Aiden Zelakiewicz
Overview
I’m Aiden Zelakiewicz (he/him), a PhD student at Cornell University since Fall 2023. My research lies at the intersection of exoplanetary science, habitability, and computational astronomy. I work with Professors Lisa Kaltenegger and Dmitry Savransky to model Earth-like exoplanets as they might appear through the Habitable Worlds Observatory, examining both the characteristics of these planets and our capacity to detect them. I earned my B.S. in Astronomy & Astrophysics from THE Ohio State University in Spring 2023, where I conducted research on extinction maps with the United Kingdom InfraRed Telescope (UKIRT) under the guidance of Prof. B. Scott Gaudi and Dr. Samson A. Johnson. Additionally, I am a counselor at the University of Arizona’s Astronomy Camp, where I help introduce middle and high school students to hands-on astronomy.
In my time not scraping seconds off my code runtime, I can be found practicing guitar, taking "not bad" photos, and playing video games. I also enjoy making subpar coffee while claiming it is heaven on Earth.
Advisor: Professor Lisa Kaltenegger & Professor Dmitry Savransky
Madeline Pettine
Overview
Hello! My name is Madeline (or Maddie, whichever you prefer) and I started my PhD at Cornell in Fall of 2021. I use she/her or they/them pronouns-- either are fine! I'm a planetary scientist with research interests inside of our Solar System.
I have a B.A. in Astronomy, Physics, and Math from University of Colorado Boulder. While I was at CU I worked in an experimental atomic physics lab for a couple of years and then quit to go look at planets. I then used a hybrid plasma simulation to model atmospheric loss from Mars-like planets to study the effect of magnetic fields on loss rates, which is the topic I wrote my undergrad honors thesis on.
My current research is on Io, which is the innermost (and my favorite) moon of Jupiter! I work with Dr. Julie Rathbun and Professor Alex Hayes imaging and measuring the flux from volcanic hotspots on Io. We use space-based data (from Juno) and ground-based data (from the IRTF) to see how much heat flow goes through volcanoes on the surface. These measurements will help constrain how tidal heating caused by the other Jovian moons is dissipated inside of Io.
In my free time I like playing D&D, knitting, painting, reading, and hanging out with my cat Pepperidge Farms!
Advisor: Professor Alex Hayes
Charlie Detelich
Overview
I am a 3rd-year Ph.D. student interested in the surface processes of icy satellites. Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter, is densely covered in thousand-kilometer-long fractures called double ridges. Despite the prevalence of double ridges on Europa’s surface, there has yet to be a consensus on what formation process creates the fractures. In preparation for the arrival of NASA’s Europa Clipper mission to Europa in 2029, I am using finite element modeling to help narrow down which hypotheses for double ridge formation are the most plausible. I’m also a graduate affiliate of the Europa Imaging System (EIS) team for NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission, where I create trajectory analysis products to best help the science team with mission planning. Farther into the solar system, Titan, an icy moon of Saturn, has large lakes and seas of liquid methane and ethane. I numerically model wind-driven waves on Titan’s lakes and seas as part of a larger effort to understand wave-driven erosion on the shoreline of the lakes and seas.
Before coming to Cornell in 2022, I earned my B.S. in geology from North Carolina State University (19’) and two minors in meteorology and graphic communications. While at N.C. State, I researched Iapetus, an icy moon of Saturn. I also interned at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL), where I researched Mars. I then earned my M.S. in Applied Geological Sciences (21’) at the University of Alaska Anchorage studying broad-scale tectonics on Europa and how geologic features resemble artifacts of plate tectonics. After completing my M.S., I returned to APL and worked with the EIS team on science operation center (SOC) development, science communication, flyby planning software development, and instrument calibration.
Outside of academia, I gravitate toward artistic activities and am involved in photography, painting, and pottery. I also enjoy hiking, rock climbing, kayaking, listening to records, and spending time with my two cats, Bowie and Mercury.
Advisor: Professor Alex Hayes
Elijah Mullens
Overview
I am a fourth-year graduate student interested in the characterization of exoplanets via atmospheric retrievals, laboratory work, and forward models. My work thus far has included Mie scattering clouds in the open-source code POSEIDON to model transmission, emission, and reflection spectra of hot Jupiters and brown dwarfs. I am specifically interested in exploring silicate clouds in hot Jupiter atmospheres by taking laboratory measurements of optical properties of silicates, building forward chemical and global climate models, and fitting JWST data. My favorite planets are Neptune, WD 1856b, and WASP-17b!
I grew up in the panhandle of Florida and received a B.S. in Mathematics, Physics, and Astrophysics (with a minor in Japanese) from the University of Florida in 2021. During my gap year between undergraduate and graduate school I worked as a planetarium instructor where I gave talks and demonstrations to young students and the general public on topics ranging from local astronomy to the basics of general relativity.
I like spending my free time with my dog and cat, cooking, and reading books/comic books.
Advisor: Professor Nikole Lewis
Nicholas Corso
Overview
I'm a third year graduate student who joined the Cornell Astronomy Department in Fall 2022. Broadly speaking, I am interested in extreme gravity environments, be they neutron stars or black holes, and what they tell us about the nature of spacetime and matter when pushed to their limits.
I have recently graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.S. in Astronomy and Astrophysics. During my time there, I contributed to the DAMIC-M collaboration under the guidance of Professor Paolo Privitera by running Monte Carlo particle simulations of sources of background radiation to model their behavior in low energy limits. Additionally, under the guidance of Professor Damiano Caprioli, I modeled the behavior of supernova remnant shock fronts in different environments to study the latter's effects on the resulting gamma emission and the conclusions that we can draw about cosmic ray acceleration.
Nowadays I work under the mentorships of Professors Dong Lai and Saul Teukolsky to study stellar explosions of different varieties. More specifically, I am exploring the reactions of stars to injections of energy into thin interior shells. This may shed new light on processes that may occur in stellar interiors such as tidal heating. I'm also using numerical relativity to study stellar collapse due to a hadron-quark phase transition to try to probe for observational signatures that may shed light on the neutron star equation of state in its core.
Although some may justifiably claim that I live under a rock, outside of academic life I enjoy a variety of computer games, hiking, running, and playing cello (recently as part of a Middle Eastern music ensemble!), and I practice the martial art of kendo.
Advisor:Professor Dong Lai