Floor Broekgaarden

Assistant Professor, UC San Diego

Floor leads the GW Paleontology group at UCSD. Her research focuses on using gravitational wave observations of merging black holes and neutron stars to study the evolutionary history of massive stars. She is a member of the COMPAS collaboration and involved in the Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer science communities.

Kyle Akira Rocha

Postdoctoral Fellow in GWs and Compact Objects, UC San Diego

Kyle's research is on the theory of massive binary stellar evolution, including the formation and evolution of X-ray binaries, as well as detailed models for mass transfer interactions — from large-scale populations to individual systems. In his free time Kyle enjoys staying active outdoors by surfing and playing beach volleyball.

Steffani Grondin

NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow, UC San Diego — sgrondin@ucsd.edu

Steffani studies the evolution of binary star systems in star clusters using a variety of ground-based (Gemini, Lick, Keck) and space-based (Swift, Hubble) telescopes. Her work focuses on using white dwarf binaries to unravel the common envelope phase — a critical but poorly constrained process influencing type Ia supernovae, gravitational wave mergers, and UV-bright galaxies. Steffani is also passionate about expanding access to astronomy and STEM education in rural communities across Canada and the U.S. In her free time, you can find her racing in triathlons, exploring the outdoors, or learning how to surf!

Marko Ristić

ISTI Postdoctoral Fellow, LANL — Incoming Schmidt AI in Science Fellow, UC San Diego

Marko completed his PhD at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2024. His research focuses on understanding the cosmic origins of heavy elements, Bayesian inference of transient phenomena, and surrogate modeling of detailed radiative transfer simulations. He has previously studied particle physics at CERN, laser characterization for the VIRGO collaboration, and is an APS Career Mentoring Fellow and National Mentoring Community mentor. In his free time, Marko enjoys strongman training and spending time with his family and their five cats.

Sasha Levina

PhD Student, UC San Diego — slevina@ucsd.edu — website

Sasha's research explores the environments where binary black holes form and merge through the combination of cosmological simulations and the binary population synthesis code COMPAS. Her work focuses on improving star formation history and chemical enrichment assumptions in gravitational wave source population modeling. Outside of research, Sasha creates art — illustration, sewing, crochet, needle felting — expands her houseplant collection, tries new coffee shops, and goes tidepooling at the beach.

Melanie Santiago

PhD Student, UC San Diego — m6santiago@ucsd.edu — website

Melanie's research focuses on using binary population synthesis codes, such as COMPAS, to study different progenitor populations of transient events and gravitational wave sources. She is particularly interested in the merging events associated with binary white dwarf and binary neutron star populations, and linking how different assumptions of binary evolution physics, such as common envelope evolution, affect their merger rates. Melanie loves running, hiking (especially near waterfalls), crocheting, reading, watching movies, and is working hard to become one of the trusted bakers of the group.

Alexander (Alex) Migala

Physics PhD Student, UC San Diego — profile

Alex's research focuses on understanding the massive stars probed by binary black hole mergers detected by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA, and in particular what stellar environments — especially metallicity — these gravitational-wave sources are tracing across cosmic history.

Shasha Arani (Shahed Shayan Arani)

Physics PhD Candidate, UC San Diego — sshayanarani@ucsd.edu

Shasha is a 4th-year PhD candidate specializing in particle astrophysics and cosmology. His research examines the thermal and gravitational signatures of primordial black holes in the early universe, the formation and stability of supermassive stars, and the interplay between ground-based experiments and cosmological probes of neutrinos. He also leads the Simons Array search for axion-like dark matter signatures and develops N-body gravitational evolution codes. In his free time, he plays violin, reads Proust and Dostoevsky, paints in watercolor, and each year disappears into Paris for a few weeks.

