Astrophysics PhD candidate
I study black holes and galaxy clusters using X-ray observations.
I’m a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. My research explores active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback at all scales, from outflows close to the black hole to feedback's impact on the gas in galaxy clusters. I use X-ray observations from XRISM, Chandra, eROSITA, XMM-Newton, NuSTAR and Swift.
Before I came to Chicago, I earned my undergraduate degree in physics at Washington University in St. Louis, where I studied the X-ray binary GX 301-2 with NICER. I then spent two years in Germany completing my master’s in astrophysics at the Argelander-Institut für Astronomie at Universität Bonn, studying the outskirts of the Virgo Cluster with eROSITA.
I use X-ray observations to study how black holes interact with their environments.
M87 · A new view with XRISM
XRISM · Galaxy cluster kinematics
M87, the central galaxy of the Virgo Cluster, offers a close-up view of AGN feedback in a cluster. I led a study using XRISM to measure the motions of hot gas in its innermost regions, probing feedback on scales as small as 5 kiloparsecs.
Perseus Cluster · X-arithmetic
Chandra · X-arithmetic
Black holes in galaxy clusters create structures in the hot gas around them. I applied X-arithmetic, an image-analysis technique, to 15 galaxy groups and clusters observed with Chandra to efficiently identify the nature of these structures.
2022 — present
PhD, Astronomy & Astrophysics · In progress
Thesis: X-ray View of the Interplay Between Active Galactic Nuclei and their Host Halos.
2020 — 2022
MSc, Astrophysics
Thesis: X-ray imaging analysis of the Virgo Cluster with eROSITA. Read the published work.
2016 — 2020
BA, Physics · High Distinction
Minors in Mathematics and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
The University of Chicago
William Eckhardt Research Center, room 526
5640 South Ellis Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60637