Summer Undergraduate Research Program Alumni

Summer 2021 - 21 students

Noah Bungart

Advisors: Tharindu Jayasinghe
Project: Modeling Detached Eclipsing Binaries with ASAS-SN and ABPOGEE DR17
Whereabouts:

Katherine Duray

Advisors: Annika Peter, Wayne Schlingman
Project: Dark Matter Planetarium Show
Whereabouts:

Madison Englerth

Advisors: Chris Orban, Wayne Schlingman
Project: Georges Lemaître and the discovery of the Expanding Universe
Whereabouts:

Simon Filbert

Advisors: Paul Martini
Project: BAL Quasars in DESI Data
Whereabouts:

Kevin Hoy

Advisors: Anil Pradhan, Sultana Nahar
Project: Modelling Phosphorus II Emission
Whereabouts:

Joshua Kingsbury

Advisors: Smita Mathur
Project: eRosita Bubbles: X-Ray Ghosts in Archival Spectra?
Whereabouts:

Parker Kuzma

Advisors: Patrick Vallely
Project: Determining Progenitor Star Radius Using Type II Supernovae Rise Times
Whereabouts:

Grant Lach

Advisors: Ji Wang
Project: K2-141 and its USP Planet
Whereabouts:

Kolya Larson

Advisors: Don Terndrup
Project: Broadband Optical/Infrared Variability in Quasar Spectral Energy Distributions
Whereabouts:

Matthew Lastovka

Advisors: Scott Gaudi
Project: Effects of Moons on Caustics and Critical Curves in Microlensing Events
Whereabouts:

Brynn Miller

Advisors: Jennifer Johnson, Wayne Schlingman
Project: Creation of Solar System Modules and Activities in the Planetarium
Whereabouts:

Kyle Neumann

Advisors: Chris Kochanek
Project: ASAS-SN 2018-2020 Supernova Catalog
Whereabouts:

Natalio Parker

Advisors: Sanskriti Das, Amy Sardone, Adam Leroy
Project: Neutral Hydrogen in the Circumgalactic Medium of Nearby Spiral Galaxies
Whereabouts:

Hannah Parsons

Advisors: David Martin
Project: Detrending Lightcurves to Search for Circumbinary Planets
Whereabouts:

Kayvon Sharifi

Advisors: Fiorenzo Vincenzo
Project: Li Abundances in the Milky Way
Whereabouts:

Yuanhao Shi

Advisors: Jennifer Johnson
Project: Label Transfer from APOGEE to LAMOST and BOSS
Whereabouts:

Rachel Slaybaugh

Advisors: Chris Hirata
Project: Predicted Constraints on Primordial Black Holes from the Roman Space Telescope
Whereabouts:

Avidaan Srivastava

Advisors: Ji Wang
Project: Identifying Fully Convective M-Dwarfs in TESS sectors 1 and 2
Whereabouts:

Logan Steele

Advisors: Samantha Benincasa, Adam Leroy
Project: HI Isolation and Scaling Relations in Galaxy Simulations
Whereabouts:

Malika Sunasara

Advisors: Ness Mayker, Adam Leroy, Laura Lopez
Project: Exploring the Relationship between NGC4321 Supernovae and H-alpha Emission
Whereabouts:

Aiden Zelakiewicz

Advisors: Samson Johnson
Project: Near-Infrared Extinction and Reddening Toward the Galactic Center
Whereabouts:

Summer 2020 - 18 students

Devin Bennett

Advisors: Marc Pinsonneault, Mathieu Vrard
Project: Classification of Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars
Whereabouts: 

Michaela Deming

Advisor: Anna Voelker
Project: Accessible Astronomy Outreach: SciAccess 2020 and Beyond
Whereabouts: 

Collin Christy

Advisors: Kris Stanek, Tharindu Jayasinghe Arachchilage
Project: The All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN) Citizen Science Project
Whereabouts: 

