Kristen B. Wingfield McQuinn
All About Our Research Group ...
Prof. Kristen McQuinn
Assistant Professor, Rutgers University
My work focuses on measuring the stellar and chemical evolution of low-mass galaxies in the nearby universe using observations from the Hubble Space Telescope (optical), Spitzer Space Telescope (infrared), Jansky Very Large Array (radio), and myriad of ground-based telescopes. I am particularly interested in pushing down the galaxy mass function to find smaller galaxies that are the limit of what we can actually call a galaxy. This work has also led me to study extremely metal poor galaxies with a new exploration of metal-poor massive stars that were critical sources of energy in the early universe. I have another focus on measuring the distances to galaxies.
I'm fortunate to work with an outstanding group of people at Rutgers including students and post-docs that are studying a broad range of science related to galaxies in the nearby universe.
Dr. O. Grace Telford
Post-Doctorate Scholar, Rutgers University
Grace is an expert on the star formation and chemical evolution histories of nearby dwarf galaxies. She earned her Ph.D in astronomy with a focus on data science methods from the University of Washington in 2019. Her thesis focused on constraining past gas flows using galaxies’ present-day metal content. Grace's work has expanded to include connecting star formation properties on low-mass galaxies with their dark matter distrution. She is also currently working on measuring the stellar and wind properties of the lowest metallicity O stars in the nearby universe and measuring their production of ionizing photons.
Dr. Roger Cohen
Post-Doctorate Scholar, Rutgers University
Roger has deep expertise with resolved stellar populations, and has studied the evoution, stellar content, chemical properties of a range of systems ... from globular clusters to the halos of elliptical galaxies. He earned his PhD at the University of Florida, followed by post-doctorate scholar positions at the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Universidad de Concepcion in Chile. He is currently working on measuring the star formation histories of our closest gas-rich, star-forming galaxies, the Small and large Magellanic Clouds. He is also leading a project determining the radial age gradients in a statistical sample of low-mass galaxies with the goal of determining how these systems asseble their stellar masses.
Max Newman
Graduate Student, Rutgers University
Max is working on measuring the distances to galaxies in the nearby universe using the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) method which is argubly the most precise and efficient technique for measuring distances to galaxies within 15-20 Mpc. The TRGB is typically measured in the I-band, but the TRGB becomes brighter at near-infrared wavelengths offering significant observational gains if the TRGB can be calibrated as a standard candle at longer wavelengths. This is particularly important given that NASA's two upcoming flagship telescopes, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, are both infrared observatories. In prepration for these facilities, Max is calibrating the TRGB in the near-infrared with newly obtained Hubble Space Telescope imaging.
Clare Burhenne
Graduate Student, Rutgers University
Clare is working on a new HST program called Scylla that is obtaining 500!! orbits of data on two of our closest galactic neighbors - the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud. Clare's focus is to connect their history and evolution across cosmic time with the dynamical history of the Clouds as they interact with one another and fall into the Local Group of galaxies.
Joe Breneman
Graduate Student, Rutgers University
Joe is studying an extremely metal-poor, low-mass galaxy in then nearby Universe and is working to piece together its evolutionary history. He is using new optical imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope and 21-cm spectral line imaging from the atomic hydrogen obtained on the Greenbank Telescope to measure the distance to the galaxy and determine its stellar and gas properties. This little system hosts a recent starburst, is driving a strong galactic wind, and shows signs of a recent interaction!
Arya Lakshmanan
Undergraduate Student, Rutgers University
Arya is working with Dr. Grace Telford to measure the surface brightness profiles and stellar mass densities of low-mass galaxies from Spitzer Space Telescope infrared imaging. Arya is working clean the images of foreground stars and background galaxies using his custom-developed python routine, in between being President of the Rutgers Astronomical Society and taking lots of classes on astrophysics! Arya was recently awarded a scholarship in the Physics and Astronomy department for his excellence in both academics and research.
Suchindram Dasgupta
Undergraduate Student, Rutgers University
Suchindram is working with Dr. Roger Coehn to measure the star formation histories of low-mass galaxies in radial annuli and measure their radial age gradients. He is using optical imaging data of resolved stars from the Hubble Space Telescope and a sophisticated technique to reconstruct the ages of stars from the imaging. Suchindram process his data on the high-performance computing clusters at Rutgers. When not taking classes and doing research in astrophysics, Suchindram may be found working on a research projects in the math department. He is also a recent recipient of the Plano summer research award in the department of Physics and Astronomy.
Lily Whitesell
Undergraduate Student, Rhodes College
Lily is joining our group as an summer REU student! She will be working with Dr. Roger Cohen and Clare Bruhenne on measuring the star formation of the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds using multi-wavelength data from the Hubble Space Telescope. We are excited to have Lily with us this summer!
Former Group Members
Avery Kiihne, Rutgers University Undergraduate, co-supervised with Grace Telford (2020-2021)
Anjana Talluri (maiden name Telidevara), UT Austin Undergraduate (2017-2020), current graduate student at UMN
Hunter Thu, St. Stephen's Episcopal High School, Austin, TX (2020)
Zili Shen, UT Austin Undergraduate (2017-2019), current graduate student at Yale University
Lizzy Jones, St. Stephen's Episcopal High School, Austin, TX (2019)
John Holloway, UT Austin Undergraduate (2019), working in the oil industry
Eliza Pattie, UT Austin Undergraduate (2019), current graduate student at Texas Tech University
Melissa Morris, UT Austin Undergraduate (2016-2018), current graduate student at UWi Madison
Anna McGilvray, UT Austin Undergraduate (2016-2018), staff scientist at Arecibo Telescope
Hannah Hasson, UT Austin Undergraduate (2016-2018), current graduate student at the University of Rochester
Anthony Pahl, UMN Undergraduate (2016-2017), current graduate student at UCLA
Brandon Carr, UT Undergraduate (2015-2016), data scientist
Arpit Arora, UMN Undergraduate (2015-2016)
Mallory Mitchell, UMN Undergraduate (2014-2016)
Taryn Heilman, UMN Graduate student (2014-2015)
Charlotte Martinkus, UMN REU and Macalester College Undergraduate (2014-2015)
Tyler Kelly, UMN Undergraduate (2013-2014), current graduate student at UC Irvine
Brian Schaefer, UMN Undergraduate (2013)
Matt Caplan, UMN REU (2013)
Noah Mitchell, UMN/St. Olaf Undergraduate (2012-2015), PhD in Physics U Chicago
David Stark, UMN Undergraduate (2007-209), PhD in Physics UT Austin (2015)
Leah Olsen, UMN Undergraduate (2006-2007)