Curriculum Vitae
Curriculum Vitae
- 37Publications
- 55Invited talks
- 18Students advised
- 5Courses developed
Appointments
- 2023–Present
Assistant Professor, Department of Astronomy
San Diego State University
- 2022–2023
UC Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship
UC San Diego
- 2022–2023
NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship
UC San Diego
- 2020–2022
ITC Postdoctoral Fellowship
Harvard University
- 2017–2020
NASA Einstein Postdoctoral Fellowship
Harvard University
Education
- 2017
Ph.D., Astronomy & Astrophysics
UC Santa Cruz
Thesis: The Destructive Birth of Massive Stars & Massive Star Clusters
- 2012
M.S., Astronomy & Astrophysics
UC Santa Cruz
- 2009
B.A., Physics & Astrophysics (double major)
UC Berkeley
- 2007
Community College Transfer Student
Los Angeles Pierce College
Grants & Funded Proposals
Total obtained as PI: $174,825
- 2019
Co-I — Chandra Observation, Cycle 21 (awarded 100 ks)
A Super Star Cluster is Born: Probing the X-ray Emission of H72.97-69.39 in LMC-N79
- 2014
PI — Chandra Theory, Cycle 16
To Leak or Not to Leak: Where are the Missing X-ray Photons from Massive Star Clusters?
- 2013
PI — Hubble Archival, Cycle 21
Simulating the Birth of Massive Star Clusters: Is Destruction Inevitable?
Awards & Honors
- 2026
Assigned Time for Research (Fall 2026)
SDSU Division of Research & Innovation
gravax: Population-Scale Star Cluster Inference with Differentiable Dynamics
- 2024
ATHENA Faculty Champion
SDSU
- Fall 2024
DRI GREW Fellowship
Division of Research & Innovation, SDSU
- 2017
Rodger Doxsey Dissertation Prize
American Astronomical Society
- 2016
ARCS Foundation Fellowship
- 2016
AAUW American Dissertation Year Fellowship
- 2015
Excellence in Mentoring Award
UC Santa Cruz Astronomy Department
- 2014, 2016, 2017
AAS International Travel Grant
- 2011
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
- 2009
Daniel Edward Wark Memorial Scholarship
UC Berkeley
- 2008
NASA Minority Initiatives Internship
NASA JPL
- 2008
NASA MUST Internship
NASA JPL
- 2007–2008
NASA MUST Scholarship
- 2007
NSF REU Internship
UC Davis Physics Department
- 2007
Alexander Frolich Award
Los Angeles Pierce College
- 2007
NASA JPL Undergraduate Scholars Award
Los Angeles Pierce College
- 2006
Thomas McCutcheon Award
Los Angeles Pierce College
Selected Publications
Confidently Wrong: Why Ignoring Binaries Biases IMF Inference at Large Sample Sizes
A Massive Star is Born: How Feedback from Stellar Winds, Radiation Pressure, and Collimated Outflows Limits Accretion onto Massive Stars
The Role of Outflows, Radiation Pressure, and Magnetic Fields in Massive Star Formation
Massive Star Formation via the Collapse of Subvirial and Virialized Turbulent Massive Cores
HARM²: A Highly Parallel Method for Radiation Hydrodynamics on Adaptive Grids
An Unstable Truth: How Massive Stars get their Mass
Selected first-author work — see plain-language summaries on the publications page, or the full record of 37 on ORCID.
