Edo Berger

I am a Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University. With my students and postdoctoral fellows, we research a wide range of explosive and eruptive astrophysical phenomena, including gamma-ray bursts, tidal disruption events, super-luminous supernovae, and other optical transients (from the Pan-STARRS project and elsewhere), as well as magnetic activity in sub-stellar objects.  We use observations across the electromagnetic spectrum - from radio to γ-rays - utilizing observatories around the world and in space.

I was previously a joint Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow (2004-2007) and Carnegie-Princeton Postdoctoral Fellow (2004-2008) at the Carnegie Observatories and Princeton University.

I received a PhD in Astrophysics from Caltech in 2004, with a thesis focused on multi-wavelength studies of gamma-ray bursts, their host galaxies, and type Ib/c core-collapse supernovae.

Since 2013 I have also been serving as the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the department of astronomy.

Yvette Cendes

I am a postdoctoral fellow who specializes in transient radio astronomy- that is, signals that appear and disappear over time. This often involves space explosions like supernovae or tidal disruption events (TDEs), but can also involve flaring black holes and even flares from exoplanets! My PhD is from Leiden University in the Netherlands, focusing on time domain imaging of transient sources, although I also spent significant chunks of time during my PhD at the University of Toronto and the University of Amsterdam. I am also an active science writer, with my work appearing in publications such as Astronomy, Discover, and Scientific American.

I am a second year graduate student working on transient host galaxies and supernovae, most recently modeling hosts of superluminous supernovae and GW170817 photometry. I did my undergrad at the University of Washington where I studied the supernovae-rich host galaxy NGC6946, and developed a sonification package to audibly classify supernovae lightcurves for Zooniverse. In my spare time, I enjoy public outreach, babysitting my sister’s puppy Basil, long freezing walks, and baking pies.

Kiranjyot (Jasmine) Gill

I am a second year graduate student specializing in core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) gravitational wave astrophysics with Advanced LIGO (aLIGO), Advanced Virgo (AdVirgo), and beyond. The detection of GWs from a CCSN would be the second watershed event in the newly-born field of GW astronomy. GWs, produced by the quadrupole distribution of energy and mass, are intimately connected with the inner dynamics of explosion and probe the degree of asymmetry and angular momentum of the explosion, as well as evolve differently for (1) neutrino driven convection dynamics (2) magneto-rotational explosions or (3) the abrupt termination of GW emission that would signal the formation of a black hole. For these reasons, I work with a range of fields in order to improve detector sensitivities at high frequencies, develop reliable 3D CCSNe simulations with the inclusion of progenitor physics, and introduce Bayesian-based data analysis techniques to truly establish a multi-messenger approach in maximizing efforts to perform GW science with CCSNe.

Floor Broekgaarden

I am a second year graduate student working in astro-statistics, binary stellar evolution, compact objects (neutron stars and black holes) and gravitational waves. My research interest is best summarized as;  “excited by many things going boom really loud in the Universe”, or in Astronomy language; “studying populations of energetic transients in our Universe”. In my current project  I work on making predictions for the population of mergers between black holes and neutron stars (BH-NS) for gravitational-wave observations. In my spare time I’m learning how to juggle and enjoy playing volleyball.

Adam Boesky

I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College planning to concentrate in Astrophysics. I am interested in black hole binaries and binary star evolution. Currently, I am working on how to best explore the parameter space in predictive gravitational-wave models for black hole and neutron star mergers. Outside of the classroom and the lab, I enjoy being a member of the Harvard club hockey team, participating in STAHR and Society of Physics Students events, and going on hiking trips throughout New England.

Maria Drout: Former graduate student, now a faculty member at University of Toronto. 

Wen-Fai Fong: Former graduate student, now a faculty member at Northwestern University.

Tanmoy Laskar: Former graduate student, now a Research Officer at University of Bath.

George Miller: Former graduate student.

Ragnhild Lunnan: Former graduate student, now a postdoctoral fellow at Stockholm University.

Ashley Zauderer: Former postdoctoral researcher, now a program director at NSF.

Ryan Chornock: Former postdoctoral researcher, now a faculty member at Ohio University.

Kate Alexander: Former graduate student, now a Hubble fellow at Northwestern University.

Philip Cowperthwaite: Former graduate student, now a Hubble fellow at Carnegie Observatories.

Peter Blanchard: Former graduate student, now a Hubble fellow at Northwestern University.

Peter Williams: Former postdoctoral researcher, now an Innovation Scientist at Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

Matt Nicholl: Former postdoctoral researcher, now a Royal Astronomical Society Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.

Ashley Villar: Former graduate student, now a Simons Fellow at Columbia University.

Tarraneh Eftekhari: Former graduate student, now a CIERA fellow at Northwestern University.

Sebastian Gomez: Former graduate student, now an STScI Fellow at Space Telescope Science Institute

Griffin Hosseinzadeh: Former postdoctoral researcher, now a postdoctoral researcher at The University of Arizona.