Skip to main content

Astronomy PhD Students

Jump to Last Name:

Vic (Yuxin) Dong

Vic (Yuxin) Dong

PhD Student

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8037D
yuxin.dong@northwestern.edu
Group: Fong Group
Research Statement: Multiwavelength follow-up observations of Fast Radio Bursts to uncover the origin of their progenitor system(s)

Elena González Prieto

Elena González Prieto

PhD Student

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8038C
elena.prieto@northwestern.edu
Group: Rasio Group
Research Statement: Dynamical evolution of dense stellar environments and the formation of compact objects

Alexa Gordon

Alexa Gordon

PhD Student

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8032B
AlexaGordon2026@u.northwestern.edu
Group: Fong Group
Research Statement: Spectral energy distribution modeling of fast radio burst (FRB) host galaxies to constrain FRB progenitor models

Saarah Hall

Saarah Hall

PhD Student
GEM Associate Fellow 2022-2023

Office location: 1800 Sherman #7433
saarahhall2027@u.northwestern.edu
Research Statement: I study time-domain astronomy with wide-field surveys like the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). I'm interested in utilizing ZTF data to evaluate the volumetric rate of rare transients.

Danat Issa

Danat Issa

PhD Student

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8033
danatissa2023@u.northwestern.edu
Group: Tchekovskoy Group
Research Statement: Simulations of neutron star mergers and their electromagnetic counterparts

Emma Kaufman

Emma Kaufman

PhD Student

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8030A
EmmaKaufman2026@u.northwestern.edu
Group: Lecoanet Group
Research Statement: Simulations of magnetic waves in stellar interiors

Fulya Kiroglu

Fulya Kiroglu

PhD Student

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8031
FulyaKiroglu2024@u.northwestern.edu
Group: Rasio Group
Research Statement: Dynamics and evolution of black holes through close encounters in dense star clusters.

Nathalie Korhonen Cuestas

Nathalie Korhonen Cuestas

PhD Student

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8048D
nathaliekorhonencuestas2029@u.northwestern.edu
Group: Strom Group
Research Statement: Characterising the relationships between galactic mass, metallicity, and star formation rate at cosmic noon to better understand the chemical evolution of the universe.

Aretaios Lalakos

Aretaios Lalakos

PhD Student- Graduated 24-25 school year

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8033
aretaioslalakos2022@u.northwestern.edu
Group: Tchekovskoy Group
Research Statement: The role of magnetic field configuration on black hole accretion and radiation signatures from the interaction of outflows with the ambient medium

Camille Liotine

Camille Liotine

PhD Student

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8038F
cliotine@u.northwestern.edu
Group: Kalogera Group
Research Statement: The evolution of binary star systems, in particular the populations of stellar binaries that result in double compact object mergers that are detectable with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO)

Chang Liu

Chang Liu

PhD Student
Miller Group

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8034C
ChangLiu2025@u.northwestern.edu
Research Statement: Probing the progenitor properties of supernovae with multi-band observations

Miguel Martinez

Miguel Martinez

PhD Student

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8036A
miguel.martinez@northwestern.edu
Group: Rasio Group
Research Statement: Dynamics across a wide range of astrophysical regimes, from exoplanets and exomoons to massive star clusters

Nick Omahen

Nick Omahen

PhD Student

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8027
NicholasOmahen2024@u.northwestern.edu
Group: Tchekovskoy Group
Research Statement: I study the assembly and evolution of accretion disks and their outflows in a wide variety of black hole feeding scenarios

Jillian Rastinejad

Jillian Rastinejad

PhD Student

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8027
JillianRastinejad2024@u.northwestern.edu
Group: Fong Group
Research Statement: Observation of the astronomical explosions created by merging neutron stars, kilonovae, from both the short gamma-ray burst and gravitational wave perspective

Nabeel Rehemtulla

Nabeel Rehemtulla

PhD Student
Group: Miller group

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8038B
NabeelRehemtulla2027@u.northwestern.edu
Research Statement: Building machine learning models to learn about and classify sources detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility

Kyle Akira Rocha

Kyle Akira Rocha

PhD Student

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8035
karocha@u.northwestern.edu
Group: Kalogera Group
Research Statement: Machine learning and the evolution of binary stars and compact objects

Jacob Sprague

Jacob Sprague

PhD Student

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8034A
JacobSprague2021@u.northwestern.edu
Group: Larson Group
Research Statement: Novel GW sources in conjunction with the levitated-sensor GW detector

Elizabeth Teng

Elizabeth Teng

PhD Student

Office location: 1800 Sherman #7421
ElizabethTeng2025@u.northwestern.edu
Group: Kalogera Group
Research Statement: Using machine learning to accelerate simulations of binary star and compact object populations

Rachel Zhang

Rachel Zhang

PhD Student
Rasio Group

Office location: 1800 Sherman #8038A
rczhang@u.northwestern.edu
Group: Rasio Group
Research Statement: Formation and evolution of radio pulsars and magnetars