Evan Fitzmaurice

Advisor: David Martin
Project: Searching for the Next Tatooine: Identifying Circumbinary Planets with TESS
Whereabouts: 

Mitchell Halley

Advisors: Smita Mathur, Sanskriti Das
Project: X-ray Astronomy and Spectral Analysis: Identifying Active Galactic Nuclei
Whereabouts: 

Hannah Hermann

Advisor: Fiorenzo Vincenzo
Project: Developing a Chemical Evolution Model for Neutron-capture Elements,
Whereabouts: 

Jared Kolecki

Advisors: Ji Wang, Jennifer Johnson
Project: Measuring Elemental Abundances in Metal-Poor Stars
Whereabouts: 

Jacob Krebs

Advisors: Jennifer Johnson, Marc Pinsonneault, Fiorenzo Vincenzo
Project: Alpha/Fe Trends in SDSS Data: the Effects of Star Formation History and Type 1a Supernovae
Whereabouts: 

Jessica Kulp

Advisors: Rick Pogge, Wayne Schlingman
Project: Recreating the Origins of the Elements Planetarium Show
Whereabouts: 

Lily Loyer

Advisors: Marc Pinsonneault, Mathieu Vrard
Project: Analyzing Unusual Stars: Discovery of Strange Oscillation Frequencies on the Kepler Field
Whereabouts: 

Melissa Mikalsen

Advisor: Wendy Panero
Project: Modeling Metal-Silicate Differentiation to Predict Super-Earth Core Composition
Whereabouts: 

Maria Pudoka

Advisor: Donald Terndrup
Project: Stellar Rotation and Youth in G- and K- Type Field Dwarfs
Whereabouts: Graduating Spring 2021

Michael Rothman

Advisors: Anil Pradhan, Sultana Nahar, Bilal Shafique
Project: Simulating Spectra of Exoplanetary Atmospheres: Calculating Transmission Energies and Opacities
Whereabouts: 

Luca Schmitt

Advisor: Donald Terndrup
Project: SimBAL: Understanding Quasar Outflows
Whereabouts: 

Robert Von Holle

Advisor: Barbara Ryden
Project: Active Galactic Nuclei and the Correlated Properties of Neighboring Galaxies
Whereabouts: 

Miqaela Weller

Advisor: Jennifer Johnson
Project: Using Radial Velocity Variations to Detect Compact Objects Orbiting Massive Stars
Whereabouts: 

Michael Winfield

Advisor: Yi-Kuan Chiang
Project: Analyzing WISE Survey Magnitude Measurements Using Clustering Redshift Approach
Whereabouts: 

Yuanyuan Yang

Advisor: Christopher Hirata
Project: Models of Polarized Lyman-alpha Emission from Reionization
Whereabouts: 

Summer 2019 - 11 Students

Jackie Appel

Advisor: Richard Pogge and Danielle Berg
Project: Probing the ADF and Chemical Abundances in the Far-Ultraviolet in M101
Whereabouts: Graduated Spring 2020

Abby Aronica

Advisor: Matthew Penny
Project: Building a Galactic Synthesis Model to Aid in the Detection of Planets Through Microlensing
Whereabouts:

Nick Clawson

Advisor: Rochard Pogge
Project: Correcting for the Distortion of Sloan and Dupont Telescopes Using Zhao-Burge Polynomials
Whereabouts:

Serena Cronin

Advisor: Dyas Utomo and Adam Leroy
Project: The Local Environments of Low-Redshift Supernovae
Whereabouts: Graduating Autumn 2020

Ian Dela Cruz

Advisor: Heidi Wu
Project: Weak Gravitational Lensing of Galaxy Clusters in LSST DESC DC2
Whereabouts:

Dhvanil Desai

Advisor: Barbara Ryden
Project: Galaxy Alignment with Surrounding Large-Scale Structure
Whereabouts: Graduated Spring 2020, ASAS-SN Analyst at OSU

Conor Hayes

Advisor: Johnny Greco
Project: An Environmental Analysis of Four Ultra-Diffuse Galaxy Candidates
Whereabouts: Graduated Spring 2020, Graduate Student at York University

