People

Welcome to the West Virginia University Astronomy Page! Use the sidebar to become familiar with the faculty, staff, and graduate students!

Faculty

Loren Anderson

loren.anderson@mail.wvu.edu

Phone 304-293-4884
B.S. Whitman College, 2002
Ph.D. Boston University, 2011
Research Galactic HII Regions and Star Formation

Duncan Lorimer

duncan.lorimer@mail.wvu.edu

Phone 304-293-4867
B.S. University of Wales, 1990
Ph.D. University of Manchester, 1994
Research Compact Objects and Radio Transients

Maura McLaughlin

maura.mclaughlin@mail.wvu.edu

Phone 304-293-4812
B.S. Pennsylvania State University, 1994
Ph.D. Cornell University, 2001
Research Neutron Stars and General Relativity

Sean McWilliams

Sean.McWilliams@mail.wvu.edu

Phone 304-293-3076
B.S. Pennsylvania State University, 2003
Ph.D. University of Maryland, 2008
Research Compact Binary Systems and General Relativity

D.J. Pisano

djpisano@mail.wvu.edu

Phone 304-293-4886
B.S. Yale University, 1996
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2001
Research Neutral Hydrogen in Distant Galaxies

Sarah Burke Spolaor

sarah.spolaor@mail.wvu.edu

Phone 304-293-2771
B.S. Haverford College, 2006
Ph.D. Swinburne University of Technology, 2011
Research Binary Supermassive Black Holes and Radio Transients

Kathryn Williamson

kewilliamson@mail.wvu.edu

Phone 304-293-3422
B.S. University of Georgia, 2008
Ph.D. Montana State University, 2013
Research Education and Public Outreach

Staff

Nathaniel Garver-Daniels

nathaniel.garver-daniels@mail.wvu.edu

Phone 304-293-3422
System Administrator

Margaret Mattson

mamattson@mail.wvu.edu

Phone 304-293-3784
Program Coordinator

Post-Docs

Paul Baker

paul.baker1@mail.wvu.edu

B.S.Reed College, 2006
Ph.D. Montana State University, 2013

Paul Brook

paul.brook@gmail.com

MPhys University of Leeds and UC Berkeley, 2010
Ph.D. University of Oxford, 2015

Harsha Blumer

harsha.blumer@mail.wvu.edu

Michael Lam

michael.lam@mail.wvu.edu

B.S. Colgate University, 2011
Ph.D. Cornell University, 2016
Research Millisecond Pulsars, Gravitational Waves

Natalia Lewandowska

natalia.lewandowska@mail.wvu.edu

Justin Linford

justin.linford@mail.wvu.edu

B.S. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 2003
Ph.D. The University of New Mexico, 2012
Research

Dusty Madison

dmadison@nrao.edu

B.S. University of California, Berkeley, 2007
Ph.D. Cornell University, 2015
Research

Mayuresh Surnis

msurnis@gmail.com

B.S. Fergusson College, 2008
Ph.D. National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (Pune), 2017
Research Fast Radio Bursts

Current Graduate Students

Will Armentrout

wparmentrout@mix.wvu.edu

Undergraduate Institution Westminster College
Enrolled 2012
Project Star Formation in the Outer Galaxy
Advisor Loren Anderson
Funding NASA/NSF

Belinda Cheeseboro

bdc0001@mix.wvu.edu

Undergraduate Institution Andrews University
Enrolled 2015
Project Unmodeled Searches for Eccentric Binaries with LIGO
Advisor Sean McWilliams
Funding NSF/WVU

Ashok Choudhary

aschoudhary@mix.wvu.edu

Undergraduate Institution
Enrolled 2015
Project Simulating Electromagnetic Counterparts to GW Sources
Advisor Sean McWilliams
Funding NSF

Golnoosh Gopayegani

gogolpayegani@mix.wvu.edu

Undergraduate Institution
Enrolled 2013
Project Fast Radio Bursts
Advisor Duncan Lorimer

Lucas Hunt

lhunt@mix.wvu.edu

Undergraduate Institution University of Wisconsin-Madison
Project HI at High Redshift in LCBGs and Gravitationally Lensed Galaxies
Advisor D.J. Pisano
Funding NSF

Amber Lenon

al0034@mix.wvu.edu

Undergraduate Institution Syracuse University
Enrolled 2016
Project Modeled Searches for Eccentric Binaries with LIGO
Advisor Sean McWilliams
Funding NSF/WVU

