When
March 27, 2026, 8:30 a.m. – 12:40 p.m.
Where
Kuiper 308
PTYS graduate students present their research - Science talks and poster session.
| Talks | Title | Abstract | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8:30-8:35am | Welcome and Introduction | ||
| 8:35-8:55am | Kayla Smith | Understanding the Energy Input Required for Methane Emission on CWISEP J193518.59–154620.3 | WISE 1935 or W1935 is among the coldest brown dwarfs ever discovered by the WISE telescope and was later characterized with JWST. It is a 482 K Y-dwarf and unlike typical brown dwarfs has a methane emission feature in its spectrum at 3.325 microns. The JWST spectrum was reproduced by a T-P profile with an ~200 K inversion above 100 mbar in Faherty et al. (2024), but the required energy input to induce such a temperature inversion was not computed. In this work, we determine the energy input that would be required and discuss some possibilities to what is causing it. We inject energy into models of the brown dwarf's atmosphere following a Gaussian profile using the open source code PICASO to reproduce the observed spectral features and T-P profile inversion. The vertically integrated energy input that best fits the spectrum of W1935, with the methane emission feature, was 4e4 ergs/cm3/s. We also considered cases where W1935 emits from only a portion of its disk, requiring a locally higher energy input. Our model also predicts the as yet unobserved spectrum 5 to 15 microns, with a notable 7.8 microns methane emission feature. We explore possible mechanisms responsible for the energy input, including external bombardment and magnetically induced Joule heating. |
| 8:55-9:15am | Kylie Hall | Life in the Depths: Quantifying the Habitability of Exoplanets with Ultradeep Oceans | Exciting new discoveries of exoplanets that may host an abundance of water have raised intriguing questions about the life-hosting potential of these planets. Examples include super-Earths and sub-Neptunes with potential ultradeep oceans. However, because these planets are not like our own, it is unclear to what extent these environments could support life as we know it. The goal of my work is to quantitatively study the habitability of exoplanets with ultradeep oceans by synthesizing knowledge from astronomy and biology. I will discuss ongoing research to apply the Quantitative Habitability Framework (QHF) to exoplanets with ultradeep oceans. QHF is a probabilistic framework that assesses habitat suitability using models of an environment and an organism or metabolic process. I will share the results of my initial validating tests, including modeling deep ocean environments on Earth. I will also discuss the development of models for super-Earth and Hycean candidate exoplanets, including K2-18b, TOI-270d, and TOI-1452b; and the development of models of various microbes living in the depths of Earth’s oceans to explore their viability in the ultradeep oceans of exoplanets. This work will help reveal the potential nature and distribution of life in these oceans, thus informing the biosignatures for which to search in observations of these exoplanets and similar worlds beyond our Solar System. |
| 9:15-9:35am | Cole Meyer | Enabling Technologies for the First Dual-bandpass Spatial Heterodyne Spectrometer | Dual-bandpass spatial heterodyne spectrometers (DB-SHS) enable high-resolution spectroscopy in two distinct wavelength bands simultaneously within a single compact instrument. In many astrophysical and planetary environments, widely separated spectral features provide complementary constraints on physical and chemical conditions. This makes DB-SHS an invaluable remote sensing tool for self-consistent measurement of diagnostic line pairs. However, DB-SHS requires significantly tighter alignment tolerances than its single-bandpass counterpart, demanding specialized supporting infrastructure. In this talk, I will describe enabling technologies for an upcoming demonstration of the first DB-SHS laboratory prototype, including optical mount design, novel optical component characterization, ray tracing, and CAD design. By directly addressing the bandwidth limitations of existing high-resolution spectrometers, this work unlocks critical new line-pair diagnostics inaccessible to existing compact instruments. More broadly, this work expands the scientific reach of high-resolution spectroscopy for astrophysics and planetary science applications that demand compact, lightweight, and stable remote sensing instrumentation. |
| 9:35-9:55am | Robin Van Auken | Bennu is a primitive, carbon-rich B-type asteroid, a rare class comprising only ~4% of the observed asteroid population. B-type asteroids exhibit a distinctive blue color, expressed as a negative spectral slope in the visible to near-infrared, whose origin remains poorly understood. Proposed explanations include compositional differences, grain size variation, and space weathering. Phosphate-bearing material in OSIRIS-REx returned samples exhibit strong near-UV blue spectral slopes, suggesting a possible compositional driver. In this work, we identify regions on Bennu with the strongest near-UV blue slopes to evaluate how spectral slope relates to surface composition and to what extent primary formation or subsequent alteration contributes to the characteristic blue color of B-type asteroids. | |
