Student Projects

My research touches upon many aspects of exoplanet science, including exoplanet observations with JWST and theoretical work. I regularly recruit undergraduate students for research projects on exoplanet atmospheres. Over the past few years, I have supervised several undergraduate students - leading to research papers published in peer-reviewed journals.

 

Available Student Projects

Hot Jupiters to Water Worlds: Giant Exoplanet Atmospheres with JWST

(2 Projects available)

JWST is now in its 2nd year of science operations (Cycle 2). The first year of JWST science has transformed exoplanet astronomy, with detections of new molecules in hot giant exoplanet atmospheres and promising hints of rocky exoplanet atmospheres.

I am part of several international teams working on analysing JWST spectroscopic observations of exoplanet atmospheres. This includes two multi-planet Cycle 2 Programs focused on peering into the atmospheres of giant exoplanets in unprecedented detail in late 2023 and 2024.

I am recruiting two University of Michigan astrophysics major undergraduates interested in joining our efforts to interpret JWST spectra of giant exoplanet atmospheres. The two projects are:

  1. The Multidimensional Atmosphere of a Hot Jupiter. We recently observed the hot Jupiter WASP-52b with JWST as part of a Cycle 2 Program aiming to measure differences between the east and west sides of the planet. The student will join our team’s efforts to measure the chemical composition, temperature, and cloud properties on each side of the planet.

  2. What are the Water Worlds? A major open question in exoplanet science is the unknown atmospheric properties of the class of exoplanets with intermediate size between Earth and Neptune. Recently, several planets have been discovered with densities suggesting they contain substantial amounts of water. But the nature of the atmospheres of these ‘water worlds’ is currently unknown. We are observing 5 of these mysterious planets with JWST through a Large Cycle 2 Program to measure their atmospheric composition. The student will join our team’s efforts to measure the atmospheric properties of a candidate water world.

The two students will learn how to use a state-of-the-art Bayesian inference code to extract atmospheric properties from an exoplanet spectrum. They will then apply these techniques to real exoplanet JWST observations. I anticipate the two students will also collaborate and work together, given the commonalities in analysis techniques between their two projects.

The students will each join and contribute to meetings of an international JWST team during the analysis efforts, which will culminate in a scientific paper submitted to an astronomy journal. The students will very likely have the opportunity to present the results of their project at an astronomy conference.

Essential requirements:

  • Currently an Astronomy Major.

  • Completed introductory courses in thermal physics (e.g. PHYSICS 340) and general astronomy (e.g. ASTRO 201).

  • Extensive Python programming experience, including numpy and matplotlib.

Desired requirements:

  • Completed (or currently studying) an exoplanet course (e.g. ASTRO 401). For the hot Jupiter project, a course in steller astrophysics (e.g. ASTRO 402) would be helpful.

  • Previous research experience (not necessarily exoplanet related).

  • Experience with Bayesian analysis techniques (e.g. MCMC, Nested Sampling).

Given these requirements, these research projects will be most appropriate for an astro major in their junior or senior year.

These are paid research positions with an ideal start date in January 2024. The average workload will be 10 hours / week starting in Winter Term, potentially continuing through Summer 2024.

Application Process:

Please send an email with the subject ‘Exoplanet JWST Project’ to ryanjmac@umich.edu.

In your email, include a short paragraph explaining your interest in the project and any relevant research and/or coding experience. Please also attach a current CV.

The deadline to apply for one (or both) of these positions is December 1.

Interviews will be held in the week beginning December 4.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Example Past Student Projects

Searching for an Atmosphere on the Super-Earth GJ 1132b with JWST

I worked with a UMich student throughout 2023 to interpret two JWST transit observations of the warm rocky exoplanet GJ 1132b (T ~ 600 K). After the observations were successful in February 2023, our goal was to determine if the planet has an atmosphere and, if so, to measure its atmospheric composition.

The student joined an international team working on the analysis of GJ 1132b’s JWST observations, wrote and ran code to fit the planet’s spectrum, and co-authored an accepted scientific paper in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. The student also travelled to an exoplanet conference at Yale to present their results.