Team
Principal Investigator
Dr. V. Ashley Villar
Dr. V leads the TDA Data Lab! If you are interested in joining the group, please learn more here.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Alex Gagliano
Dr. Gagliano is an independent IAIFI fellow and collaborator of the group. He combines data-driven and observational methods to understand core-collapse supernovae.
Dr. Conor Ransome
Dr. Ransome studies the progenitors of interacting (Type IIn) supernovae.
Graduate Students
Kaylee de Soto
Kaylee develops machine learning methods to classify supernovae in real time. Most recently, she has used these classification algorithms to understand hydrogen-rich (Type II) core-collapse supernovae.
Sarai Rankin
Sarai uses analytical models to understand luminous red novae -- a new class of transients thought to arise from the common envelope ejection of binary systems.
Ken Shen
Ken uses continous time-series models to understand active galactic nuclei.
S. Karthik Yadavalli
Karthik uses a combination of observational and machine learning methodologies to understand stripped-envelope supernovae. Most recently, he works on new emulation techniques for radiative transfer simulations of stripped-envelope supernovae.
Ricardo Yarza
Ricardo is a graduate student from UCSC and a long-term visitor of the group. He uses analytical and computational methods to study a range of astrophysical phenomena. He is particularly interested in the interactions between stars and their companions, such as planets, other stars, and compact objects.
Undergraduate Students
Sebastian Attlan
Harvard GenAI Summer Research Program student.
Adam Boesky
Junior thesis student.
Christine Gyure
Summer REU student, co-mentored by NSF Fellow Dr. Kaley Brauer.
Prajna Nair
MIT undergraduate.
Mohammed Sakib
Harvard GenAI Summer Research Program student.
Anna Tartaglia
Penn State senior thesis student, and incoming Harvard graduate student.