| 9:55-10:15am | Joanna Hardesty | Conduit Flow Model for Cryomagma on Enceladus | Icy bodies in the Solar System exhibit a wide range of landforms, many of which are attributed to the transport of water or cryogenic fluids from an internal reservoir to the surface. This process, known as cryovolcanism, offers a window into the otherwise inaccessible liquid oceans below the icy shells of ocean worlds. Despite their significance, much remains unknown about the mechanics of cryovolcanic eruptions and the landforms that they form. One fundamental question is how negatively buoyant liquids, such as water and brines, can erupt through less-dense ice. To address this, we model cryomagma ascent dynamics within volcanic conduits using Confort 15 to predict ascent rates, eruption velocities, and pressure gradients that govern eruption style and emplacement mechanisms. |
| 10:15-10:55am | Poster Session and Break | ||
| 10:55-11:15am | Tyler Reese | Progress on Kinetic Simulations in the Outer Heliosphere: Pickup Ion Acceleration at Shocks | Collisionless plasma shocks are a ubiquitous feature of the heliosphere and represent the main radiation hazard for Solar System travel. Superthermal pickup ions are efficiently accelerated by these shock waves. Presented are updates to ongoing efforts to model the diffusive shock acceleration of pickup ion using kinetic simulations. A new method includes time-dependent inertial turbulence; applicable to interplantary shocks. Possible comparisons to New Horizons measurements are shown. |
| 11:15am-11:35am | Elena Alevy | Silica-Rich Magmatism on the Moon Preserved in Lunar Meteorites | Remote sensing observations of the lunar surface have identified rare occurrences of igneous rocks with silicic (SiO2-rich) compositions at features including the Gruithuisen Domes and Aristarchus crater. The proposed petrologic mechanisms for generating these magmas on the Moon are still disputed. Sample analysis of silicic phases in lunar material can provide mineralogical and geochemical constraints for models of silicic volcanism, but the number of silicic samples studied so far has been limited to ~20 clasts in samples returned from Apollo missions, which are likely regionally biased toward select lunar sources. In this work, we will expand investigations into silicic materials found in lunar meteorites. These materials will be thoroughly characterized through a coordinated analytical approach including electron microscopy, multiphoton microscopy, and mass spectrometry. Our work will provide a broad dataset of silicic lunar materials that likely originate from a diversity of sources. This dataset will be used to evaluate evidence for potential formational mechanisms of silicic materials according to their geochemical and structural characteristics. |
| 11:35-11:55am | Thea McKenna | Geophysical Evidence for the Subsurface Distribution of KREEP on the Moon | Soon after the Moon’s formation, late-stage lunar magma ocean crystallization led to concentrated incompatible elements excluded from mantle cumulates and the plagioclase floatation crust. These elements, including potassium, rare earth elements, and phosphorus (KREEP) are rich in heat-producing radionuclides. Today, KREEP is observed on the surface in the Procellarum KREEP Terrane (PKT), but the subsurface distribution is unknown. As heat drives geodynamic evolution, it’s important to investigate the distribution of KREEP over time to better understand the thermal history of the Moon. We identify a region within the PKT with geophysical and geological characteristics consistent with a subsurface KREEP reservoir: enhanced surface thorium concentrations, elevated topography, extensional tectonics, high regional heat flow, and signs of recent volcanism. |
| 11:55am-12:15pm | Christina Singh | Rocky Records: Semi-automated Boulder Detections as a Window into Mars' Paleoclimatic History | he ROck Shadow COunter (ROSCO), a semi-automated machine vision boulder detector originally developed by Golombek et al. (2008), is further developed and tested across multiple planetary terrains, including Martian viscous flow features (VFFs), impact crater ejecta fields, and lunar boulder fields, enabling cross-terrain and cross-body comparisons. On Mars, we focus on boulder distributions on midlatitude glacial deposits (lobate debris aprons (LDAs) and concentric crater fill (CCF)) and ice sheets, where boulder size distributions and spatial patterns are used to investigate the mechanisms by which boulders reach the ice surface. By comparing LDA and CCF boulder populations against crater ejecta reference fields, we distinguish impact-sourced boulders from those of periglacial origin, and examine how boulder populations vary across VFFs as a record of climate fluctuations driven by Mars' obliquity cycles. |
