I am an observational astrophysicist working in the field of time-domain astronomy. My research interests include various types of astrophysical transients. I use wide-field survey telescopes to discover transients, run programs to classify these transients, and follow-up interesting sources. My research areas include the following:
Iax Supernovae. These are low luminosity, low velocity cousins of normal type Ia supernova explosions. The current understanding is these explosions result from an incomplete disruption of the white dwarf, leaving some kind of remnant behind.
Over-luminous, carbon-rich 03fg-like or `super-Chandrasekhar' Ia and sub-luminous 02es-like type Ia supernovae. Both subclasses show evidence of an `early excess' in their light curves, attributed to supernova ejecta interacting with dense, confined circumstellar material.
Gap transients. These include Luminous Red Novae (LRNe), Intermediate Luminosity Red Transients (ILRTs) and Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs).
Super-luminous Supernovae (SLSNe), Tidal Disruption Events (TDEs).
Transient demographics, host galaxy environments, volumetric rates.
Multi-messenger astronomy. I am interested in hunting for electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave sources from compact object mergers. Currently I am involved with ATLAS, PanSTARRS and ENGRAVE collaborations for this effort.