I am an astrophysics PhD candidate at UChicago. My research is advised by Prof. Hsiao-Wen Chen. I investigate physical properties and chemical composition of gaseous content in galaxies by combining telescope data with numerical models. I am passionate about building high-quality scientific software and applying machine learning to scientific problems.
Working with Professor Hsiao-Wen Chen at the University of Chicago, I am currently trying to use quasar absorption spectra from the Hubble Space Telescope to constrain the complex, multi-phase circumgalactic gas around galaxies at z~1. I then try to identify hosts for absorbers found along the quasar line of sight using spectroscopic follow-ups of surrounding galaxies using the Very Large and Magellan Telescopes. This multi-pronged approach allows us to constrain the origin of the circumgalactic gas at the redshift range of interest.
Working with Professor Matthew Malkan at UCLA, I examined coronal line emissions in a hundred million SDSS quasars to understand trends of coronal line emission and identified a new addition to the small class of seven known Coronal Line Forest (CLiF) AGNs.
Working with Professor Matthew Malkan, I reduced far-IR IFUs of about 37 galaxies observed by SOFIA. Our findings are publised in The Astrophysical Journal (Spinolgio L., Fernández-Ontiveros J.A., Malkan M.A., Kumar S., et al., February 2022.)
Working with Dr. Lauren Anderson at Carnegie Observatories, I used machine learning, particularly Gaussian Processes to determine the spatial distribution of interstellar dust in the Milky Way.
Working with Dr. Andrew Emerick at Carnegie Observatories, I examined metal mixing in cosmological dwarf galaxy simulations. My findings were presented at the summer student symposium talk and also the 237th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (January 10-15, 2021). My work also contributed to another poster on modeling chemical abundance evolution in dwarf galaxies.
I served as a spacecraft operations lead for the NASA/ NSF funded ELFIN CubeSat mission at UCLA, operating satellites ELFIN-A and ELFIN-B and ensuring timely scientific collections and downlinks. I also analyzed the magnetometer data onboard to detect Field Aligned Currents and EMIC waves in the Earth's Van Allen radiation belts.
I have four quarters of experience as a teaching assistant in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. I have had several experiences in informal teaching before, most notably being involved in a departmental club at UCLA meant to train undergraduates for research opportunities in physics. I believe in learning from my students just as much as they would like to learn from me - I am always looking for ways to better reach my audience, and make my discussions a safe, welcoming, and engaging space.