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

Bin Liu

bin.liu@mail.wvu.edu

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
Current Affiliation Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics, Western Kentucky University

Jayanth Cennamangalam

jayanthc@gmail.com

Undergraduate Institution Mahatma Gandhi EE College
Enrolled 2009
Graduated 2014
Current Affiliation Starting an Indian Engineering Firm

Mitch Mickaliger

maledict20@gmail.com

Undergraduate Institution Boston University
Enrolled 2007
Graduated 2013
Current Affiliation Engineer, SKA, University of Manchester, UK

Joshua Miller

j314159@gmail.com

Undergraduate Institution Eastern Michigan University
Enrolled 2006
Graduated 2013
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
Current Affiliation PostDoc Researcher, Texas Tech University

Katie Rabidoux

rabidouxk@uwplatt.edu

Undergraduate Institution Michigan State University
Enrolled 2008
Graduated 2015
Current Affiliation Asst. Professor, University of Wisconsin-Platteville

Joshua Ridley

jridley@murraystate.edu

Undergraduate Institution Grove City College
Enrolled 2006
Graduated 2010
Current Affiliation Asst. Professor of Physics, Murray State University

Andrew Seymour

seymour.andrew@gmail.com

Undergraduate Institution West Virginia University
Enrolled 2009
Graduated 2014
Current Affiliation PostDoc Researcher, Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico

Joseph Swiggum

swiggumj@gmail.com

Undergraduate Institution Carleton College
Enrolled 2009
Graduated 2015
Current Affiliation PostDoc Researcher, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Spencer Wolfe

spencer.wolfe@gmail.com

Undergraduate Institution West Virginia University
Enrolled 2007
Graduated 2014
Current Affiliation PostDoc Researcher, SKA South Africa, Cape Town