Micalyn Rowe

I am a born and raised Texan, and I am half Filipina and half white. I have a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Physics with a minor in Astronomy from Texas A&M University-Commerce. I love to read books, spend time outdoors with Heath (human partner) and Beans (doggie), watch interesting TV, design, photograph special moments, travel, and expand my horizons. I believe that the world is a better place when people act selflessly!

I am going to be a 5th yr. My past undergrad research experience consists of some Mathematics (specifically complex analysis), some Acoustics (designing a recording studio), and a little bit of Astronomy (carbon atmosphere white dwarfs). I am currently working with Peter Brown and Nicholas Suntzeff for my graduate research. I look at the spectra of Type II supernovae! Going forward, I will probably do more spectral work throwing in photometry as well.

Nikko Cleri

I'm Nikko, a fifth-year grad student working with Casey Papovich. I came from the University of Connecticut, where I did my BS and MS in physics, with a research background in mathematical physics/high energy theory. Outside of science, I am deeply interested in music, gardening, cooking, playing video games, and I can teach you how to solve a Rubik's cube!

I'm currently studying a wide variety of topics in extragalactic astronomy using spectroscopy from JWST and HST. I am part of two JWST collaborations (CEERS and NGDEEP), from which I use spectra of galaxies across cosmic time to constrain important physical parameters such as ionizing sources, star formation rates and histories, and dust attenuation. 

Justin Cole

I come from Pittsburgh, PA (neither the east coast nor the midwest), and I will be a 4th year graduate student! I like a lot of different stuff and I spend most of my free time playing with my dogs or spending time in my garden. I also like video games and playing soccer / golf / tennis / whatever with friends, as long as it's outside and we are having a good time. 

My current research is in early Universe galaxy evolution and the onset of star formation / galaxy build-up. During my undergraduate days, I did research on the stellar kinematics of galaxies at redshift ~1, which is what made me want to be an astronomer. I am still up-in-the-air about what I want to do in the future, but I either want to teach at a small University / College or go into the data analyst industry. 

Kaitlin Webber

I'm originally from Arizona and got my Bachelor's degree from Arizona State University. Outside of science I do triathlons and love being outside. I also enjoy spending time with friends, reading, and baking.

I am currently a fourth year working with Jennifer Marshall. For my research, I do chemical analysis of stars in ultra-faint dwarf galaxies and stellar streams to investigate the nucleosynthesis processes that chemically enriched the Universe. I am an observational astronomer so I have had many opportunities to go observing to obtain data for my research.

Moonzarin Reza

I am from Bangladesh, moved here in 2021. Interests outside science include traveling, spending time with friends.

I use machine learning to analyse astronomical data. Currently I am working on constraining cosmological parameters. In the fast I have worked on galaxy morphology classification and photometric redshift estimation.

Kaila Ronayne

Hey-o my name is Kaila I'm a 2nd yr PhD student and I come from an engineering background (B.S in Aerospace Engineering @TAMU). I am a huge fan of animals, plants, and art. I spend most of my time at home with my 2 doggos watching movies/playing video games.

I am currently studying the relationship between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) at 7.7µm and star formation using JWST. I hope to continue studying star formation with PAHs in the future as well as diving into protocluster environments.

Franklin Wang

I'm originally from Hong Kong, and went to college at the University of Illinois. In my spare time, I enjoy skateboarding, country music, and the Chicago Bears!

I'm currently working with Jonelle Walsh on making mass measurements of supermassive black holes with stellar dynamical modeling. I'm a big fan of the search for intermediate mass black holes: they were the subject of my senior thesis and I hope to do more stuff with them in the future.

Refa Al-Amri

I'm an international student from Oman. Outside of science I enjoy watching movies and tv shows, I sometimes paint, and I like going to the gym.

I'm currently working on measuring the mass of M87 using stellar dynamics and JWST NIRSpec IFU data.

Vincenzo Donofrio

Hi! I'm Vinny and I will be a second-year graduate student this fall. I grew up in the metro Detroit area in Michigan and went to Michigan State University for undergrad. In my free time, I like to play survival games and follow sports like football/soccer and mma. Over the past year or so, I (with my partner Meghan) have gotten into reading fiction, practicing judo, and hiking with our dog Aurora.

My current research focuses on galaxy evolution, specifically the quenching phase. I use ALMA, VLA, and HST data to understand the rapid quenching process via a pair of post-starburst galaxies. As an undergrad I've done projects spanning from bionic vision to nuclear physics, but my astronomy-related ones involved using radio to study the Galactic Center and the MSU campus observatory to study exoplanets and transients. Later on in grad school, I plan to study the role radio-mode feedback plays in maintaining star formation suppression via high-redshift PSBs.

Divya Mishra

I'm an astronomy graduate student entering my second year (soonish!). I did my undergrad from India in electronics engineering, a.k.a, I'm an engineer, finding her way into science. In my spare time, I love hanging out with my friends, watching movies, cooking new dishes, singing songs, and scrolling through my phone indefinitely. 

I'm currently working on studying optical polarization in nearby galaxies. In the past, I have worked on testing an alternate model of the universe, and validating Type Ia and core-collapse supernovae photometric models for the SNCosmo package. As for my future, I hope to work on something related to supernovae but don't ask me what exactly cuz I'm still figuring it out :)

Macon Magno

Hi, I'm Macon Magno, and I'm from Johnson City, Tennessee. My undergrad was in Physics and Applied Math (ETSU), my Master's was in Physics (Texas A&M University-Commerce), and my Ph.D. was originally in Physics (SMU) but now its Astronomy (TAMU). I enjoy going for walks, playing table tennis, disc golf, and just being outside. 

I am currently interested in supermassive black holes (SMBHs) along with how they are co-evolving with their host galaxies. My current work is involves spectral energy modeling that is primarily immersed in the radio and some far-infrared ranging in frequencies from megahertz to terahertz frequencies. We are looking for and trying to better understand the SMBHs radio emission through this modeling. A few possible projects that I am eager to work on in the future are very high resolution radio and x-ray variability of SMBHs and studying outflows of SMBHs through spectra and radio including aging these outflows! 

Ryne Dingler

I am a fun and easy going guy (a bit of a modern day, educated hippie) who likes binging cartoons, anime, and comedy movies. I love metal and jazz music and played trumpet for about 7 years until sophomore year of undergrad; now I just fiddle around with my ukulele and sing my heart out. I come from a very low-income background which I believe has given me a bleeding heart and made me a jack of all trades.

I am a McNair Scholar and LSAMP Alumni who received my B.S. from the University of Texas at Arlington after 3 years of researching astrophysical phenomena. I have worked on projects across the EM spectrum as well as simulated and practical experiments concerning the development of neutrino detection chambers. Currently, I am working with Dr. Krista Smith to investigate the optical variability properties of blazars using TESS data.