Invited Talks
55 invited and 36 contributed talks to date. A selection:
- 2025
Invited Talk, Star Formation, Stellar Feedback, and the Ecology of Galaxies
Visegrád, Hungary
- 2024
Invited Talk, TOSCA — Topical Overview on Star Cluster Astrophysics
Siena, Italy
- 2024
Invited Talk, The Fullness of Space: Celebrating the Career of Christopher F. McKee
Berkeley, CA
- 2024
Invited Colloquium, Simons Center for Computational Astrophysics
New York, NY
- 2024
Keynote Speaker, Cal Poly Pomona Annual Women in Physics Seminar
Pomona, CA
- 2024
Invited Colloquium, University of Indiana Astronomy Colloquium
- 2023
Invited Talk, Resolving Galaxy Ecosystems Across All Scales
Sha Tin, Hong Kong
- 2023
Invited Colloquium, Johns Hopkins University / STScI
Baltimore, MD
- 2023
Invited Keynote, Science with the Line Emission Mapper
Harvard–Smithsonian CfA
- 2022
Invited Talk, IAU Challenges & Innovations in Computational Astrophysics
- 2022
Invited Colloquium, Durham University Astronomy Department
Durham, UK
- 2021
Invited Colloquium, Caltech Astronomy Colloquium
Pasadena, CA
- 2021
Invited Colloquium, Royal Observatory of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, Scotland
- 2020
Invited Review Talk, Radiation Hydrodynamics: Implementation & Application
RAS, London, UK
- 2019
Invited Review Talk, ISSI Star Formation Workshop
Bern, Switzerland
- 2018
Invited Talk, Gas Fueling of Galaxy Structures, Astro 3D
Barossa Valley, Australia
Teaching
- Fall 2025
- Spring 2025, 2026
- Spring 2024, 2025, 2026
- Spring 2026
- Fall 2024
COMP 521 — Introduction to Computational Science
Advising & Mentoring
Graduate students
- 2025–Present
Surinder Singh Chhabra
Masters Student, SDSU
ORBIT-RAG: Orchestrated Retrieval with Balanced Iteration & Termination for Astrophysics Research
- 2024–Present
Aisling Ascuna
Masters Student, SDSU
Lead Developer, Sim2SKIRT: an RMHD simulation-to-synthetic-observation pipeline with SKIRT
- 2023–2024
Zoe Bozich
Masters Student, SDSU
Modeling the Evolution of Accreting Protostars with MESA
- 2022–Present
Paarmita Pandey★
PhD Student, OSU
Fermi Observations of the Diffuse γ-ray Emission of Young Massive Star Clusters
- 2022–Present
Jennifer Rodriguez★
PhD Student, OSU
Tracing the Impact of Stellar Wind Feedback in N79 & 30 Doradus in the LMC with Chandra
- 2020–2023
Sabrina Appel★
PhD Student, Rutgers; Postdoc, AMNH
Effects of B-fields and Feedback on the Shape and Evolution of the Density PDF in Star Formation
- 2020–2023
Grace Olivier★
PhD Student, OSU; Postdoc, Texas A&M
Evolution of Stellar Feedback in H II Regions
- 2018–2019
Michael Foley
PhD Student, Harvard
Blowing Bubbles around Intermediate-Mass Stars: Stellar Wind Feedback is not Enough
- 2018–2019
Hope Chen
PhD, Harvard; Postdoc, UT Austin
Effects of an Embedded B-Star Wind in Ophiuchus
Undergraduate students
- Summer 2025
Victor Del Rio
SDSU
STARTAstro Program (community-college transfer student)
- Summer 2025
Edwin Sarabia
SDSU
STARTAstro Program (community-college transfer student)
- 2024–2026
Alex Escamilla★
SDSU
Bridging Theory and Observation: Synthetic FIR Insights into Star Formation Efficiency
- 2024
Kate Gonzalez
SDSU
Initial developer of the Sim2SKIRT synthetic-observation pipeline with SKIRT
- 2023–2024
Trinity Webb★
OSU
Tracing the Impact of Stellar Wind Feedback in N79 & 30 Doradus in the LMC with Chandra
- 2020
Mikayla Wilson
grad student, UCSC; Banneker Intern, Harvard
Tracing the Evolution of Molecular Outflows in Massive Star Formation with Synthetic Observations
- 2018–2020
Monica Gallegos-Garcia★
grad student, Northwestern; Banneker Intern, Harvard
Winds in Star Clusters Drive Kolmogorov Turbulence
- 2018
Courtney Bishop
College of William & Mary; SAO NSF REU
Comparing Molecular Line Tracers in Outflows Generated by Massive Star Formation
- 2014–2016
Evan Carter
UCSC; astro masters, Wesleyan
Synthetic Observations of Low-Mass Star Formation: Implications for Current SED-Fitting Methods
★ Denotes students whose project or contribution led to a refereed publication.
Service — San Diego State
- 2024–Present
Curriculum Committee
- 2024–Present
UCSD–SDSU Joint Astronomy Colloquium
- 2024
SOC Member, Ensenada–San Diego Astronomical Meeting
- 2024–Present
Executive Committee Member, STARTastro Program (NSF-funded)
- 2024–Present
Cal-Bridge CSU Physics & Astronomy Mentor
Service — National & International
- 2026
NASA JWST Cycle 5 Panelist
- 2025
Reviewer, NASA FINESST Graduate Fellowship Program
- 2024
Reviewer, NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
- 2023
Reviewer & Panelist, NSF Career Award (Astronomical Sciences Div.)
