How did you select Illinois for your PhD program?

This ended up happening in an interesting way.  I completed my undergrad degree at Illinois in December 2020, but initially I did not have any intentions of going to grad school. I had an internship lined up in the Summer of 2020 which I had hoped would turn into a full-time offer, but that ended up getting canceled due to COVID.

But I had just taken the undergrad numerical methods class with Prof. Goza and reached out to him about extending a project I enjoyed in his class to learn some new skills for the job market. He helped me out, and also introduced me to Prof. Eggl, whose work better aligned with my interests. I started working with him as an undergrad student and got quickly convinced to start my PhD working on the coolest stuff on (and off) the planet.

Please tell me about your research for you dissertation.

My research is in the field of planetary defense. The primary goal here is to make sure that humanity doesn’t meet the same fate as the dinosaurs. My specific work focused on improving the kinetic impact method of planetary defense. This basically means we take a spacecraft and intentionally smash it into an object that might hit the Earth. If we do this early enough, we can make it miss the Earth entirely and avoid any potential impacts.

To do this, we must track all solar system objects, predict their future positions, and make sure they don’t have a chance of hitting the Earth. I also developed a new method of specifically selecting where to aim on an asteroid’s surface to make sure it doesn’t keep returning on an impacting trajectory. A big project I worked on was NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which intentionally impacted an asteroid to demonstrate the kinetic impact method for the first time in human history. More recently, I’ve worked on the third-ever visitor from outside our solar system, the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. This work has been with the folks and data from the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which will dramatically improve our asteroid catalogs in the next decade and help ensure our continued safety.

What were some unusual challenges you experienced?

It’s not unusual for all grad students (especially those doing experimental work) but one thing I didn’t expect was the waiting. My work on the DART mission involved making some predictions about when certain things would be measurable and what kind of measurements we would need. The hardest part was waiting for a couple years or so after the DART impact until the measurements were possible and doubting whether my judgement was correct.

There were many nights where I went back and double/triple checked old results to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. Finally, in mid to late 2024 and early 2025, observers around the world got those measurements and we were able to confirm our predictions.

Did you have any internships during your grad program?

Yep, I did a few visits to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Goddard Space Flight Center. At Goddard, I worked on testing one part of my dissertation research and on the OSIRIS-REx/OSIRIS-APEX missions. At JPL, the work was more in line with what I did for my dissertation. I developed new tools for the planetary defense community at large so they can study solar system objects that could potentially hit the Earth and cause harm. During my last visit, I also worked on improving NASA’s short-term asteroid impact monitoring system, Scout.

Outside of your research, what did you do for fun?

Not as much on campus, but I did a lot of hiking during grad school. Every chance I got during breaks, I would try and do a hiking trip with friends. Solo ones too, I spent a week hiking in the Faroe Islands after I defended my dissertation! On campus, this hobby just translated to walking around (mostly at the Arboretum and Japan House).

Another activity I started early during grad school was scuba diving. Over the course of my travels and internships in the last few years, I’ve been able to dive in Hawaii, Channel Islands, and other places.

Where did you find community?

On campus, I was mostly hanging out with friends. I was lucky in that I did my undergrad at Illinois and therefore had some friends also stuck around for their PhDs, so I had a community right off the bat. I also made some great new friends over the course of grad school, mostly other students in the department who understood the process.

What's on your bucket list for the next 5 years?

Doesn’t have to happen in the next 5 years, but this is on my list before the knees give out:

• Hike the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim (once backpacking and once as a day hike) and the Cactus to Clouds trails
• Go scuba diving with hammerhead sharks in the Galapagos Islands and between two tectonic plates in Iceland
• Go see penguins in Antarctica
• Learn how to snowboard

What advice would you share with someone considering getting a PhD?

Make sure that you have a real interest and curiosity toward the work you will be doing, otherwise grad school can feel like (and might very well be) an extremely long, unenjoyable process. And try to make sure you work well with your PhD advisor. I was lucky and ended up being good on both fronts and had a blast these last five years.

What advice would you give yourself when you first started your PhD program?

You made it. Buckle up and just enjoy the ride! This’ll be some of the most fun you’ve ever had while doing “work” :)