ABOUT ME
name pronunciation: AYkh-dhaa PUH-tell
pronouns: she/her/hers
I was born and raised in Northeastern and Central New Jersey. I received my Bachelor's degree in Physics from New York University in 2014. I then completed my Ph.D. in Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Arizona in 2019 under the mentorship of Professor Gurtina Besla. My thesis work focused on combining high-precision astrometric data with simulated data from cosmological simulations to explore the dynamics of satellite galaxies around the Milky Way and Andromeda. I am a member of the TiNy Titans (TNT) collaboration and the HSTPROMO collaboration.
From August 2019-2022, I was a Miller Fellow at the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science at the University of California, Berkeley. I am currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley.
June 2018: American Astronomical Society Meeting Press Conference (Denver, CO)
RESEARCH INTERESTS
dynamics
near-field cosmology
satellite galaxies
dwarf galaxies
computational astrophysics
EDUCATION
2014 - 2019
University of Arizona
Ph.D. in Astronomy & Astrophysics
2014 - 2017
University of Arizona
M.S. in Astronomy
2010 - 2014
New York University
B.A. in Physics
Outside of astronomy, you can find me hanging out with my husband, our dogs, in the gym, or cooking.