- 2023–2024
Co-Editor, Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
Research Topics collection on Star Formation: Numerical Simulations and What They Teach Us
- 2022–2023
SOC co-chair, Olympian Symposium 2023: Star Formation in the Era of JWST
- 2022–
Science Working Group Member, PRIMA Far-IR Probe Mission Concept
- 2021
NASA JWST Cycle 1 Panelist
Referee for A&A, ApJ, MNRAS & RAA
Service — Earlier
- 2021–2022
Harvard Astronomy DEI Committee
- 2020–2021
CfA-IDEA Committee
- 2019–2021
Organizer, CfA Galaxies & Cosmology Seminar
- 2019
Panelist, NASA Theory Astrophysics Program
- 2019
Reviewer, NASA NESSF
- 2018–2019
Organizer, Equity & Inclusion Journal Club, Harvard–Smithsonian CfA
- 2018
Proposal Reviewer, Czech Science Foundation
- 2017
ITC Postdoctoral Fellowship Committee Member, Harvard–Smithsonian CfA
- 2017, 2019
SOC/LOC Member (Chair 2019), Harvard–Heidelberg Star Formation Meeting, CfA
- 2015, 2016
Organizer, Diverse Topics in Astronomy Lecture Series, Lamat REU, UCSC
- 2015
Organizer, Space Telescope Proposal Writing Workshop, UCSC Astro. Dept.
- 2014
Member, LAMAT Research Internship Admissions Committee
- 2013–2017
Undergraduate Student Mentor, UCSC Women in Physics Group
- 2012–2013, 2016–2017
Graduate Student Mentor, UCSC Astro. & Astrophys. Dept.
- 2012–2013
Astronomy Grad Student Representative, UCSC GSA
- 2012–2016
Organizer, Applying to the NSF GRFP Workshop, UCSC Astro. Dept.
Public Outreach
- 2025
Speaker, Sharp Minds Public Lecture Series
Fleet Science Center, San Diego, CA
- 2024
Panelist/Speaker, NASA Community College Symposium
Fleet Science Center, San Diego, CA
- 2024
SDSU Astronomy Expert, Solar Eclipse Event
Fleet Science Center, San Diego, CA
- 2023
Speaker, “Women and Non-binary in STEM” Series
San Diego Miramar College (SDCCD)
- 2022
AAUW STEM Ambassador, STEMEd for Girls program
- 2022
Speaker, “How to Make Massive Stars on a (super)Computer”
Western Nevada College / NCCN
- 2021–Present
Science Matter Expert, NASA Community College Network (NCCN)
- 2021
Panelist, Astronomy Career Panel
Girls Inc., Lynn, MA
- 2021
Panelist, “Meet a Scientist” for Women’s History Month
Marin Community College
- 2020
Interviewee, “How to Make Stars on a (super)Computer”
Astrochats / MicroObservatory
- 2020
Speaker, “How to Make Massive Stars on a (super)Computer”
Astronomy on Tap Boston
- 2019
Presenter, “Visualizing Numerical Simulations with yt”
CfA | Harvard & Smithsonian Demofest
- 2017
Speaker, “An Unstable Truth: How Massive Stars get their Mass”
AAUW Monterey Peninsula
- 2016
Speaker, “Then and Now: From NHP to a Ph.D. in Astrophysics”
North Hills Prep School
- 2015
Astronomy Outreach, Expanding Your Horizons Workshop for Young Girls
Hartnell College
- 2015
Speaker, “Computational Astrophysics”
Stanford Pre-collegiate Summer Courses
- 2015, 2016
Speaker, “Star Formation and Stellar Feedback”
Lamat REU, UCSC
- 2011–2013
Author, astrobites.org
- 2011
Panelist, Girl Scouts Girls Go Tech Event
NASA Ames, Moffett Field, CA
Professional Development
- 2026
AI Ready Course Design Workshop, SDSU Center for Teaching and Learning
- 2017
Diversity & Inclusion Certificate Program, UCSC Office for DEI
- 2011
ISEE PDP for Inquiry-based Education, UCSC
- 2009
Astronomy 300: Instruction Techniques in General Astronomy, UC Berkeley
Software
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