I am a PhD student based at the Cosmic Dawn Center advised by Sune Toft, with Peter Capak (fmr. Caltech/IPAC), Henry McCracken (IAP), and Dave Sanders (IfA/Hawaii). I received my Masters degree in 2018 from the University of St Andrews advised by Vivienne Wild. My research focuses on the assembly and evolution of galaxies across the history of the Universe, through direct observation with optical and infrared telescopes from both space and the ground.
Previously, I have interned as a summer researcher at the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy, Leiden Observatory, and the Maria Mitchell Observatory. I also led the creation of the spectroscopy database AVSpec for the American Association of Variable Star Observers. Beyond academia, I am a frequent contributor to popular science publications including the paper digest Astrobites, and have been a long-time volunteer at public observatories. |
Recent Projects |
GALAXY SURVEY
The COSMOS2020 Catalog PAPER | PRESENTATION The COSMOS Survey is one the longest-running galaxy surveys. Over two decades, we have observed x-ray, optical, infrared, and radio light to obtain galaxy distances and understand their evolution over 13.7 billion years of cosmic history. I lead the 2020 edition of the master galaxy catalog, using bleeding-edge galaxy profile-fitting techniques to measure galaxy properties. SOFTWARE
The Farmer: Reproducible profile-fitting photometry for next-gen surveys ADS | PRESENTATION While the increasing depth and area of galaxy surveys promise definitive high-redshift studies, ever more crowded fields challenge current photometric methodology. The Tractor (Lang & Hogg 2016) leverages galaxy morphology to perform robust profile-fitting of sources. We present the Farmer, a comprehensive interfacing software to detect sources, efficiently determine the best model type for each source, and perform forced photometry in a scalable architecture, resulting in demonstrably superior deblending and robust photometric redshifts. |
The Cosmic Dawn Center
DAWN is an international basic research center supported by the Danish National Research Foundation. DAWN is located in Copenhagen at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, and at the Space division of the Danish Technical University (DTU-Space). We are one of the largest groups in the world dedicated to the pursuit of galaxy evolution, and as such have a wealth of experience in data analysis, simulations, theory, and observation. |