| 12:15-12:35pm | Sophie Clark | Constraining Mass Loss Rates for HH30's Inner Protoplanetary Disk Wind | In order for stars to accrete material from their circumstellar disks, angular momentum must be removed to allow mass to move radially inward. The mechanism driving this angular momentum removal is highly debated, but a leading candidate is magnetohydrodynamic disk winds, which launch material from the disk surface along magnetic field lines. Last year, the James Webb Space Telescope returned the first ever spatially resolved observations of molecular winds in four young systems, allowing us to discern wind morphology and nested chemical structure like never before. In this talk, I will discuss my findings from modeling the protoplanetary disk wind of HH30 to constrain its radial extent and mass loss rate across multiple chemical species. If magnetohydrodynamic winds remove sufficient mass to drive stellar accretion, they will influence the mass reservoir available for planet formation and the migration of planets forming within the disk, ultimately shaping the types of solar systems that young star-disk systems can produce. |
| 12:35-12:40pm | Closing GSC Comments | ||
Poster Presentations | Title | Abstract | |
| Elana Alevy | Development of Nonlinear Optical Mineralogy for Geologic and Planetary Materials | Multiphoton microscopy (MPM) enables high resolution, nondestructive analyses of geologic samples through the stimulation of nonlinear optical signals with a pulsed femtosecond laser. Nonlinear optical interactions are produced when multiple photons of the laser’s wavelength simultaneously excite electrons or fluorophores in a sample. A single photon is released from the interaction, effectively doubling or tripling the incident frequency for second-and third-order interactions. MPM uniquely enables the collection of emission spectra as well as both surficial mapping and subsurface depth profile construction because signals are only stimulated in the focal volume of the laser. We present recent methods development work towards MPM analysis of geologic and planetary materials including: (1) mapping of silicon carbide (SiC) in a particle returned from the OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid Bennu and (2) characterization and imaging of terrestrial diamonds and diamond-like simulants. This work enables us to constrain the capabilities of MPM for novel applications to rapid and nondestructive astromaterials analysis. | |
| Maddy Christensen | Volcano-Tectonic Interactions in Amazonis Planitia: Modeling Surface Effects of Decompressing Magma Chambers | Amazonis Planitia contains large volcanic plains that are in-filled with lava that was sourced from surrounding volcanic centers, including Tharsis to the East and Elysium to the West. Amazonis Planitia occupies an important region where two major strike-slip faults interact, caused by loading in these two major volcanic centers, which may significantly affect the planet’s lithospheric structure. However, the effect of a decompressing magma chamber beneath Amazonis Planitia as a source of possible volcanic products on the region’s surface has not been studied. I will create and test models for the formation of possible identified volcanic products, clarifying if the geophysics allow for a magma chamber that could have created the volume of deposited lava seen on the surface. To do this, I will develop a statistical Mogi model of magma chambers and resulting lava surface layers to quantify magma ascent processes within this volcano–tectonic environment on Mars. This work will take place alongside characterization of the potential volcanic products within Amazonis Planetia, the stress that faults within the region would place on magma chambers, and modeling of subsidence above magma chambers. Characterizing the relationships between major fault systems and magmatic activity in Amazonis Planitia is critical for understanding the origin of young volcanic eruption products on Mars. These volcano–tectonic interactions occur in a region of the planet that is generally thought to be volcanically inactive, and will provide fundamental new insight into the geological history of Mars, including its surface and interior evolution. | |
| Carter Mucha | Assessing the Habitability of Impact-Generated Hydrothermalism in Tooting Crater: Insights from Finite Element Modeling | Counterintuitive topographic features have been observed within the Amazonis Planitia region of Mars, which are difficult to explain through volcanism or tectonism alone, suggesting dynamic interactions between crustal volatiles and volcanotectonic processes. The complex impact crater Tooting, located within Amazonis Planitia, contains evidence of volatile degassing and aqueous alteration, making it an ideal natural laboratory for investigating these processes, as well as a candidate transiently habitable environment in the search for extinct or extant life on Mars. However, the dynamics of heat transfer, fluid flow, and volatile behavior within Tooting Crater are not well understood, making it challenging to assess their influence on broader Amazonis Planitia surface processes or the extent of habitable regions. This work applies the finite element modeling software COMSOL Multiphysics to construct a 2D axisymmetric model of heat transfer and fluid flow within Tooting Crater, pursuing two goals: (1) to use volatile behavior within Tooting Crater as a proxy for crustal processes occurring elsewhere in Amazonis Planitia, and (2) to assess the habitability of impact hydrothermalism within Tooting Crater. These results will inform our understanding of impact hydrothermal systems, regional landscape formation, and the selection of high-priority targets for astrobiological exploration on Mars. |
Graduate