Matteo Luisi

maluisi@mix.wvu.edu

Undergraduate Institution Graz University of Technology
Enrolled 2014
Project Properties and Distribution of the Warm Ionized Medium
Advisor Loren Anderson
Funding NSF

Josh Mascoop

jmascoop@gmail.com

Undergraduate Institution Boston University
Enrolled 2015
Project The HII Region Luminosity Function
Advisor Loren Anderson
Funding NSF

Nikolas Pingel

npingel@mix.wvu.edu

Undergraduate Institution University of Wisconsin-Madison
Enrolled 2012
Project Mapping Diffuse HI around Galaxies with the GBT and FLAG
Advisor D.J. Pisano
Funding NSF

Nihan Pol

nspol@mix.wvu.edu

Akshaya Rane

arane@mix.wvu.edu

Undergraduate Institution
Enrolled 2010
Project Fast Radio Bursts
Advisor Duncan Lorimer

Amy Sardone

asardone@mix.wvu.edu

Undergraduate Institution
Enrolled 2015
Project Low N(HI) Gas in the CGM of Nearby Galaxies
Advisor D.J. Pisano
Funding NSF

Brent Shapiro-Albert

bjs0024@mix.wvu.edu

Undergraduate Institution Union College

Former Graduate Students

Jason Boyles

jason.boyles@wku.edu

Undergraduate Institution Franklin College
Enrolled 2006
Graduated 2011
Thesis Studies of pulsar populations: Searching, timing, and modeling
Current Affiliation Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics, Western Kentucky University

Jayanth Chennamangalam

jayanthc@gmail.com

Undergraduate Institution Mahatma Gandhi EE College
Enrolled 2009
Graduated 2014
Thesis Sampling the Radio Transient Universe: Studies of Pulsarsand the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Current Affiliation Starting an Indian Engineering Firm

Pete Gentile

gentilepetera@gmail.com

Undergraduate Institution
Enrolled
Graduated
Thesis Pulsars as Calibration Tools and X-Ray Observations of
Spider Pulsars
Current Affiliation Postdoc, West Virginia University

Mitch Mickaliger

maledict20@gmail.com

Undergraduate Institution Boston University
Enrolled 2007
Graduated 2013
Thesis Searches for Radio Pulsars & Fast Transients and Multiwavelength Studies of Single-pulse Emission
Current Affiliation Engineer, SKA, University of Manchester, UK

Joshua Miller

j314159@gmail.com
Undergraduate Institution Eastern Michigan University
Enrolled 2006
Graduated 2013
Thesis Multiwavelength Studies of Rotating Radio Transients
Current Affiliation First Data Scientist, Samba TV, San Francisco

Nipuni Palliyaguru

nipunipalliyaguru9@gmail.com

Undergraduate Institution University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
Enrolled 2009
Graduated 2015
Thesis Probing Pulsar Emission on Short Timescales: Rotating Radio Transients, Cyclic Spectroscopy, and Single-Pulse Studies of Millisecond Pulsars
Current Affiliation PostDoc Researcher, Texas Tech University

Katie Rabidoux

rabidouxk@uwplatt.edu

Undergraduate Institution Michigan State University
Enrolled 2008
Graduated 2015
Thesis Evolution of z ~ 0 Luminous Compact Blue Galaxies
Current Affiliation Asst. Professor, University of Wisconsin-Platteville

Joshua Ridley

jridley@murraystate.edu

Undergraduate Institution Grove City College
Enrolled 2006
Graduated 2010
Thesis Pulsar Populations in the Galaxy and Magellanic Clouds
Current Affiliation Asst. Professor of Physics, Murray State University

Andrew Seymour

seymour.andrew@gmail.com

Undergraduate Institution West Virginia University
Enrolled 2009
Graduated 2014
Thesis A Study of Dynamical and Emission Variabilities in Pulsars
Current Affiliation PostDoc Researcher, Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico

Joseph Swiggum

swiggumj@gmail.com

Undergraduate Institution Carleton College
Enrolled 2009
Graduated 2015
Thesis Pulsar population synthesis using palfa detections and pulsar search collaboratory discoveries including a wide DNS system and a nearby MSP
Current Affiliation PostDoc Researcher, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Spencer Wolfe

spencer.wolfe@gmail.com

Undergraduate Institution West Virginia University
Enrolled 2007
Graduated 2014
Thesis Neutral Hydrogen in the Local Group and around the Milky Way
Current Affiliation PostDoc Researcher, SKA South Africa, Cape Town