Research
My research is fueled by curiosity, and often data-driven. For some problems, there are not enough available data to answer the question at hand, so I love coming up with project ideas that require new observations. I also enjoy incorporating the rich datasets of large-scale surveys like Gaia.
These days, most of my research involves using radial velocity (RV) and astrometric observations of nearby stars with bound partners. Since timeseries RVs constrain the star's relative line-of-sight motion, and astrometry yields its projected position and proper motion, a complete 3D picture of the overall motion can be used to inform the physical properties of its bound companion(s), such as mass, inclination, and orbital period. In some cases, this information can be used to dynamically resolve a long-period dark companion that is otherwise undetectable.
I am also a science team member of the NN-explore Exoplanet Investigations with Doppler spectroscopy (NEID), which is a high-performing spectrogaph capable of measuring RVs at a level of ~30 cm/s internal precision. These RVs are great for constraining orbital parameters for systems with relatively short observational baselines, and present an excellent opportuninty for exploring existing systems for low-amplitude signals that may be planets previously too small to detect.