Graduate Fellows
Ryleigh Davis
Graduate Student, Planetary Science
I am a graduate student in Planetary Science working with Mike Brown. My research aims to combine spectroscopy from ground and space-based telescopes with laboratory experiments and spectra to identify the presence of specific salt species and disentangle their origin and potentially complex history and role within the surface chemistry of icy satellites. In particular, I am interested in probing the surface composition of Jupiter's icy moon Europa, which we hope to use as a window towards understanding the chemistry of its subsurface, salty ocean.
Julie Inglis
Graduate Student, Planetary Science
I am a graduate student in Planetary Sciences primarily working with Heather Knutson. My goal is to understand the formation and evolutionary pathways of giant planets on extreme orbits by using spectroscopy to characterize their atmospheres. My work involves a variety of techniques using both ground-based telescopes like Keck and space-based telescopes such as HST and JWST to probe the molecular abundances and structure of these atmospheres, which we can then compare with predictions from formation and evolutionary models.
Hemani Kalucha
Graduate Student, Geobiology
I'm a graduate student in Geobiology working with Mike Brown, and co-advised by Woody Fischer. I am interested in life detection on the surface of Europa and how we can determine the origin and age of organic signatures on the surface with spectroscopy. Towards this goal, I create bacteria ice mixtures maintained at Europa surface pressure and temperature and irradiate them to understand how bacteria are chemically changed by radiation in an ice matrix using Raman and infrared spectroscopy.
Christina (Tina) Seeger
Graduate Student, Geology
I am a graduate student in Geology working with John Grotzinger to understand the history of water on Mars--particularly the movement of groundwater during and after surface water flow--using data from the Curiosity rover as it investigates the geology of Gale crater. I'm interested in understanding links between surface processes on Earth, Mars, and bodies across the Solar System.
Noah Tashbook
Graduate Student, Geobiology
I study astrobiology and paleontology with Professors John Eiler and Joe Kirschvink, looking at the co-evolution of life and Earth environments through deep time, with a particular focus on biomineralization and post-depositional metasedimentary processes. We use stable isotope geochemistry and paleomagnetic tools to constrain and reconstruct the early Earth and protoplanetary disk of both our solar system and exoplanetary systems. Our research utilizes a wide range of samples, from bacterial microfossils to asteroidal dust grains to biotissues from extant organisms. I am also interested in how the biosphere affects global biogeochemical cycles.
Jerry Xuan
Graduate Student, Astronomy
I'm a graduate student in Astronomy working with Dimitri Mawet, and co-advised by Heather Knutson. I am interested in understanding how giant planets form and evolve, and how they shape and influence their natal planetary systems. Towards this goal, I've been studying giant planet and brown dwarf atmospheres using high-resolution spectroscopy from Keck and measuring their dynamical masses and 3-D orbits using astrometry, radial velocity, and imaging data.