Rani Hinnawi

Advisor: Anil Pradhan
Project: Recalculating Fe-XVIII Opacity Using Flexible Atomic Code (FAC)
Whereabouts: Graduated Spring 2020

Nikki Justice

Advisor: Don Terndrup
Project: Angular Momentum Loss in Eclipsing Binaries: a Modern Statistical Analysis
Whereabouts: Graduated Spring 2020

Victoria Niu

Advisor: Paul Martini
Project: Better Cosmological Measurements with BAL Quasars
Whereabouts: Graduated Spring 2020, Graduate Student at Pennsylvania State University

Jack Warfield

Advisor: Marc Pinsonneault and Jennifer Johnson
Project: Revealing the Ages of Red Giants in the K2 Fields
Whereabouts: Graduated Spring 2020, Graduate Student at University of Virginia

Summer 2018

Dominic Flournoy

Advisor: Barbara Ryden
Project: Early vs. Late Type Galaxy Shape Alignment
Whereabouts: Graduated Spring 2019

Zoey Samples

Advisor: Scott Gaudi and Radek Poleski
Project: Modeling Microlensing Events Precisely for Binary and Triple Lens Systems with Low Mass Planets and Moons
Whereabouts: Graduated Spring 2019

Ness Mayker

Advisors: Danielle Berg and Richard Pogge
Project: Using the Balmer Jump to Measure Temperature in HII Regions
Whereabouts: Graduated Spring 2019, Graduate Student at The Ohio State University

Krisann Stephany

Advisor: Richard Pogge
Project: Developing a Planetarium Program for Outreach to School Groups
Whereabouts: Graduated Spring 2019

Summer 2017

Connor Basinger

Advisor: Prof. Don Terndrup
Project: Stellar Rotation and Ages
Whereabouts: Graduated Spring 2018, Graduate Student at The Ohio State University

Erica Behrens

Advisor: Prof. Adam Leroy
Project: Demographics of Star-Forming Regions in Nearby Galaxies
Whereabouts: Graduated Spring 2020, Graduate Student at University of Virginia

Grace Calhoun

Advisor: Prof. Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg (Anthropology)
Project: Sexual Dimorphism in the Geometry of Modern Human Canines
Whereabouts: Graduate Student at University of Florida

Zhiyuan Guo

Advisor: Prof. Paul Martini
Project: BAL Quasar Identification
Whereabouts: 

Aishwarya Srivastava

Advisor: Prof. Annika Peter
Project: Estimation of Dark Matter Halo Mass
Whereabouts: 

Summer 2016

Malinda Baer

Advisor: Richard Pogge
Project: CHAOS: Chemical Abundances of Spiral Galaxies
Whereabouts: Graduation expected Spring 2018

Grace Calhoun

Advisors: Donald Terndrup
Project: A Preliminary Analysis on the Binary Star Systems J1355 and J1435
Whereabouts: Graduation expected Spring 2017

Macy Huston

Advisors: Matthew Penny and Scott Gaudi
Project: A New Milky Way Model for Microlensing Predictions
Whereabouts: Graduation expected in 2018

Fangze Liu

Advisor: Smita Mathur
Project: Time-dependent soft X-ray absorption in gamma-ray burst afterglows
Whereabouts: Graduation expected in 2018

Joe Schulze

Advisor: Donald Terndrup
Project: Characterization of LP 133-373: A Detached Eclipsing dMe Binary
Whereabouts: Graduation expected in 2017

Andy Taylor

Advisor: Todd Thompson
Project: The Effect of Kozai Oscillations on Eccentricity Distributions and Merger Rates of Compact Objects
Whereabouts: Graduation expected in 2018

Summer 2015

Rachel Cannata

Advisor: Don Terndrup
Project: Examining Contamination in the Kepler Field
Whereabouts: Graduated 2017, Graduate Student at The Ohio State University

