My research aims to uncover the hidden population of “dormant” black holes in the Milky Way—systems that do not emit light but reveal themselves through their gravitational influence on companion stars. Using data from large-scale surveys and targeted spectroscopic observations, I measure stellar motions to identify and weigh unseen black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs in binary systems. This work is building the first large, unbiased census of compact objects in the Galaxy and is already revealing surprising formation pathways that challenge standard models of binary evolution. A key goal is to discover black holes orbiting massive stars, which are the direct progenitors of merging black hole binaries observed through gravitational waves. By connecting nearby stellar systems to distant mergers, my research links stellar evolution to gravitational-wave astrophysics.
Awards and Achievements
- MacArthur Fellowship ( 2025)
- Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship ( 2025)
- New Horizons Solvay Lectureship in Physics ( 2025)
- IAU Ph.D. Prize, Stars and Stellar Physics division ( 2022)
- CCAPP Price Prize in Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics ( 2018)
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship ( 2016)