Curriculum Vitae

Education

University Degree Advisor Project Dates
Rutgers University PhD Physics & Astronomy Prof. Saurabh W. Jha Qualifier: “Spectral Synthesis Models of SN 2014ad using TARDIS” 2019-present
California Institute of Technology BS Physics Prof. Mansi M. Kasliwal Thesis: “iPTF16asu: A Luminous, Rapidly Evolving, and High-velocity Supernova” 2013-2017

Publications

First-Author Papers
Kwok, L. A. et al. 2023, "A JWST Near- and Mid-infrared Nebular Spectrum of the Type Ia Supernova 2021aefx”, ApJL, 944, L3
Kwok, L. A. et al. 2022, "UV Spectroscopy and TARDIS Models of Broad-lined Type-Ic Supernova 2014ad”, ApJ, 937, 40
Whitesides, L. et al. 2017, “iPTF 16asu: A Luminous, Rapidly Evolving, and High-velocity Supernova”, ApJ, 851, 107

Contributing-Author Papers
DerKacy, J. M. et al.2023, “JWST Low-resolution MIRI Spectral Observations of SN 2021aefx: High-density Burning in a Type Ia Supernova”, ApJL, 945, L2
Camacho-Neves, Y. et al. 2023, “Over 500 Days in the Life of the Photosphere of the Type Iax Supernova SN 2014dt”, submitted to ApJ, eprint arXiv:2302.03105
Williamson, M. et al. 2023, “SN 2019ewu: A Peculiar Supernova with Early Strong Carbon and Weak Oxygen Features from a New Sample of Young SN Ic Spectra”, ApJL, 944, L49
Mayker Chen, N. et al. 2023, “Serendipitous Nebular-phase JWST Imaging of SN Ia SN 2021aefx: Testing the Confinement of 56Co Decay Energy”, ApJL, 944, L28
Davis, K. W. et al. 2022, “SN 2022ann: A type Icn supernova from a dwarf galaxy that reveals helium in its circumstellar environment”, submitted to MNRAS, eprint arXiv:2211.05134
Pierel, J. D. R. et al. 2022, “SALT3-NIR: Taking the Open-source Type Ia Supernova Model to Longer Wavelengths for Next-generation Cosmological Measurements”, ApJ, 939, 11
Hosseinzadeh, G. et al. 2022, “Constraining the Progenitor System of the Type Ia Supernova 2021aefx”, ApJL, 933, L45
Fraser, M. et al. 2021, “SN 2021csp – the explosion of a stripped envelope star within a H and He-poor circumstellar medium,” eprint arXiv:2108.07278
Dong, Y. et al. 2021, "Supernova 2018cuf: A Type IIP Supernova with a Slow Fall from Plateau", ApJ, 906, 56
Barna, B. et al. 2021, "SN 2019muj - a well-observed Type Iax supernova that bridges the luminosity gap of the class", MNRAS, 501, 1078
Jha, S. et al. 2021, "See Through Supernovae: Nebular Spectroscopy of Exploding White Dwarfs", JWST Proposal, Cycle 1, ID. #2072

Awards & Proposals
Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) Fellow, PI: S. W. Jha, FI: L. Kwok, $150,000 over 3 years (2022)
Flatiron Institute’s Machine Learning X Science Summer School Internship (2022)
Rutgers Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (RASTL) Fellow (2022)
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) Honorable Mention (2021)
Co-I of James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Cycle 1 GO Proposal 02072, "See Through Supernovae: Nebular Spectroscopy of Exploding White Dwarfs", PI: Saurabh Jha (2021)
Co-I of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Cycle 29 GO Proposal 16683, "Radioactive Stars: Bound Remnants from White Dwarf Supernovae", PI: Saurabh Jha (2021)
Rutgers Developing Educational Leaders among TAs in Physics (DELTA-P) Certificate of Training (2019)
Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow (SURF) at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) (2015)
Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow (SURF) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) (2014)

Conferences & Talks

Invited Seminars & Talks
SuperNova Explosions (SNEx) Group Meeting (scheduled) (May 2023)
Florida State University Astrophysics Seminar (Feb 2023)
Princeton University Astro-ph Coffee (Nov 2022)
Michigan State University Astro-ph Coffee (Oct 2023)