Derrick James

Advisors: Barbara Ryden
Project: The Green Valley: Separating Galaxy Populations in Color-Magnitude Space
Whereabouts: Graduation expected Spring 2017

Michael Macuga

Advisor: Paul Martini
Project: Galaxy and Black Hole Growth in the Early Universe
Whereabouts: Graduation expected in 2017

Summer 2014

Denise Hung

Advisors: Kevin Croxall and Richard Pogge
Project: Temperatures Derived from Metallicity Abundances for Two Metal-Rich and Two Metal-Poor Galaxies
Whereabouts: Graduate Student in Astronomy, University of Hawai'i

Jacob Luhn

Advisors: Matthew Penny and Scott Gaudi
Project: Circumbinary Planets in Microlensing
Whereabouts: Graduate Student in Astronomy, Penn State University

Rebecca O'Sha

Advisor: Barbara Ryden
Project: The Alignment of Early-Type and Late-Type Galaxies in the SDSS
Whereabouts: Graduation expected in 2016

Paul Zivick

Advisor: Paul Sutter
Project: Observable indicators of f(R) gravity in cosmic voids
Whereabouts: Graduate Student in Astronomy, University of Virginia

Summer 2013

Alec Alvarez

Advisor: Scott Gaudi
Project: Filter Optimization of the WFIRST Telescope
Whereabouts: Software Intern

Erika Wagoner

Advisor: Jennifer Johnson
Project: Quantifying the M Dwarf Problem
Whereabouts: Graduate student at the University of Arizona

Summer 2012

Brittney Curtis

Advisor: Barbara Ryden
Project: Warped Disk Galaxies in SDSS DR8
Whereabouts: Epic Systems

Zachary Hartman

Advisor: Carsten Rott
Project: Solar WIMP Sensitivity in PINGU
Whereabouts: Graduate Student in Astronomy, Georgia State University

Jacob Jencson

Advisor: Kris Stanek
Project: Examining the Evolution of Supernova 2010jl
Whereabouts: Graduate student at Caltech

Adam Kavka

Advisor: Andy Gould & Rick Pogge
Project: Searching for Exoplanets in Microlensing Event OGLE 0617
Whereabouts: Graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University

Summer 2011

Andrew Gallagher

Advisor: Barbara Ryden
Project: Searching for Dark Galaxies via their Distorted Companions in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Whereabouts: Graduate student at University of Maryland

Johnny Greco

Advisor: Paul Martini & Todd Thompson
Project: Probing the Mass Distribution and Stellar Populations of M82
Other: Goldwater Fellow, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Whereabouts: NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at The Ohio State University

Daniel McGregor

Advisor: Andy Gould & Rick Pogge
Project: Testing Microlensing Assumptions in the Event MB11093
Whereabouts: Graduate student in Math at The Ohio State University

Elizabeth Otto

Advisor: Jennifer Johnson
Project: Chemical Abundances of CH Stars in Omega Centauri
After Graduation: Graduate student at UC Santa Cruz
Other: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Whereabouts: We Teach Science

Ethan Palay

Advisor: Anil Pradhan
Project: Nebular Temperature and Density Diagnostics with Far Infra-Red [O III] Lines
Paper: Palay, Nahar, Pradhan, & Eissner 2012, MNRAS, 423, 35
Whereabouts: Graduate student in Physics at the Colorado School of Mines

Summer 2010

Lawrence Capruder

Advisor: Scott Gaudi & Marc Pinsonneault
Project: Solar Mass Loss and the Faint Young Sun Paradox
Whereabouts: MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Li-Wei Hung

Advisor: Andy Gould & Rick Pogge
Project: Searching for Extrasolar Planets in the Microlensing Event MB10311
Whereabouts: Graduate student at UCLA
Other: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Anna Kwa

Advisor: Jennifer Johnson
Project: Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor Stars
Whereabouts: Graduate student at UC Irvine

Mallory Molina

Advisor: Brad Peterson
Project: Inter-Percentile Velocity Widths of Spectral Lines for AGN Black Hole Masses
Other: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Whereabouts: Graduate student at Penn State University

