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Ph.D., Physics
malharris19@unm.edu
About Me
About Me
I am a Ph.D. about to start work as a postdoctoral researcher at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory at the Harvard | Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
I just recently completed my Ph.D. at the University of New Mexico working with Dr. Diana Dragomir! I completed my BA in physics and applied math at the New College of Florida in 2019, and my Masters of Science in physics with an astro concentration in 2022 from UNM.
My research focuses on the detection and characterization of extrasolar planets. Using both the microlensing and transit detection techniques, I'm working to find planets and calculate their demographics. Soon, I will particularly focus on microlensing event analysis using KMTNet detections.
Outside of research, I am an avid hiker, reader, coffee-addict and a proud founder of UNM's Women in Physics, Astronomy and Optics group!
Research Projects
Research Projects
Starting with TESS
Starting with TESS
TESS began observing in 2018, which is about when I started doing exoplanet research. I first looked into how its new observing strategy affected planet ephemeris degeneration, which was the subject of my undergraduate honors thesis. Now, I'm working to explore this further, and see how TESS's observing strategy since that primary mission is affecting ephemerides (stay tuned!)
Searching for Cold M dwarf Planets
Searching for Cold M dwarf Planets
Aa a graduate student, I investigated the potential for TESS to detect long-period planets. Focusing on M dwarfs systems, I am conducting a search of the coldest planets detectable by TESS, including the TOI-904 system.
Microlensing with TESS
Microlensing with TESS
During the spring of 2023, I worked with Dr. Sebastiano Calchi-Novati as a Visiting Graduate Research Fellow at Caltech to find TESS microlensing events. Through continuing this work, I led the discovery paper for the first gravitational bound exoplanet candidate found by TESS using the microlensing method.
Check out my CV here, and feel free to contact me at malharris19@unm.edu to learn more about my work!
CV (updated 08/31/2026)
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