.
Contact: [email protected]