Spectroscopy
Reading spectra to identify and measure absorption features — the main way I get composition and temperature information from the stars.
Research themes
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01
Polluted white dwarfs
A white dwarf's atmosphere is chemically pure by default — when metals show up, they got there somehow. I study those stars to figure out what fell in and what it tells us about the parent body.
I study planetary systems after stellar death. Polluted white dwarfs act like cosmic mass spectrometers — their atmospheres record the chemistry of whatever fell in, and the surrounding disks preserve information about how it got there.
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02
Circumstellar disks
Some of these stars also have detectable disks — dust and sometimes gas orbiting close in. Modeling that material gives additional constraints on composition and the disruption history.
The research has also shaped how I write code: you learn to be patient with slow jobs, careful about what you're actually measuring, and thoughtful about what you'll want to look up later.
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03
Cosmic forensics
The data are never complete and the models involve a lot of assumptions. The interesting part is figuring out what you can actually trust.