I am currently a second year graduate student in Astronomy at Boston University with in the BU White Dwarf Group. My research focus is in the stability and orign of white dwarf magnetic fields by anyalsising the rotation timing of spots on isolated white dwarfs. My intrests are also in Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) data.
I graduated from Emory University in May 2024 where I majored in Physics and Astronomy. During my time as an undergrade and through various REU programs I conducted research that focused on gyrochronology of Sun-like stars, classification of supernovae with convolutional neural networks, categorization of variable debris disk.
My CV can be found here. My current project is highlighted below.
White dwarfs offer a unique opportunity to study stellar magnetic field formation and evolution. Their magnetic fields vary widely in strength, suggesting diverse origins that are not yet fully understood. One hypothesis proposes that the stability of a white dwarf's magnetic field depends on its evolutionary history. White dwarfs formed through stellar mergers are expected to generate active dynamos that produce highly variable and unstable magnetic fields, whereas white dwarfs formed through single-star evolution may instead have a fossil field , a magnetic field inherited from a previous stellar stage.
In this project, we investigate the relationship between magnetic field stability and observable properties such as mass, temperature, and evolutionary stage. We measure the magnetic field stability by examining the photometric variability caused by spots on the surfaces of magnetic white dwarfs. To quantify the stablity of the rotation periods we construct Oberserved-minus-Calculated (O-C) diagrams for each isolated spottted white dwarf. We aim to assess the stability of a white dwarfs spot rotation over time to gain understanding of how the magnetic field is changing over time. Improving our understanding of these magnetic signatures provides insight into the evolutionary pathways that shape stellar remnants and the origins of magnetic fields in compact stars.