Research
ORIGINS AND DIVERSITY OF PLANETARY SYSTEMS
Searches for extrasolar planets have revealed a remarkable diversity of worlds, from scorching super-Earths to far-out super-Jupiters, and challenged our preconceptions many times over. We investigate their origins and evolution through observational studies of protoplanetary and debris disks in single and multiple star systems.
Detection and Characterization of Exoplanets AND PLANETARY SYSTEMS
Using high-precision observational techniques, we do ‘remote sensing’ of alien planets seen in transit and via direct imaging. Back in 2008, we reported one of the first planetary mass companions to a normal star discovered through imaging and confirmed through spectroscopy and proper motion. More recently, we have measured the changing phases of hot Jupiters with Kepler, investigated orbital dynamics with TESS, conducted a high-resolution spectroscopic survey of exoplanet atmospheres with Gemini, and participate in guaranteed-time observations of exoplanets with NIRISS on the James Webb Space Telescope.
Formation and Evolution of Brown Dwarfs and Stars
Brown dwarfs straddle the mass range between stars and planets, and share characteristics with both. In a series of papers, we established that young brown dwarfs, even down to planetary masses, are surrounded by accretion disks, similar to their stellar counterparts, and probably form the same way. Our SONYC project is explored brown dwarfs in star-forming regions. We also conducted a large, comprehensive variability survey of cool brown dwarfs, and discovered evidence of extreme weather as well as the first triple system of T dwarfs. We co-lead a guaranteed-time observation program on the James Webb Space Telescope that aims to discover and characterize the lowest-mass free-floating objects in a young star cluster.
Research Group
Jake Turner
NASA Sagan Fellow
Laura Flagg
Postdoctoral Fellow
Andrew Ridden-Harper
Postdoctoral Fellow
Emily Deibert
Graduate Student
Nicole Hao
Undergraduate Student
Antonia Peters
Undergraduate Summer Student
Former Group Members
Postdoctoral Fellows
➣ Mariangela Bonavita
➣ Alexis Brandeker (jointly with Prof. Marten van Kerkwijk)
➣ Neil Cook
➣ Thayne Currie
➣ Sebastian Daemgen
➣ Ernst de Mooij
➣ Paul Elliott
➣ Vincent Geers
➣ Karl Haisch, Jr.
➣ Élodie Hébrard
➣ Markus Janson
➣ Veselin Kostov
➣ David Lafreniere (jointly with Prof. Marten van Kerkwijk)
➣ Kora Muzic
➣ Aleks Scholz
➣ Laura Venuti (short-term, Fall 2018)
Ph.D. Students
➣ Bryce Croll (jointly with Prof. Norm Murray)
➣ Lisa Esteves
➣ Miranda Herman (jointly with Prof. Yanqin Wu)
➣ Duy Nguyen (jointly with Prof. Marten van Kerkwijk)
➣ Jacqueline Radigan
Graduate Projects
➣ Mirza Ahmic
➣ Rebecca Billmeier
➣ Ivana Damjanov.ca/research/profiles/faculty/Damjanov49.html
➣ Laura Fissel
➣ Abhinav JIndal
➣ Parandis Khavari
➣ Erin Mentuch (jointly with Prof. Marten van Kerkwijk)
➣ Eliot Meyer
➣ Keavin Moore (MSc)
➣ Bryn Orth-Lashley
➣ Sarah Ragan
➣ Ari Silburt
➣ Louise Yu (visiting student from IRAP)
Undergraduate Projects
➣ Daniel Clouston
➣ Ryan Cloutier
➣ Jaime Coffey
➣ Eve Lee
➣ Yevgeny Liokumovich
➣ Charlotte Minsky
➣ Yutong Shan
➣ Sarah Springsteen
➣ Natasha Wolansky
➣ Xiaoying Xu