Graduate Alumni
Featured Alumni
Currently: Faculty at Curtin University, Perth, Australia
After her MSU PhD, Kristen was a postdoctoral fellow at McGill and then a Hubble Fellow
at Wayne State University. As a community college transfer student, Kristen is strongly
committed to equitable access to research opportunities for students from a range
of backgrounds, and has an outstanding record of success in mentoring students to
reach their career goals.
Thoughts on MSU: "Michigan State was a fantastic place for me to develop as an astronomer. MSU's involvement with the SOAR telescope meant that I could observe on a 4m telescope roughly once a month without any travel, which was critical for my development as an observer. Beyond that, MSU faculty are consistently securing observing time on the Hubble Space Telescope, XMM, Chandra, and other world-class observatories; access to that data drove the success of my dissertation. I spent five years in Lansing, and the community in the department was always friendly and welcoming; conversations between people who work in different fields and who are at different stages of their career are common."
Thoughts on MSU: "Grad school gave me the opportunity to become both a better teacher and researcher. As a lead instructor for ISP 205L, I learned how to work effectively with undergraduate students, build course curriculum, and manage a large classroom environment. As a researcher, I worked both as a contributing member to larger projects as well as the lead on multiple projects, which became the basis of my thesis. Having the opportunity to observe with a major telescope (SOAR) enabled me to more deeply work with a variety of instruments and their different modes. These research opportunities allowed me to build my presentation skills at conferences, which were invaluable for connecting with and learning directly from colleagues."
Teresa won an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship while an MSU graduate student. As part of the broader impacts of her fellowship, she founded and led the Physics and Astronomy Research Experiences for Drew Scholars (PAREDS) program, which continues to this day.
Full List of Graduate Alumni
PhD Alumni
Below is a complete list of PhD alumni whose astronomy theses were advised by members of the astronomy group. The Astronomy & Astrophysics PhD was established as a separate degree in 1995, with the first receipients in 2000; all students before then received a Physics PhD.
Noah Vowell, 2026 (Rodriguez)
Sierra Casten, 2026 (Brown)
Bella Molina, 2026 (Chomiuk)
Erica Thygesen, 2025 (Rodriguez)
Justin Grace, 2024 (Brown)
Brandon Barker, 2024 (Couch)
Joshua Shields, 2024 (Kerzendorf)
Jack O'Brien, 2024 (Kerzendorf)
Teresa Panurach, 2023 (Strader)
Adam Kawash, 2022 (Chomiuk)
Michael Pajkos, 2022 (Couch)
Claire Kopenhafer, 2022 (O’Shea)
Forrest Glines, 2022 (O’Shea)
Laura Shishkovsky, 2022 (Strader)
Carl Fields, 2021 (Couch)
Rachel (Salmon) Frisbie, 2020 (Donahue)
Dana Koeppe, 2020 (Donahue)
Sam Swihart, 2020 (Strader)
Kristen Dage, 2020 (Zepf)
Kelsey Funkhouser, 2019 (Donahue)
Alex Deibel, 2017 (Brown)
Tom Finzell, 2017 (Chomiuk)
Tom Connor, 2016 (Donahue)
Brian Crosby, 2016 (O’Shea)
Greg Meece, 2016 (O’Shea)
Tom Hettinger, 2015 (Strader)
Chris Richardson, 2013 (Baldwin)
Aaron Hoffer, 2013 (Donahue)
Carolyn Peruta, 2013 (O’Shea)
Charles Kuehn, 2012 (Smith)
David Ventimiglia, 2012 (Voit)
Matthew Steele, 2012 (Zepf)
Jason Smolinski, 2011 (Beers)
Catherine Kennedy, 2011 (Beers)
Neelam Dhanda, 2010 (Baldwin)
Eric Pellegrini, 2009 (Baldwin)
Young Sung Lee, 2008 (Beers)
Ken Cavagnolo, 2008 (Donahue)
Nathan DeLee, 2008 (Smith)
Aaron LaCluyze, 2008 (Baldwin)
Brian Marsteller, 2007 (Beers)
Chris Waters, 2007 (Zepf)
Michelle Oullette, 2005 (Schatz)
Karen Kinemuchi, 2004 (Smith)
Regner Trampedach, 2004 (Stein)
Brian Sharpee, 2003 (Baldwin)
Dali Giorgobiani, 2003 (Stein)
Michael Davis, 2002 (Loh)
David Bercik, 2002 (Stein)
Lamya Saleh, 2001 (Beers)
Jaehyon Rhee, 2000 (Beers)
Barton Pritzl, 2000 (Smith)
Bill Abbett, 1998 (Stein)
Jeff Kriessler, 1997 (Beers)
Ron Wilhelm, 1995 (Beers)
Nancy Silbermann, 1994 (Smith)
Xania Scheick, 1993 (Kuhn)
Hao-Sheng Lin, 1992 (Kuhn)
Thom Espinola, 1988 (Stein)
James Hoffer, 1983 (Hills)
Felix Marti, 1977 (Noerdlinger)
Deanne Proctor, 1971 (Linnell)
Lawrence Turner, 1971 (Zimmermann)
MS Alumni
This is a list of students who left the Astronony & Astrophysics program after completing their MS degrees, beginning with the entering class of 2002.
Sona Chitchyan, 2023
Hailey Moore, 2023
CJ Llorente, 2022
Katie Bowen, 2022
Eric Britt, 2021
Jennifer Ranta, 2020
Jessica (Maldonado) Alatorre, 2018
Danny Huizenga, 2017
Austin Edmister, 2017
Ryan Connolly, 2015
Malanka Riabokin, 2012
Jennifer Jones, 2010
Evan De Back, 2010
Kim Dupczak, 2008
Seth Bruch, 2008
Angelo Varlotta, 2006
Kathleen McElroy, 2005
Aparajita Sengupta, 2005
Deborah Frank, 2005
Ankur Warikoo, 2004