Welcome

I am an astrophysicist and currently a postdoctoral fellow and the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics. Previously, I was a CfA Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Before that, I received my PhD in Physics and Astronomy from Northwestern University in 2017.

I am interested explaining complex astronomical phenomena in terms of their underlying physics. As a dynamicist, this generally entails a focus on explaining phenomena governed by classical theories of Hamiltonian dynamics and statistical mechanics. Most of my research to date has focused on the orbital dynamics of planetary systems, including both exoplanetary systems and our solar system. Though lately I’ve also been thinking about some applications of celestial mechanics in galactic dynamics, with the goal of better understanding the Milky Way’s evolution.

Miscellania

• I’ve gathered some info on the history of N-body simulations here.
• The page for CITA’s Geometry of Physics reading group is here.
• Here’s a Mathematica notebook on the eccentric Kozai-Lidov mechanism.