-
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow and UC Chancellor's Fellow
Dr. Devontae Baxter is an observational astrophysicist that studies galaxy formation and evolution, with a particular focus on understanding the interplay between environment and galaxy properties - e.g. star formation rate, morphology, stellar ages.
-
Fergus Donnan
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Fergus Donnan is an observational astrophysicist that studies galaxy evolution with a focus on dust/PAHs in star forming galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), utilizing JWST observations in both the local universe and at cosmic noon.
-
Aidan Gibbs
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Aidan Gibbs studies the atmospheres of brown dwarf and gaseous exoplanets, and is especially interested in the interactions between atmospheres and their space and stellar environments. He explores these topics primarily using ground- and space-based high-resolution spectroscopy in the infrared.
-
NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Steffani Grondin is an observational astrophysicist who studies the evolution of binary star systems using star clusters. She uses a variety of ground-based (e.g. Gemini, Lick) and space-based (e.g. Swift, Hubble) telescopes to discover and characterize white dwarf+main-sequence post-common envelope binaries. Her work aims to unravel the common envelope phase—a critical but poorly constrained process that influences the outcomes of Type Ia supernovae, gravitational wave mergers and UV-bright galaxies. Steffani is also interested in the dynamics of star clusters and how their escaped stellar populations influence the evolution of the Milky Way’s halo.
-
Julie Inglis
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr Julie Inglis is an observational astrophysicist studying exoplanets and their host stars utilizing a variety of telescopes both on the ground (e.g. Keck and Magellan) and in space (e.g. HST and JWST). Her work focuses on measuring the compositions and other physical properties of both planets and stars in order to gain insight into the formation and evolution of planetary systems.
-
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Lonappan is a Postdoctoral Fellow at UC San Diego with research interests in gravitational lensing of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), cosmic birefringence, CMB data analysis, and the application of machine learning in cosmology and astrophysics. He is an an active member of several scientific collaborations, including POLARBEAR, Simons Array, Simons Observatory, and LiteBIRD. -
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Mansi Padave is an observational astrophysicist studying star formation and galaxy evolution. Her research involves investigating connections between star formation and interstellar medium in different environments, with a particular focus on the low-density outer regions of nearby galaxies.
-
Kyle Rocha
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Kyle Akira Rocha is a theoretical astrophysicist studying binary stellar evolution using numerical simulation techniques and machine learning. Kyle is interested in detailed stellar modelling, mass transfer physics, and the formation and evolution of transient populations including X-ray binaries and gravitational wave sources.
-
Sandip Roy
Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow
Sandip focuses on using machine learning and astrophysics to uncover the particle nature of dark matter. He earned his Physics PhD at Princeton University, where he developed the first galaxy simulation framework capable of modelling multiple dark matter species simultaneously. Now, as a Schmidt AI in Science fellow in the UCSD Department of Astrophysics and Astronomy, his research focuses on developing physics-informed deep learning frameworks to emulate cosmological galaxy simulations and explore galaxy formation with different dark matter models. He also applies techniques from theoretical physics to advance deep learning theory.
-
Sergiy Vasylyev
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Sergiy Vasylyev is an astrophysicist interested in explosive transients, particularly supernovae, focusing on how their circumstellar environments affect their observables, the insights gained from UV and optical spectroscopy, and the upcoming science of the LSST era.
Postdoctoral Scholars
Postdoctoral scholars and fellows conduct research in collaboration with faculty and graduate students, and participate in the activities and mission of the Astronomy program.