Welcome!

This is the website for Prof. Jacob Bean's group in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. The main theme of the group's research is the observational study of planets outside the solar system ("exoplanets"). We use ground- and space-based telescopes to detect and characterize these worlds. We are also building new instruments as part of our push towards identifying other Earth-like planets.

Prospective graduate students: I am always open to taking on new students who are interested in exoplanet studies and/or instrumentation. You are encouraged to apply to U. Chicago for grad school if you are interested in these topics. Admissions are made at the department level, rather than by individual faculty. If you are admitted then we can talk in detail about the opportunities here. Unfortunately, I do not respond to email inquiries about available research projets due to the volume of such requests. Please do not take this as a lack of interest on my part!

News

09/11/2024: Congratulations to Rafa Luque for winning an ERC starting grant for his THIRSTEE project! Rafa will start a faculty position at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) in Granada, Spain, in August 2025. See this news story for more information.


05/15/2024: We are looking forward to welcoming three new postdocs to the Exoplanet Group at UChicago in the fall. Caroline Piaulet will join as a Margaret Burbidge Fellow, Michael Radica will come with a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Fellowship, and Lily Zhao will return with Sagan Fellowship. Also, congratulations to current group member Rafa Luque, who won a Sagan Fellowship to continue his work here.


05/13/2024: Congratulations to former grad student Adina Feinstein for winning an Honorable Mention in the IAU PhD Prize competition!