Come for the science
but stay for the cat pictures.

About Me

Hi there! I am a nontraditional, first-generation graduate student in my final year at the Institute for Astronomy (IfA) at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. I am broadly interested in many things related to stellar astrophysics and exoplanetary science. My thesis work uses photometric data from space missions like Kepler & TESS to better understand stars and planets.

I was born and raised in Upstate NY, in the beautiful Hudson Valley just outside the quaint town of Woodstock (yes, the original). My trajectory into astronomy was nonlinear, beginning after an 8-year-long fashion modeling career based out of New York City. One random day I decided I wanted to go back to school, receiving a B.Sc. in physics and a B.Sc. in mathematics (with focuses on statistics and applied mathematics) from SUNY Albany in 2016. I am very grateful for my undergraduate research experience at Stanford working with Bruce Macintosh, who ultimately inspired me to pursue a Ph.D. in astronomy.

Research Interests

Working with Daniel Huber, my thesis focuses on developing and applying data-processing techniques to space photometry data in order to extract the most precise stellar and planet properties possible.

I am currently supported by the National Science Foundation through Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP), which has enabled me to do part of my PhD at MIT working with Sara Seager. I have been working with her on target selection for a Small Sat Concept Study looking for nearby Earth analogues, which was recently selected by NASA for a one year concept study.