About

I am an incoming Miller Fellow in astrophysics at the Miller Institute for Basic Science @ Berkeley, beginning Fall 2026, and currently a Black Hole Explorer Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University's Black Hole Initiative. I completed my PhD as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow at Las Cumbres Observatory, based at UC Santa Barbara, under Prof. D. Andrew Howell, and hold a B.S. in Physics from the University of Massachusetts Boston (2021).

I study compact objects: the neutron stars and black holes left behind when massive stars die, where matter is compressed beyond anything that can be reproduced in a laboratory and spacetime is curved strongly enough to trap light in orbit. My work centers on measuring their spin, which fixes the geometry of the surrounding spacetime, supplies the energy that drives the most powerful jets in the universe, and preserves a record of how each object was assembled. Spin has historically been difficult to constrain without appealing to uncertain models of the surrounding matter, and most existing measurements remain correspondingly indirect.

My primary interest is in direct measurements of compact object spin along two complementary lines. For supermassive black holes, I work with the photon ring, a lensed image feature predicted by general relativity whose shape is determined by the spacetime rather than by the accreting plasma; towards this, I contributed to the Event Horizon Telescope's first images of M87 and Sgr A, and I now lead spin-inference development for the Black Hole Explorer mission. In neutron stars, I hunt the "chirping" modulation imprinted on supernova light curves as a newborn magnetar's fallback disk is dragged by the rotating spacetime around it, leading both the search for new examples in time-domain surveys and the theoretical work required to interpret them.

Quick stats

I have written

8

+

1st-author

Co-author

Citations

h-index

i10-index

Quick stats

I have written

8

+

1st-author

Co-author

Citations

h-index

i10-index

Research interests

Education and experience

Miller Fellowship (designate)

Miller Institute for Basic Science, Berkeley

2026-2029

(Hosts: Prof. Dan Kasen & Prof. Rafaella Margutti)

Miller Fellowship (designate)

Berkeley

2026-2029

(Hosts: Prof. Dan Kasen & Prof. Rafaella Margutti)

Black Hole Explorer Postdoctoral Fellow

Black Hole Initiative, Harvard University

2026

(Hosts: Prof. Michael Johnson, Prof. Peter Galison)

Black Hole Explorer Postdoctoral Fellow

Berkeley

2026

(Hosts: Prof. Michael Johnson, Prof. Peter Galison)

Ph.D. in Physics

University of California, Santa Barbara

2021-2026

(Committee: Prof. D. Andrew Howell, Prof. Lars Bildsten, Prof. Maxwell Millar-Blanchaer, Prof. Tim Brandt)

Ph.D. in Physics

UCSB

2021-2026

(Committee: Prof. D. Andrew Howell, Prof. Lars Bildsten, Prof. Maxwell Millar-Blanchaer, Prof. Tim Brandt)

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow

Las Cumbres Observatory

2021-2026

I study the explosive death of stars and the horizon-scale structure of supermassive black holes to probe fundamental physics. (Supervisor: Prof. D. Andrew Howell)

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow

LCO

2021-2026

I study the explosive death of stars and the horizon-scale structure of supermassive black holes to probe fundamental physics. (Supervisor: Prof. D. Andrew Howell)

M. A. in Physics

University of California, Santa Barbara

2021-2023

M. A. in Physics

UCSB

2021-2023

Collaborator

Black Hole Explorer Collaboration

2019-Present

Help develop the science case and mission concept for the upcoming Black Hole Explorer spacecraft (Supervisor: Prof. Michael Johnson, Prof. Alex Lupsasca)

Collaborator

BHEX

2019-Present

Help develop the science case and mission concept for the upcoming Black Hole Explorer spacecraft (Supervisor: Prof. Michael Johnson, Prof. Alex Lupsasca)

Smithsonian Fellow

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

2018-2021

Helped take the first and second images of a black hole as a member of the EHT collaboration (Supervisor: Dr. Michael Johnson)

Smithsonian Fellow

Harvard-Smithsonian CfA

2018-2021

Helped take the first and second images of a black hole as a member of the EHT collaboration (Supervisor: Dr. Michael Johnson)

B. S. in Physics

University of Massachusetts Boston

2017-2021

B. S. in Physics

UMass Boston

2017-2021

Oracle Fellow

Fuchs Group

2017-2019

Theoretical development and research on quantum bayesianism (Supervisor: Prof. Chris Fuchs)

Oracle Fellow

Harvard LPPC

2017-2019

Theoretical development and research on quantum bayesianism (Supervisor: Prof. Chris Fuchs)

Research Intern

Harvard Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology

2017-2018

Assisted in developing the New Small Wheel for the ATLAS experiment and conducted studies of particle decay (Supervisor: Prof. Melissa Franklin)

Research Intern

Harvard LPPC

2017-2018

Assisted in developing the New Small Wheel for the ATLAS experiment and conducted studies of particle decay (Supervisor: Prof. Melissa Franklin)

Awards (selected, see CV for full list)

LeRoy Apker Award

American Physical Society

2021

LeRoy Apker Award

American Physical Society

2021

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

National Science Foundation

2021-2026

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

National Science Foundation

2021-2026

Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

Breakthrough Prize Foundation

2020

Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

Breakthrough Prize Foundation

2020

Mananya Tantiwiwat Award

2025

University of California, Santa Barbara

Broida-Hirschfelder Fellowship

2025

University of California, Santa Barbara

1st Place Award, Grad Slam (Physics and Chemistry Round)

2025

University of California, Santa Barbara

Event Horizon Telescope Early Career Award

2022

Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration

Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship

Goldwater Foundation

2019

Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship

Goldwater Foundation

2019

Summary of first author papers

Outside of work

Public speaking (under construction)

A Mission to Solve the Greatest Mystery

UC Santa Barbara Grad Slam

Aprli 2025

Finalist talk for the UCSB Grad Slam on the BHEX mission goals

General relativity beats the heart of a dying star

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Invited Lecture

March 2026

Public Lecture by Joseph Farah on the magnetar discovery, published in Nature

Get in touch

My time

10:59 PM
10:59 PM
10:59 PM
Cambridge, MA, USA