Education

UC Santa Barbara, Goleta, CA

PhD, Physics with emphasis in Astrophysics (expected graduation: 2030)

University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN

BS, College of Science, 2024

Major: Physics Focus: Astrophysics Minor: Theology

Relevant Experience and Academic Training

Millar-Blanchaer Research Group, UCSB, CA

September 2024 - Current

Graduate Student Researcher

• Published SPIE proceedings (‘26) on a prototype device for correcting polarization aberrations in large observatories

• Aided in fabrication of metasurface vortex for the SCALES coronagraph (see Skyler Palatnick’s SPIE proceedings ‘26)

• Trained in UCSB Nanofabrication facility, a research-grade semi-conductor fabrication lab

Fresnel Wavefront Sensor (WFS) Project, Notre Dame, IN

August 2021 – May 2024

Undergraduate Research Assistant to Justin Crepp

• Redesigned and automated the Matlab data analysis pipeline used to assess wavefront accuracy

• Utilizing statistical methods to compare accuracies of Fresnel and industry standard Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors under variably scintillated conditions

Fall Undergraduate Research Fair, Notre Dame, IN

November 2022

• Authored and designed poster presentation

• Presented preliminary results of the scintillation experiment

CoS Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Notre Dame, IN

Undergraduate Research Fellow, the Scintillation Experiment

May 2022 – July 2022

• Conducted 10 weeks of full time research conducted on the scintillation experiment searching for the failure points of the Fresnel and Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors under conditions of variable flux and scintillation

• Presented intermediary results in poster form at the Fall Undergraduate Research Fair (FURF)

Study Abroad, Pontificia Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile February 2023 – June 2023

Undergraduate Student

• Immersive Spanish program with 15 credit courseload requirement

• Lived with a Chilean host family spending 2-3 hours conversing in Spanish daily

• Completed a graduate level course in Advanced Astrophysics learning the south American astrophysics conventions

Employment

University of Santa Barbara, Goleta, CA

September 2024 – Present

Teaching Assistant

• Lab TA for PHYS 15A CS, a sophomore level lab for College of Creative Studies students

Education Unlimited, Berkeley, CA

June 2024 – August 2024

Astrophysics Instructor

• Teaches a weeklong astrophysics curriculum to groups of either high school or middle school age students

• Guides the usage of lab equipment (e.g. spectrum tubes, spectroscopes, etc.) for student activities