We had approximately 515 applications from across the country for the 11 NSF-funded spots in our 2020 CIERA REU program!
Unlike previous years, the 2020 CIERA REU took place virtually due to COVID-19. Although all activities and interactions were virtual, the students were very successful and made the absolute best of the situation. Normal programming, including workshops, panels, and poster sessions, continued on without serious interruption.
Below you will find information about these very talented students who spent the 2020 summer online with us. Please click on each student’s name to visit their research website, which they each developed during their REU to present their research projects.
Students listed in alphabetical order by last name.
Erica Albrigo
Northeastern Illinois University (Physics), Junior
Advisor: Mel Ulmer
Project: Testing APERTURE’s New Mirror Design with the Montage Image Mosaic Software
Kwamena Awotwi
University of San Diego (Mathematics and Physics), Freshman
Advisor: Sasha Tchekhovskoy
Project: A 3D Analysis on the Instabilities Disrupting Magnetically Arrested Disks
Rachel Fry
College of DuPage (Physics), Sophomore
Advisor: Daniel Horton
Project: An Astrophysical Approach to Modeling Exoplanet Atmospheres
Elena Gonzalez
University of Florida (Astrophysics), Sophomore
Advisor: Mario Spera + Fred Rasio
Project: Massive Black Hole Growth Through Binary Dynamics In Star Clusters
Chloe Klare
Florida Institute of Technology (Astrophysics, Math Sci), Junior
Advisor: André de Gouvêa
Project: Investigating the Effect of Neutrino Decay on Flavor Oscillations
Scott Mackey
UCLA (Astrophysics), Junior
Advisor: Selim Shahriar
Project: A Smaller and More Sensitive Gravitational Wave Detector
Sarah Popp
State University of New York – Geneseo (Physics), Junior
Advisors: Wen-fai Fong
Project: The X-Ray Afterglows of Short Gamma-Ray Bursts
Jared Siegel
University of Chicago (Physics and Astrophysics), Sophomore
Advisors: Vicky Kalogera + Christopher Berry
Project: Investigating Detection Biases in the Observed X-ray Binary Population
Madelyn Sita
University of Virginia (Chemistry), Junior
Advisor: Suzan van der Lee
Project: Using Data from InSight to Explain and Locate Marsquakes
Estephani TorresVillanueva
University of Utah (Physics), Senior
Advisor: Luke Zoltan Kelley, Claude-André Faucher-Giguère
Project: Modeling Dynamics of Massive Black Holes Using Leapfrog Method
Tobin Wainer
University of Utah (Physics), Junior
Advisor: Cliff Johnson
Project: Star Cluster Mass Function Fitting Using Probabilistic Modeling
