I am thrilled to announce that CJ Harris has been voted in as a full member of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav). As a dedicated and innovative researcher in our astronomy and astrophysics program, CJ has significantly contributed to advancing our understanding of binary supermassive black holes through a multimessenger approach. […]
It has been too long since I have put up research updates. I really need to get back to my promise of having a page for each major research product. In the meantime, here is a mini update on two black hole mass measurements. NGC 3258 Korbin Waters used MUSE A/O data to measure the […]
I am very proud to announce that we have earned a Bronze Award from the Physics and Astronomy SEA Change Committee (P/A SEA Change) for our work to create a more inclusive, diverse, and supportive astronomy department. I led the department’s effort along with Profs. Eric Bell and Sean Johnson. It was a lot of work, but […]
This week has been NANOGrav week at U-M! We are hosted the NANOGrav 2024 Fall Collaboration Meeting at Palmer Commons. This week’s Astronomy Colloquium will be given by Joe Simon (U. Colorado) talking about the astrophysics of gravitational wave background. Monday’s High Energy / Astrophysics Seminar in the Physics Department was given by Jeff Hazboun (Oregon St. U.) talking about pulsar timing […]
I am thrilled to share that I have been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure at the University of Michigan! Thank you to my colleagues, mentors, students, and everyone who has supported me on this journey. I look forward to continuing my research and teaching in this new role.
I’m quite late to making this announcement, but Kevin Whitley successfully defended his dissertation on June 13. The dissertation is titled “Electromagnetic Signatures of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries.” Some of my favorite figures from it below.
Three of us (Cayenne Matt, CJ Harris, and I) attended Compact Objects in Michigan and Ontario 2024. This year it was hosted by Henry Ford College. Cayenne and CJ gave talks on their most recent research.
A huge congratulations to former undergraduate group member Dr. Erica Hammerstein, who successfully defended her dissertation, titled “Population Studies of Tidal Disruption Events and Their Hosts: Understanding Host Galaxy Preferences and the Origin of the Ultraviolet and Optical Emission”. The NANOGrav results keep on coming out! The following papers were officially published in the past […]
It has been over a year since posting a news item, but it has been a busy year. I will do bullet points of the most important stuff that has happened. The evidence for gravitational wave background is huge news. It was a huge effort to get there from a team I have loved being […]
So I am working my way back through all of the announcements I should have been keeping up with, but ya boy got paaaiiid! See more at my grant page. All added up, these combine to a hair over $367k. Aaaaand I’ve spent it already.