RESEARCH
Undergraduate Research Project Feb ‘24 - Present
Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University
Mori Research Group with contributor Prof. Charles Hailey, Kaya Mori PhD
Fifty years after its founding, the Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory (CAL) continues to thrive as a recognized center for world-class forefront research, and as the nexus for interdepartmental research between Physics and Astronomy.
In my project I analyzed and confirmed the first ever observation of Compact Cloud Clumps on the interaction site of a molecular cloud and supernova remnant; this involved developing new Chandra data analysis techniques to differentiate point vs extended sources; this was also the first demonstration of Non-thermal Bremsstrahlung radiation being used to illuminate a Compact Cloud Clump - Publication is in progress.
Working as a part of an international team conducting an extensive Chandra survey of the galactic center where I developed a non-proprietary tool based on a Maximum Likelihood Estimator that can quantify the likelihood of potential sources in raw Chandra data being true sources versus fluctuations in background noise; this was critical in resolving sources in the low exposure, high background data.
Undergraduate Research Project May ’25 - Present
Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University
Rafael Martínez-Galarza PhD, Deputy Director of AstroAI
I was invited to spend the summer doing a paid research project the CfA in Boston working under Dr Martínez-Galarza. The CfA is an amazing institution with and home of AstroAI and the Chandra X-Ray telescope.
My project using archival Chandra X-ray data from the Chandra Source Catalogue to build a neural network in python that can produce a background map for an observation when given a raw event file; this is a very useful tool for Chandra analysis. Research work continues.
Video of my Research Presentation:
Introduction at 0:00
Presentation Start at 0:36
Research Assistant Nov ‘18 - Aug ‘21
School of Mathematics & Physics, University of Queensland
Professor Tamara Davis AM FAA
This research project set out to more accurately determine the cosmological redshift of the accelerating expansion of the universe. Along with several of Tamara's PhD students we used collected data from the Anglo-Australian Telescope to analyze spectral data from a range of galaxy types to a new level of accuracy. Utilizing MARZ software to redshift FITS files containing approximately 300 spectra per file from 2dF. We used direct visual comparisons as AI systems are not yet reliable for this task.
I received an acknowledgement in the published paper:
Improving the Determination of Supernova Cosmological Redshifts by Using Galaxy Groups (arXiv:2408.14560v2 [astro-ph.CO] 5 Feb 2025)
Professor Davis was very generous with her time and graciously offered a letter of recommendation for my application to Columbia:
CONFERENCES
Chandra/CIAO Workshop - 19 to 23 May 2025
University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA
Astro AI Workshop - 7 to 11 July 2025
Harvard University, Center for Astrophysics, Boston, MA
NASA JPL Workshop - 21 to 25 Sep 2020
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD
NASA scientist Prof. David Flannery led a hands-on application of Physics, Mathematics, Coding and Robotics in a 7-day study of the 2020 Mars Rover Mission.
PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAMS - on campus
Stanford University Pre-College Summer residential program “The Frontiers of Physics”.
Our class of 15 students also used the Stanford Particle Accelerator.
Prof. Paul McCullough (Jun 24 - Jul 12, 2019)
Harvard University Pre-College Summer residential program “The Fundamentals of Particle Physics”. A class of 15 students taught by Dr. Carissa Cesarotti. (Jun 29 - Jul 10, 2020)
WORLD SCIENCE SCHOLAR Graduate
The World Science Scholars is a 2-year program of online lectures and coursework covering a broad range of the latest cutting-edge science. Impressively, each 8-week topic is taught by a leading expert in their field, including Nobel laureates and world-famous scientists.
Professor Brian Greene created and personally leads this amazing initiative. My intake of 30 students came from 7 countries. I was the only Australian and the first time an Aussie had participated. This was a once in a lifetime experience for which I am very grateful and thank the wonderful Foundations who make the whole enterprise possible. I graduated in June 2021.
Prof. Tamara Davis AM
Stanford University
The CIAO crew at Lowell MA
Backstage with Professor Brian Cox
