Faculty in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics are theorists, observers, and experimentalists engaged in forefront research from cosmology and astroparticle physics to exoplanet science. Click here to download an electronic brochure of faculty research. Graduate students in Astronomy and Astrophysics begin research while completing Core courses through enrolling in ASTR 37100 Pre-Candidacy Research. The course fosters opportunities to explore a wide range of research areas, broaden astrophysical understanding, and engage with faculty on short-term projects that students present as part of their Candidacy Exams. Frequently these projects lead to published papers; however, students may pursue a thesis topic in a different area than their pre-candidacy research.
Gourav Khullar
Gourav (preferred gender pronouns: he/him/his) is part of the South Pole Telescope Clusters collaboration. He studies the formation and evolution of galaxies in massive galaxy clusters via multi-wavelength probes and works toward understanding the physics of galaxies in the high redshift universe using strong gravitational lensing. Gourav is an author and education researcher with Astrobites, a collaboration of graduate students who write accessible bite-sized versions of astrophysical arXiv literature, and co-founder of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Journal Club, a grassroots safe space for early career research scientists to facilitate peer education and reform against marginalization and discrimination faced by members in the astrophysics community.
Adina Feinstein
Adina works on stellar activity of young stars, detection and characterization of young planets, machine learning methods for automated light curve searches and young star identification, and open-source software development. She uses ground-based telescopes like the Magellan Telescopes in Chile and Gemini-North in Hawai`i, and space-based telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, and the James Webb Space Telescope for her research.