The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is an instrument that has enabled the discovery of thousands of potential planets outside of the solar system.   Given the large number of M dwarfs surveyed, we finally have an opportunity to study a large sample of planets orbiting these small, cool stars.   I am leading the HUMDRUM (Hunting M Dwarf Rocky planets Using MAROON-X) survey, which seeks to study a volume-limited sample of planets orbiting M dwarfs, in an effort to measure these planets' masses and study whether or not M dwarf planets are different from planets orbiting Sunlike stars. 

While many stars (including the sun) tend to be well-aligned with their planets, many exoplanets have been observed to have highly misaligned orbits.  This misalignment could be caused by the gravitational influence of other planets or stars, but it may also be primordial.   Patterns in obliquities amongst hot stars seem to indicate that stars cooler than about 6200 K tend to be well-aligned with their planets, while hotter stars are more likely to be misaligned.  I am interested in studying the obliquities of M dwarfs in order to determine how their thick convective envelopes may influence the orbits of their planets.

The terrestrial bodies in the solar system have a broad range of compositions, from the light, rocky moon to the iron-rich Mercury.  However, the majority of super-Earth exoplanets appear to be roughly Earth-like in composition.  It is possible that we are missing out on a lot of planets with unusual compositions given the small number of sub-Earths that we have studied.  Planets smaller than the Earth are very difficult to detect given the detection sensitivities of current instruments.  However, with the discovery and characterization of planets like the Earth-density TRAPPIST-1 companions and the nearly pure-iron GJ 367 b, we are starting to see that there may be a stark, solar-system-like density gradient across sub-Earths.   I am interested in studying more of these sub-Earths to search for further evidence of a compositional heterogeneity amongst these planets, and search for evidence of whether or not these planets are formed via collisions.