Predoc List
Aafaque is a graduate student at the Steward Observatory, University of Arizona. His research with Dr. Erika Hamden focusses on leveraging recent innovations in Ultraviolet technology for application in space based instruments to study the Circumgalactic medium (CGM) and the Interstellar medium (ISM) and the role they play in galaxy evolution. His research also takes a deep dive into end-to-end design, development and calibration of UV space and balloon borne instruments through participation in NASA funded Stratospheric Balloon borne Faint Intergalactic Red-shifted Emission Balloon-2 (FIREBall-2) Multi-object Spectrograph (MOS), and Aspera UV Smallsat, a NASA Astrophysics Pioneers mission. Aafaque is the lead of the calibration working group for the Aspera mission. At the CfA, Aafaque will work with Dr. Patrick Slane, to develop a detailed understanding of mission design, on-board calibration and the scientific operations of UV Astrophysics missions. He will take the lessons learned from discussions with space instrumentation experts at SAO and apply them in developing the on-board calibration of Aspera. During his visits to SAO, he will be using archival data from the FUSE mission and combine them with the Aspera’s throughput and noise models to develop the flux and wavelength calibration pipeline.
Crisel Suarez is a graduate student at Vanderbilt University where she is currently pursuing her Ph.D in Physics. She is interested in studying the physical properties of the solar corona by comparing different types of observations to numerical models. Her research focuses on analyzing solar flare observations from the Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS) Cubesats and using the hydrodynamic numerical simulations (HYDRAD) to better understand the emission, temperature and elemental abundances of the solar corona during flares. While at the CfA, Crisel is working with Dr. Christopher Moore to better understand the signature of Quasi-Periodic Pulsations (QPP) in solar flares by using a data constrained successive reconnection model.
Santi is a PhD student at Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) under the supervision of Dr. Gaug and Dr. Font in the high energy astrophysics group. Specially, Santi is focused on the detection of Quasi-Periodic Oscillations (QPOs) in the Very High Energy (VHE) regime inside the MAGIC collaboration to try to understand the origin of these QPOs. Such QPOs appear in stellar-mass Black Hole Binary (BHB) systems but also in Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN). At CfA and under the supervision of Dr. James Steiner, will study the Dynamic Accretion onto Stellar-Mass Black Holes, measuring the spin of black hole systems, modeling QPOs in black hole systems and relating QPO changes to spectral evolution of the BH system, modeling the geometrical and spectral characteristics during a black hole outburst, and using the premier Magellan telescopes to measure orbital characteristics and determine the masses of quiescent black hole systems. Outside of research, he enjoys reading science fiction and training for an Ironman, watching Japanese animations, and working as a field hockey coach. You can also find him playing field hockey or working extra hours.
