I'm an assistant professor of astronomy at Cornell University, working on observational extragalactic astrophysics and cosmology.
I'm always excited to talk about line-intensity mapping projects like COMAP, TIME, and CCAT/FYST/EoR-Spec.
Here is an ADS library of articles that I've written or been involved in otherwise in some form.
If you're interested in working on some of the topics below as a PhD student at Cornell Astronomy, please reach out!
I usually take on one or two undergraduate students each semester for independent study; contact me directly if interested. I will also likely be looking for summer students including Nexus Scholars.
My main research interest is in tracing the clustering of high-redshift galaxies through line-intensity mapping. The signals lie at a complex intersection of extragalactic astrophysics and cosmology, and cannot be treated simply as another cosmological signal with a Gaussian random field description. I use empirically motivated halo-based models and simulations of line-intensity signals to probe the information content of summary statistics including those beyond the power spectrum, such as one-point statistics for CO and [C ii] surveys, and more novel convolutional methods like the wavelet scattering transform.
My primary focus in the past has been on various aspects of the Carbon monOxide Mapping Array Project (COMAP), whose Pathfinder phase aims to measure the CO(1-0) line-intensity power spectrum at redshift 3. We released Season 2 results as preprints in June 2024, with my paper interpreting the three-year dataset in the scientific context of the survey. I expect my group at Cornell to continue leading scientific interpretation of the Pathfinder results with future paper releases.
Our COMAP hardware collaborators recently received funding to build a second COMAP receiver to undertake a wide-area survey, suited for cross-correlation analyses with 21 cm and other complementary surveys. Forecasting, modelling, and analysis activities for the COMAP-wide survey will be a key focus area for my group over the next several years. I'm also interested in the possibility of using cross-correlations to improve signal reconstruction, which should certainly be possible on the largest scales with linear covariance-based filtering.
I'm also very interested in the eventual expansion of COMAP to cover multiple frequency bands and thus multiple rotational transitions of CO at late reionisation, probing the excitation of CO and thus the environmental conditions of the cosmic average molecular cloud at a critical cosmological epoch. Forecasts for two- and three-band COMAP concepts show that they would enable line-intensity mapping measurements of physical parameters complementing observations of individual sources with ALMA and other facilities.
I am also an active collaborator on TIME, and participated in the experiment's 2021-22 engineering run, providing instrument, analysis, and observing support. I expect to continue work on simulation pipeline design and end-to-end analysis pipeline testing.
I have also written signal and sensitivity forecasts for the [C ii] line at high redshift as part of work done for the CCAT science working group. I continue to actively consult on this science case on analysis and forecasting tasks, translating experience from COMAP and TIME into takeaways for CCAT. CCAT/FYST targets first light in 2026, with spectroscopic instrumentation to follow shortly thereafter.
During my PhD, I was directly involved in commissioning of the COMAP instrument, with tasks including writing the quicklook software, measuring the near-field beam pattern for prototype feeds, and looking for systematics such as standing waves in commissioning data. I also worked on the final stages of lab integration of the Argus receiver on the Green Bank Telescope as part of the instrument team.
In spring 2025 I will be teaching one section of ASTRO 2201, 'The History of the Universe', a nonmathematical survey course introducing a range of topics in astronomy, from human observations of the night sky to surveys undertaken by highly sensitive observatories to shed light on the nature of matter and energy.
I mentored multiple undergraduate students in my previous positions on a range of hardware and software projects. One student, Ishika Bangari, was featured in a spotlight feature and was second author on a resulting publication. Another, Patrick Horlaville, is first author on a publication resulting from work that expanded on his summer project over the subsequent year.
I enjoy taking part in education and public outreach events to bring the work we do in astronomy to life to a general audience. This interest started during my PhD, when I took part in outreach efforts at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC), representing the Institute across a wide range of settings from middle school science fairs to APS expos. Most recently, I was privileged to be asked to talk at the inaugural Astronomy on Tap Ithaca event, an excellent effort spearheaded by Cornell Astronomy students.
I've also had significant service experience in my previous positions. While at the University of Toronto, I served on the Graduate Admissions Committee for 2021-22, and then the Astronomy Community Climate Committee for 2022-24. At Stanford, I served on the Stanford Physics Equity and Inclusion Committee as one of several graduate student representatives.
I obtained an AB in Physics (high honours) as part of Princeton's Class of 2014. Most of my independent work was done with the Gravity Group. I did one summer's work on ACTPol bias electronics and one summer plus a junior paper's worth of work on MuSE bolometer characterisation. I completed an experimental senior thesis on microwave SQUID multiplexing, supervised by Lyman Page.
My PhD thesis, supervised by Sarah Church, is available here. It largely comprises my first-author publications between 2017 and 2019 but also includes unpublished work on COMAP commissioning.
Beyond research and departmental service, I also served as webmaster for Stanford's Graduate Students in Applied Physics and Physics group, and participated frequently in the Meeting of Astrophysics Students at Stanford (MASS) as well as the KIPAC Statistics and Machine Learning Journal Club.
At CITA, I helped organise the 2021, 2022, and 2023 editions of the CITA National Jamboree, where CITA affiliates at Toronto and elsewhere gathered to present their research. I also co-organise activities for the Pan-Canadian Reionisation Focus Group, including a recent in-person workshop that took place in Toronto, and irregularly assist in running local CITA events like arXiv coffee chats and cosmology discussions.
My work for the 2022-23 academic year was supported in part by the Vincent and Beatrice Tremaine Postdoctoral Fellowship at CITA.
I maintain no active presence on social media. The best way to reach me is by email; hellothereGENERAL KENOBI@YOU ARE A BOLD ONEdongwooc.com is a virtual address meant to be more persistent than any given institutional email address.
If you're a spur-of-the-moment in-person sort of person, stop by the Space Sciences Building and try room 202, and we may meet by chance.