I am a theoretical plasma physicist at the Flatiron Institute Center for Computational Astrophysics. I am working to apply fusion plasma physics theory to the study of astrophysical compact object emission. Fusion physicists are experts in how plasmas behave in response to magnetic cages and interact with electromagnetic waves. In astrophysics, observers are currently producing a wealth of new data about electromagnetic emission produced in plasmas surrounding compact objects like neutron stars and black holes.  This data confronts a community in which fusion plasma physics is not known widely, so I am working to bring fusion plasma theory to this community.

For example, one of my papers, “Electric field screening in pair discharges and generation of pulsar radio emission,” studies highly relativistic pulsar polar cap discharges using methods developed to study waves and energetic particles in tokamak plasmas, yielding a potential explanation for the previously-unexplained pulsar radio luminosity and spectrum.

I completed my PhD in 2020 in the MIT Department of Physics at the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, where I was advised by Professor Nuno Loureiro and worked primarily on fusion. At the end of my PhD, I moved to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, to begin work in theoretical plasma astrophysics. Then, I took up my current position at Flatiron Institute Center for Computational Astrophysics.