Tyler B. Smith

NSF Graduate Research Fellow, UC Irvine — Upcoming Postdoc, USC — tylerbs@uci.edu

Tyler's research is focused on black holes, dark matter, and neutrinos. He combines theoretical modeling with computational methods to develop predictions testable against LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA and JWST data. He is deeply committed to mentorship and community building through SACNAS and the Physics and Community Excellence Program (PACE). Beyond academia he enjoys weightlifting and spending time with his family at the beach.

Rhea Senthil Kumar

MS Student, Computer Science & Engineering, UC San Diego — rhsenthilkumar@ucsd.edu — GitHub

Rhea earned her B.A. in Computer Science and Astrophysics from UC Berkeley, where she conducted research in high-energy astrophysics and machine learning. She previously worked at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Her current work focuses on generative emulators for gravitational wave astrophysics and population synthesis. Her interests span AI, scientific computing, and space technologies. Outside of research, she enjoys collecting plants, reading, and creating art.

Julia Haynes

Recent Data Science Masters Graduate, UC San Diego — jshaynes@ucsd.edu — GitHub

Julia obtained her B.A. in Astrophysics from Columbia University in 2024, where she conducted research with the Cool Stars Lab. She works on using AI to compare population synthesis codes and on machine learning to identify brown dwarfs and accelerate their model generation. For fun, Julia loves to hike, play pickleball, and volleyball.

Laya Binu

Undergraduate Student, UC San Diego

Laya is majoring in Astronomy and Astrophysics. She is working on a project using StarTrack data to investigate the rates of binary black holes and binary neutron stars across redshift.

Ashleann Chen

4th-year Undergraduate, UC San Diego — asc005@ucsd.edu

Ashleann studies Physics with Specialization in Astrophysics. Her current research focuses on studying Primordial Black Holes through gravitational waves using data from COMPAS. Previously she studied the habitability of brown dwarfs and reduced spectroscopy data. She also works in rocketry with SEDS. During her free time, she enjoys running, volleyball, learning new recipes, and spending time with her cat.

Araav Diwan

Undergraduate Student, UC San Diego — adiwan@ucsd.edu

Araav is majoring in Physics. He is working on a project studying Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) through gravitational waves, using merger simulations and data from COMPAS.

Alexandre Riddell Franco

1st-year Undergraduate Student (Astronomy), UC San Diego — ariddellfranco@ucsd.edu

Alexandre is an undergraduate student at UCSD majoring in Astronomy and Astrophysics. His research focuses on computational astrophysics and binary stellar evolution. He works with the binary population synthesis framework POSYDON to model compact-object binary populations.

Saina Kadni

Undergraduate Student, UC San Diego

Saina is majoring in Physics with a specialization in Astrophysics. She is working on a project using COMPAS data to investigate models with different cosmic integration assumptions, and how these impact the expected properties and rates of binary black holes.

Manasvini Komandur

Undergraduate Student, UC San Diego

Manasvini is majoring in Physics. She is working on a project using SEVN data to investigate binary black hole and binary neutron star rates and properties across redshift.

Matthew McCall

Undergraduate Student, UC San Diego — mmccall@ucsd.edu

Matthew is studying Astronomy and Astrophysics. His research previously focused on using SEVN data with Cosmic Integration code to calculate mass distributions and merger rates for binary black holes. He now works with COMPAS data to determine bottlenecks of double compact object formation.

Haoyu (Harry) Miao

1st-year Undergraduate Student (Physics), UC San Diego — h3miao@ucsd.edu

Harry is majoring in Physics. His research focuses on computational astrophysics and binary stellar evolution. He works with the binary population synthesis framework POSYDON to model compact-object binary populations and contribute to the development of the GROWL catalog.

Joseph Rodriguez (he/him)

Undergraduate Student, UC San Diego — jrodriguezruelas@ucsd.edu

Joseph studies the origin and diversity of gamma-ray bursts by combining binary population synthesis (COMPAS) with cosmological modeling. His work uses binary neutron star and neutron star–black hole merger populations to predict the rates, properties, and offset distributions of merger-driven GRBs across cosmic time. He's also VP of the Astronomy Club at UCSD. Off the clock, you'll find him behind a camera, on a tennis court, or out under the stars.