Jessica Orwig

Advisor: Jennifer Johnson
Project: Metallicities of M Giants in the Galactic Halo
After Graduation: Graduate School in Science Writing, Texas A&M University         
Whereabouts: Science Reporter, Business Insider Magazine


Summer 2009

Dina Drozdoz

Advisor: Barbara Ryden
Project: Spin Statistics of Spiral Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Whereabouts: Graduate student at Clemson University

James Mertens

Advisor: Kris Sellgren
Project: Measuring Reddening towards the Galactic Center
Whereabouts: Graduate student in Physics at Case Western University

Cameron Nelson

Advisor: Andy Gould & Rick Pogge
Project: Placing Constraints on a Binary Gravitational Microlensing System
Paper: Skowron et al. 2011, ApJ, 738, 87
Whereabouts: Graduate student in Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona

Jacob Parks

Advisor: Don Terndrup & Marc Pinsonneault
Project: Distance to Open Clusters from Main Sequence Fitting
Whereabouts: Graduate student in Physics at The Ohio State University

Eric Suchyta

Advisor: Jim Beatty
Project: AURA Attenuation Length
After Graduation: PhD in Physics at The Ohio State University
Whereabouts: Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania

Summer 2008

Jesse Buxton

Advisor: Barbara Ryden
Project: The Alignment of Binary Spiral Galaxies
Paper: Buxton & Ryden 2012 ApJ, 756, 135
Whereabouts: Graduate student in Physics at The Ohio State University

Julie Djordjevic

Advisor: Donald Terndrup
Project: Stellar Rotation in Open Clusters
Whereabouts: Graduate student at University of Hertfordshire, UK

Edward Golowacz

Advisor: Smita Mathur
Project: XMM-Newton Observations of the NLS1 J1430-0011
Whereabouts: CPC Processor for Career Education Corp.

Julie Janczak

Advisor: Andy Gould & Rick Pogge
Project: Searching for Planets with Gravitational Lensing
Paper: Janczak et al. 2010, ApJ, 711, 731
Whereabouts: MS in Physics at The Ohio State University, 2012

Jacob Mayer

Advisor: Jim Beatty
Project: MATLAB Model of Electronics for AMBER
Whereabouts: Teacher, Reynoldsburg City Schools

Man-Hong Wong

Advisor: Paul Martini
Project: OSMOS: Ohio State MultiObject Spectrograph
Whereabouts: Graduate student in Physics at the University of Illinois
Other: Advanced Light Source Doctoral Fellowship, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Summer 2007

Timothy Arnold

Advisor: Paul Martini
Project: Morphology of AGN Hosts in Clusters
Paper: Arnold et al. 2009, ApJ, 707, 1691
Whereabouts: iOS Developer, Friends of the Web, Baltimore, MD
Other: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, MS University of Arizona

Megan Comins

Advisor: Brad Peterson
Project: Systematic Errors in Black Hole Mass Measurements using Reverberation Mapping
Whereabouts: Graduate student in Astronomy at Cornell

Garrett Elliott

Advisor: Scott Gaudi
Project: Detection of Kuiper Belt Objects via Stellar Occultation
Whereabouts: Graduate student at the University of Hawai'i

Nathaniel Ross

Advisor: Chris Kochanek
Project: Microlensing in SDSSJ1004+4112
Paper: Ross et al. 2009, ApJ, 702, 472
Whereabouts: Graduate school at UCLA

Cayman Unterborn

Advisor: Barbara Ryden
Project: Inclination-Based Extinction Effects on Spiral Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Paper: Unterborn & Ryden, 2008, ApJ, 687, 976
After Graduation: Teach for America
Whereabouts: Graduate student in the School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University

Christopher Williams

Advisor: Jim Beatty
Project: The RF Performance of the ANITA Experiment
After Graduation: PhD in Physics at the University of Chicago
Whereabouts: Postdoc at Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology