Astronomy-

I spent a semester working with the KU Galaxy Evolution Group working to reduce and fit radio spectra obtained from the Arecibo radio telescope. My project was particularly interested in searching for signs of neutral hydrogen absorption around Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), as we believe these are indications of massive outflows of neutral hydrogen that cause a feedback mechanism in the circumnuclear gas. My task was to reduce spectra of previously collected data and determine which targets are worth following up with higher resolution observations.

Along the way I determined it would be worthwhile to develop a SQL database to store the information I have collected so other researchers can access and use the information. After receiving an internship offer, I had to cut my work on this project short. I hope to one day continue to aid in research as a citizen scientist or a student.

 

Physics-

I joined the KU Computational Condensed Matter group in the Spring of 2019, where I would begin working on a project using Cluster Expansion in the Atomic Simulation Environment (CLEASE) to explore Au-Cu alloys. CLEASE is a very useful tool for studying the thermodynamic properties of large crystalline structures as it takes advantage of calculations made by Density Functional Theory and allows them to be applied to much more complex structures through the usage of Monte Carlo simulations.

I gave a presentation on my research this summer that can be found here.