My group works on projects ranging from monitoring of black hole X-ray binaries and white dwarfs, to multiwavelength observations of intermediate and supermassive black holes.
We use a variety of of space- and ground-based telescopes, including NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope, NRAO's Very Large Aarray, and the Great Basin Observatory (a 0.7m robotic telescope in Eastern Nevada's Great Basin National Park).
Creating a diverse and inclusive research environment, where students from all backgrounds are successful, is a priority for my research group. Students who join my group can expect a proactive mentoring approach that provides standards of research in the field and is tailored to each person’s learning stye. I view my responsibilities as a research mentor as not only teaching the analysis and physics skills required to complete research projects, but to also help mentees develop other interpersonal and communication skills that are crucial for becoming a successful researcher.
For graduate and undergraduate students interested in joining my group, you should expect to begin with one individual meeting with me each week, plus one research group meeting per week. Students who contribute to my group’s research can expect exposure to research and professional development opportunities to help them achieve future career goals. In return, I expect you to become an engaged and collaborative member of my group, and I invite you to share your expertise and experiences with your fellow research students.
Dr. Aarran Shaw (2019-2022)
Assistant Professor of Astronomy
Director of the Holcomb Observatory & Planetarium
Butler University, Indianapolis, IN
Kurtis Rodrigue (M.S.)
Thesis: Representation Learning on a Multi-wavelength Quasar Dataset
Co-supervised with Prof. Emily Hand (Computer Science & Engineering)
Graduated Spring 2023.
Alexis Tudor (M.S.)
Thesis: Photometry+: A Scientific Pipeline and Teaching Tool
Co-supervised with Prof. Sergiu Dascalu (Computer Science & Engineering)
Graduated Spring 2021. Currently a software engineer at L3Harris and PhD student at UT-Dallas.
2024:
Ava Covington (Correlation of Radio and X-ray Emission from M61)
Brianna Blazek (X-ray and Radio Populations in the Edge-on Galaxy NGC 891)
Jonathan Chavez (Calibrating the Great Basin Observatory)
2023:
Octavia Clapp (Performing the Luminosity-Volume Test to Describe the Evolution of BL Lacertae Objects)
Published as a Research Note to the AAS.
Luc Cote (Measuring the Metallicity of the Hyades Cluster with Isochrone Fitting)
Michael Larsen (Cataclysmic Variables in the Globular Cluster NGC 6397)
Supervised by Dr. Aarran Shaw
2022:
Eloisa Burton (Principal Component Analysis for Galaxy Zoo Mergers)
Donna dePolo (The Flickering Radio Jet from the Quiescent Black Hole X-ray Binary A0620-00)
Published in MNRAS
Ben Pearson (Automating Differential Photometry of Intermediate Polars to Study and Quantify Their Low-Flux States)
Co-supervised with Dr. Aarran Shaw
2021:
Noelle Daigle (Observing X-ray Emission from the Quiescent Black Hole X-ray Binary V404 Cygni)
2020:
Sarah Colangelo (Optical Decay of a Black Hole X-ray Binary using the Great Basin Observatory)
Katie Cuddy (Ultraviolet Light Curve of the Transient System MAXI J1820+070)
Chris Staats (Radio Analysis on the Black Hole Be X-ray Binary MWC 656)
Alexis Tudor (Monitoring Visual Accretion to Detect Rare Low-Flux States of Intermediate Polars)
Alex Woods (Monitoring of Tabby's star with the Great Basin Observatory)
Dr. Pikky Atri (Constraining Black Hole Natal Kicks with High-precision Radio Astrometry)
Primary Supervisor: Prof. James Miller-Jones
Graduated 2020. Currently a WISE fellow at ASTRON (the Netherlands)
Dr. Ryan Urquhart (Regimes of Super-Eddington Accretion and Outflows in Extragalactic X-ray Binaries)
Primary Supervisor: Prof. Roberto Soria
Graduated 2019. Currently a postdoc at Michigan State University
Dr. Vlad Tudor (The Radio Source Population of Globular Clusters).
Primary Supervisor: Prof. James Miller-Jones
Graduated 2019. Currently a data scientist in Sydney, Australia.