Eugene Shang

2nd-year Undergraduate Student (Mathematics), UC San Diego — eshang@ucsd.edu

Kera Yu

Undergraduate Student, UC San Diego

Kera is majoring in Physics with Specialization in Astrophysics. She is working on delay-time distributions and offsets of compact binary mergers.

Khushi Karthikeyan

High School Student (Astronomy) — incoming undergraduate, University of Chicago — kjkarthikeyan1@gmail.com

Meera Desawale

High School Student (Astronomy) — desawale.meera@gmail.com

Amedeo Romagnolo

PhD Candidate, Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre, Warsaw — Visiting Fellow, UC San Diego — Incoming Postdoc, University of Padua

Amedeo works on the theoretical and computational evolution of the most massive stars in the universe, and how massive binaries across cosmic history evolve into couples of massive black holes detectable with gravitational wave observations. He is also involved in observational and theoretical research of habitable exoplanets, and in science-fiction projects.

Phil Van-Lane

PhD Candidate, University of Toronto — Visiting Graduate Student, UC San Diego

Phil's research is focused on developing statistical, machine learning, and AI methodologies to study variability in low-mass stars, with the goal of improving age constraints for exoplanet hosts. Outside of work, he loves backcountry camping, canoeing, hiking, and sports such as hockey, tennis, and triathlons (and now surfing!).

Cauã Rodrigues

Undergraduate Student, Catholic University Center of Eastern Minas Gerais, Brazil

Cauã is studying Software Engineering. He is working on black hole–neutron star mergers and their relationship with r-process enrichment in Ultra Faint Dwarf Galaxies.

Jayjanth Bharadwaj

Undergraduate Student (Astronomy), UC San Diego

Hanan Sayes

Summer Student, Undergraduate (Astronomy), UC San Diego

Feranmi Falodun

CalBridge Fellow, Undergraduate (Astronomy), California State University, East Bay — now SULI Intern, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Suoi-Nguon Pham

STARTastro Fellow, Undergraduate (Astronomy), UC San Diego

Ángel Hernández

Summer Student, MSc Student (Astronomy) — Angel.Hernandez@colorado.edu

Alexis Vazquez

CalBridge Fellow, Undergraduate (Astronomy), UC San Diego

Ayanah Cason

MSc Student, Fisk-Vanderbilt Bridge Program — ayanah1121@gmail.com

I use simulations to investigate the rates and metallicity dependence of suggested progenitors of radio loud- long Gamma-Ray Bursts. I am also interested in ethics and intersection of accessibility and inclusion of sciences.

Prajakta Saraf

MSc Student, Computer Science, UC San Diego — pssaraf@ucsd.edu

Danielle Smart

CENCE Bridge Program (main advisor: Ana Lam), 2024–2025

Ana Lam

MSc Student, CUNY/CCA, 2023–2025

Amedeo Romagnolo

MSc/Predoc, UCSD, 2024–2025 — now Postdoc, University of Padua

Esther Park

Post-baccalaureate, UC San Diego

Esther worked on data science for computational astrophysics to understand how massive stars influence the evolution of the universe and their roles as progenitors of gravitational-wave sources. She practices kendo outside of research!

Adam Boesky

Undergraduate, Harvard University, 2022–2024 — now PhD student, Harvard University

Simone Abeti

Undergraduate, Milan University, Italy, 2022–2023

Kaylie Hausknecht

Undergraduate, Harvard University, 2021–2022

Tom Wagg

Undergraduate, Harvard University, 2019–2021 → PhD in Astronomy, University of Washington → CCA Prize Postdoc, Flatiron Institute

Loki Khandelwal

MSc Student, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2019–2020

Floris Kummer

MSc Student, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2019–2020 — now PhD student, University of Amsterdam