Research

Atmospheric Dynamics

My primary tool in studying the dynamics of atmospheres in our solar system and beyond is the general circulation model (GCM). GCMs are computational tools that solve the primitive equations of meteorology to fully simulate the complex states of atmospheres and oceans. In developing and improving GCMs, we have access to a simulated data at and arbitrarily high spatiotemporal resolution, allowing for a more thorough analysis of planetary dynamics than possible through observations alone. One GCM I work with is the Titan Atmospheric Model (TAM) which was developed by my PhD advisor, Professor Juan Lora at Yale University. Through my work, I developed new features to improve the ability of the model to account for different heat sources in the atmosphere, like through radiative heating from Titan's trace molecules. Read more about this work on my publications page!

Observational Astronomy

I've lead studies of Titan's atmosphere with data from the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) on the Cassini spacecraft and the Texes Echelon Cross Echelle Spectrograph (TEXES) on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea. With these data, I've made the first measurements of propene in the stratosphere, as well as the first detection of propadiene on Titan. Through different wavelengths of light, I've also made the deepest measurement of ethane and hydrogen isocyanide in Titan's stratosphere, which provide critical constraints for photochemical models to better simulate the chemistry that occurs in Titan's organic-rich atmosphere.

I've also produced the atlas of coverage plots of CIRS on the moons of Saturn, which is federally archived on the Planetary Data System servers, accessible here: archived CIRS data.

Collaborations

I'm currently involved with several large international collaborations and missions, including NASA's Dragonfly mission to Titan, the Habitable Worlds Observatory astrophysics flagship, and the Habitability of Hydrocarbon Worlds group funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute through 2023. Ultimately, my work aims to understand the fundamental physics that drive the potential habitiabilty of Earth-like worlds througn the cosmos.

Student Projects

If you are currently an undergraduate student interested in getting involved in astronomical or climate science research, please reach out to me: there are a range of projects that span all undergraduate preparation levels that I need your help to complete! I've listed a few here, with links if you'd like to read more. If you have ideas along these lines that you'd like guidance on, please reach out!

Searching for molecules in Titan's atmosphere: we have a lot of data from 40 years of NASA missions to dig through with the latest spectroscopic data to search for undetected molecules in Titan's atmosphere. You can do this work on any reasonable laptop.

Identifying drivers of Titan's circulation with a GCM: using TAM, you can either learn statistical anlysis techiqnues to study a range of phenomena in Titan's atmosphere, or learn about the background of GCM development and mak your own contributions to this growing model. Due to the large file sizes and computational complexity, this is recommended for students with a background in computational science.

Modeling Earth's stratosphere to explore polar vortex connections: Building on my background in polar vortex dynamics, we can isolate the physical drivers of Earth's stratospheric polar vortex using an idealized GCM, Isca. This is pretty computationally heavy, so it's recommended for students comfortable with coding.

Supporting the development of the Habitable Worlds Observatory with simulated ultraviolet observations: Help us plan the science case for Titan on NASA's future Habitable Worlds Observatory astrophysics flagship.

Latest GOES-16 Image – Our planet ~20 minutes ago

Note the similarity of Titan's clouds (below) to Earth's