Current group members:

Dr. Jacob L. Bean

Group Leader since 2011

Professor in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics

CV (pdf)

Dr. Rafael Luque

Postdoc since March 2022, Margarita Salas Fellow
Current project: MAROON-X science

Postdoc, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Spain, 2021 -- 2022
Ph.D. in Astrophysics, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Spain, 2021
M.S. in Physics, University of Heidelberg, Germany, 2017
B.S. in Physics, University of Granada, Spain, 2015

Dr. Michael Zhang

Postdoc since October 2022, 51 Peg b and Margaret Burbidge Fellow
Current project: Exoplanet atmosphere studies

Ph.D. in Astronomy, Caltech, 2022
M.S. in Astronomy, Caltech, 2018
B.A. in Astrophysics, Princeton University, 2014

Dr. Tanya Das

Postdoc since January 2024
Current project: MAROON-X hardware and operations

Ph.D. in Applied Optics & Photonics, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, India, 2023
M.S. in Technology, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, India, 2016
B.A. in Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, India, 2014

Madison Brady

Graduate student
Expected graduation: 2025
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipient

Current project: MAROON-X radial velocity science

B.S. in Astrophysics, Caltech, 2020

Qiao Xue

Graduate student
Expected graduation: 2028

Current project: JWST data analysis

Formerly a visiting student in the group doing her senior thesis 2022 -- 2023
B.S. in Astronomy, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China, 2023

Ritvik Basant

Graduate student
Expected graduation: 2028

Current project: MAROON-X 4pc sample

B.S. in Astronomy and Physics, University of Arizona, 2023

Nina Brown

Postbac researcher since December 2023
Current project: MAROON-X data analysis and operations

B.S. in Astrophysics, University of Florida, 2022

Rohan Gupta

Honors Thesis student 2023/2024
Current project: MAROON-X data reduction and calibration with Andreas Seifahrt

Riley Rosener

Honors Thesis student 2023/2024
Current project: Exoplanet exospheres with Michael Zhang

Former senior members:

Dr. Andreas Seifahrt

Research Professor 2011 -- 2024
Currently the Associate Director of Development for Gemini Observatory

Former postdocs:

Dr. David Kasper

Postdoc 2019 -- 2023
Now working in industry

Dr. Julian Stürmer

Postdoc 2015 -- 2019
Currently a staff scientist at the Heidelberg Observatory (Germany)

Dr. Benjamin Montet

Sagan Fellow 2017 -- 2019
Currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales (Australia)

Dr. Diana Dragomir

Postdoc 2015 -- 2016
Now an Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico

Dr. Kevin Stevenson

Postdoc 2012 -- 2014, Sagan Fellow 2014 -- 2016
Now a staff scientist at the JHU Applied Physics Laboratory

Former graduate students:

Dr. Adina Feinstein

Graduate Student 2018 -- 2023
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipient

M.S. in Physical Sciences, University of Chciago, 2019
Ph.D. in Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 2023
Thesis title: A Multi-Wavelength Investigation of Young Stellar and Planetary Systems

Now a Sagan Fellow at the University of Colorado

Prune August

Visiting Master's Student 2022 -- 2023

M.S. in Physics, EPFL, Switzerland, 2023
Thesis title: Characterization of the dayside atmosphere of WASP-77Ab using JWST NIRSpec secondary eclipse observations

Now a Ph.D. student at the Technical University of Denmark

Dr. Megan Mansfield

Graduate Student 2016 -- 2021
Future Investigator in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) grant recipient

M.S. in Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 2018
Ph.D. in Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 2021
Thesis title: Revealing the Atmospheres of Highly Irradiated Exoplanets: From Ultra-Hot Jupiters to Venus Analogues

Awarded the IAU (Division F) Ph.D. Prize for 2021
Now a Sagan Fellow at the University of Arizona

Dr. Emily Gilbert

Graduate Student 2016 -- 2018
Completed project: MAROON-X solar telescope

Dr. Megan Bedell

Graduate Student 2012 -- 2017
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipient

Ph.D. in Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 2017
Thesis title: Illuminating the Origins of Planets with Solar Twins

Currently an Associate Research Scientist at the Flatiron Institute

Dr. Leonardo dos Santos

Visiting Master's Student 2016
Completed projects: MAROON-X data reduction pipeline and solar twin binaries

M.S. in Astronomy, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2017
Ph.D. in Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Geneva, Switzerland, 2021

Now a postdoc at STScI

Dr. Laura Kreidberg

Graduate Student, 2011 -- 2016
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipient

Ph.D. in Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 2016
Thesis title: Snapshots of Faraway Places: Intensive Atmospheric Characterization of Extrasolar Planets

Awarded the IAU (Division F) Ph.D. Prize for 2016
Awarded the Annie Jump Cannon Award in 2021

Now a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (Germany)

Former undergraduate students:

Rowen Glusman

Undergraduate senior thesis, summer 2022 and 2022 -- 2023 academic year
Completed project: TESS search for young planets

Devin Hoover

Undergraduate senior thesis, 2022 -- 2023 academic year
Completed project: Interstellar object forecasts

Jorge Sanchez

Undergraduate Researcher, summer 2020 and 2020 -- 2021 academic year
Completed project: MAROON-X software

Yingyi Liang

Undergraduate Researcher, summer 2019
Completed project: Spitzer phase curve analysis

Nicholas Earley

Undergraduate Researcher, summer 2019
Completed project: transit search in TESS full frame images

Cho Yin Kong

Undergraduate Researcher, 2018 -- 2019 academic year
Completed project: Kepler full frame image analysis

Zachary Robertson

Undergraduate Researcher, 2017 -- 2018
Completed project: MAROON-X simulator and wavelength calibration

Caleb Harada

Undergraduate Researcher, summer 2017
Completed project: Kepler PSF modeling
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipient

Dr. Lily Zhao

Undergraduate Researcher, summer 2015
Completed project: Space telescope transit spectroscopy
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipient

Adam Sutherland

Undergraduate senior thesis, summer 2015 and 2015-2016 senior thesis
Completed project: MAROON-X fiber characterization

Dr. Katrina Miller

REU student for summer 2015
Completed project: Fiber characterization for MAROON-X
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipient

Dr. Hannah Diamond-Lowe

Undergraduate senior thesis, summer 2013 and 2013 -- 2014 academic year
Completed project: Spitzer exoplanet atmosphere characterization
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipient

Dr. Molly Simon

Undergraduate Researcher, summer 2012
Completed project: Transmission models of the Earth's atmosphere for radial velocity and transit spectroscopy observations