Biography
I am currently a final year astronomy Ph.D. candidate at The Ohio State University working with Prof. B. Scott Gaudi. I completed a bachelor’s degree in physics and astronomy at the University of Maryland, College Park in Spring 2019. Go Terps! I am originally from Maryland’s rural and remote Eastern Shore. My research focuses on quantifying the systematic errors present in transiting exoplanets and their host stars. I am passionate about mentorship and I have served as the lead instructor of the Polaris Mentorship Course at OSU for 3 consecutive years. Polaris provides graduate student mentors for freshman and sophomores from primary under-represented backgrounds. Outside of astronomy I enjoy knitting, mosh pits, and rock climbing.
Research
My research interests revolve around systematically and uniformly characterizing exoplanets. Currently, I am working with Prof. Scott Gaudi at The Ohio State University to investigate the differences in planet parameters that arise from different methods of breaking the mass radius degeneracy in the host star. In the paper currently under review, “An Exploration of Systematic Errors in Transiting Planets and Their Host Stars” Duck et al. 2023b, we re-analyze the KELT-15 system with four different methods of characterizing the host star and quantify the additional systematic uncertainties passed down to the derived planetary parameters.
Learn more about my other projects here
Personal Life
Outside of academia I love watching live music. I have seen the band Every Time I Die in concert 14 times.
Iron Works, Buffalo, NY
December 11, 2021
Iron Works, Buffalo, NY
December 10, 2021
MECU Pavilion, Baltimore, MD
June 2, 2019
Baltimore Soundstage, Baltimore, MD
December 10, 2018
Baltimore Soundstage, Baltimore, MD
May 8, 2017
Rock and Roll Hotel, Washington, DC
February 7, 2017
Baltimore Soundstage, Baltimore, MD
October 27, 2016
Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
July 16, 2016
Baltimore Soundstage, Baltimore, MD
December 19, 2015
The Fillmore Silver Spring, Silver Spring, MD
May 1, 2015
Baltimore Soundstage, Baltimore, MD
December 15, 2014
Rock and Roll Hotel, Washington, DC
March 1, 2013
The Fillmore Silver Spring, Silver Spring, MD
August 14, 2013
The Fillmore Silver Spring, Silver Spring, MD
August 17, 2012
Warped Tour 2016