Today I defended my Ph.D dissertation, “Atmospheric Refraction as a Tool for Stellar Flare Science in the Rubin LSST Era” (You don’t get to say that everyday!) Happy to say it was successful thanks to my amazing mentors @fedhere.bsky.social and @jradavenport.com.

Any graduate student will testify that science doesn’t stop just because the government has illegally kidnapped you.

𝗡𝗼, 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗞𝟮-𝟭𝟴𝗯'𝘀 𝗮𝘁𝗺𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲. K2-18b is back in the news, now with a bold claim that biosignature molecules (DMS and/or DMDS) have been 'detected at 3σ'. Most exoplanet astronomers are extremely sceptical about these claims, let's see why (1/n). 🔭🧪🪐 #exoplanet

Good for Harvard

Writing a dissertation as a Ph.D student in the US feels kinda weird right now. Like you’re adding a single tile to a mosaic while the entire foundation is crumbling beneath you.

The president's budget request seeks to strangle astronomy in the US. The president's hit job specifically seeks to murder the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope – a revolutionary facility that is fully assembled, on budget, and nearly ready to launch. 🧪🔭 arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...

Anti-Trump/Musk protest in Newark, Delaware (pop. 35,000). This is not a very political town. Might be the biggest protest I’ve seen in my six years here.

In a way, it’s a privilege to have a front row seat to watch the decline of the American empire unfold in real time. But it gets less fun when you and your friends and family are subjects of that empire. Pic related.

Some days even spite just isn't enough to keep you carrying on.

It is incredibly, incredibly concerning to see the sudden escalation in attacks directed at judges deciding federal cases about the scope of the administration's power, and the framing of federal judges as "unelected adversaries". These are urgent alarm bells for preserving the rule of law.

Oh damn other countries are intolerant of marginalized people? Good thing we don't do that!

NEW: Vera Rubin was a pioneering female astronomer. The federal webpage for an observatory named for her now excludes mention of efforts to diversify science. “I’m sure Vera would be absolutely furious,” said a co-author of a biography of Rubin. By @lisalsong.bsky.social

I listen to @npr.org every day (s/o @kuow.org). Today I'm lucky & proud to be part of a piece talking about SETI and the amazing future of 🔭🧪🎧⭐ with @vrubinobs.bsky.social. Thank you to my friend Regina & the Short Wave team for having me on! www.npr.org/2025/01/22/1...

This thread is something. Not only is it just really bad digital practice (like someone with complete inexperience in these things), even looks like actively making #accessibility challenging. Think about the state of mind one has to be in to go in and make *these* types of changes. So messed up.

I always try to film and share my conference talks... here is my short talk from #AAS245 about using Dynamic Time Warping to solve wavelength calibrations in astronomical spectra. Paper coming soon! www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkQ5... 🔭

Returning home after 6 full days of conferencing, networking, and sciencing - Still one of the best feelings ever.

Just gave my dissertation talk at #aas245! Many thanks to everyone who came and supported me and my mentors @fedhere.bsky.social, and @jradavenport.com. Awesome to see the excitement for early science with @vrubinobs.bsky.social! And big thanks to @startorialist.com for assisting with the fit!

Today at #aas245, @vrubinobs.bsky.social gave the world the first glimpse of their data. Tomorrow the Gaia survey will end. We are watching astronomical history unfold in real time!

TIL the name of Jupyter Notebooks comes from the three core supported languages: Julia, Python, and R.

AAS245 Day -1: Learning Julia for the first time! #AAS245

Think twice before gifting someone an M dwarf this holiday season

Grim topic but very recommended. Knowing the details of how fascist movements took root and gained power is so important if we want to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Feeling like I'm in a spy thriller as I say the secret passphrase that the customer service technician gave me to bypass their own automated system and be directed to a real agent after being connected to a different department.

"It has promulgated an ever-shifting array of rebarbative neologisms [...]" One of the most eye-rolling sentences I've ever read.

I will be shamelessly reposting my old tweets. 🔭

Thinking about how to spin a decade of playing D&D into a strong CV/resume item... "Lead multiple collaborative projects, resolved scheduling issues, and adjusted rapidly to sudden changes in user requirements."