Conference Talks & Posters
241st AAS Meeting, Seattle WA (talk) (Jan 2023)
First Science Results from JWST, Baltimore MD (poster) (Dec 2022)
SuperVirtual 2022, virtual (talk) (Nov 2022)
SuperVirtual 2021, virtual (poster) (Nov 2021)
229th AAS Meeting, Grapevine, TX (poster) (Jan 2017)

Research Experience

RUTGERS UNIVERISTY, Piscataway, NJ

Aug 2019 – Present

NASA FINESST Fellow with Prof. Saurabh W. Jha
  • Reduced and calibrated JWST near- and mid-infrared (NIR & MIR) nebular spectra of type Ia supernova SN 20201aefx.
  • Identified, fit line profiles, and measured velocities of nebular emission lines in the NIR & MIR.
  • Found signatures of a stratified ejecta indicating a detonation was involved in the explosion, and the presence of strong Ni-58 lines suggesting a high-mass white dwarf progenitor.
Summer Intern at the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) with Prof. Shirley Ho and Dr. Miles Cranmer
  • Learned the fundamentals of machine learning.
  • Used sbi, a simulation-based inference (or likelihood-free inference) package, to train a neural network to predict parameter posteriors for supernova spectral models with TARDIS.
Graduate Research Assistant with Prof. Saurabh W. Jha
  • Modeled broad, blended spectra of high-velocity, stripped-envelope supernova SN 2014ad using the radiative transfer code TARDIS.
  • Developed infrastructure on Rutger's supercomputer Amarel to run TARDIS models over large grids of parameter space.
  • Reduced and calibrated spectra from the South African Large Telescope (SALT) using standard IRAF techniques.
  • Remotely operated the Keck II NIRES instrument to collect NIR spectra of supernovae through the SIRAH (PI: Jha) and KITS (PI: Foley) programs.

INTERMEDIATE PALOMAR TRANSIENT FACTORY (iPTF), Pasadena, CA

Aug 2016 – June 2017

Caltech Research Assistant with Prof. Mansi M. Kasliwal and Dr. Ragnhild Lunnan
  • Analyzed photometry and spectroscopy of a luminous, rapidly-evolving, high-velocity supernova.
  • Weighed feasibility of 56Ni decay, magnetar, gamma-ray burst afterglow, and shock breakout models.

LASER INTERFEROMETER GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE OBSERVATORY (LIGO), Pasadena, CA

June – Aug 2015

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow (SURF) with Dr. Mark Scheel
  • Ran numerical relativity simulations of high-spin black-hole binaries in “superkick” configurations.
  • Modeled orbital parameters by iteratively solving Einstein’s equations as black hole orbits circularize.

NASA JET PROPULSION LABORATORY (JPL), Pasadena, CA

July – Sep 2014

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow (SURF) with Dr. Karen Willacy
  • Determined chemical composition of Titan’s atmosphere with data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA); instituted framework for future analysis of similar data sets.

Teaching & Mentoring Experience

Organization Position Location Dates
Rutgers University Independent Instructor Piscataway, NJ Summer 2023
Rutgers University Research Co-Advisor for Undergraduates Piscataway, NJ Sep 2022 - present
Rutgers University Graduate Teaching Assistant Piscataway, NJ Aug 2019 – Aug 2022
The Westminster Schools Upper School Physics Teacher Atlanta, GA Aug 2018 – June 2019
Phillips Academy, Andover Teaching Fellow/Instructor in Physics Andover, MA Aug 2017 – June 2018
Google Summer of Code, TARDIS Collaboration Co-Mentor Virtual May – Aug, 2020/23
Summer Science Program (SSP) at CU Boulder & New Mexico Tech Teaching Assistant and Residential Mentor Boulder, CO and Soccoro, NM June – July, 2016/17
Caltech Physics Lab (Physics 6) Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Pasadena, CA Jan – Mar, 2016/17

Technical Skills

Computational: Python, MatPlotLib, Jupyter Lab, Unix, Mathematica, LaTeX, AstroPy, IRAF/Pyraf, Git/Github, SLURM

Programs: SAOImage DS9, JWST Estimated Time Calculator, Astronomer's Proposal Tool (APT), Stellarium, Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop

Observing: Observatory Operation, Telescope Imaging and Reduction (focus, bias, flats, darks, filters), The SkyX