News

10/2026 Invited talk (upcoming) at the 18th International Symposium on Origin and Evolution of Galaxies (OMEG18), RIKEN, Japan.
09/2026 Invited talk (upcoming) at Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics XII, Cluj-Napoca, Romania: Meteoritic isotopic anomalies as precision tests of stellar nucleosynthesis.
05/2026 Invited talk (upcoming) at Astrophysics with Radioactive Isotopes 2026, Traverse City, MI: Radioactive Isotopes in Presolar Supernova Grains.
03/2026 Featured in Quanta Magazine: a long-form interview on presolar grains and the early solar system.
03/2026 Presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference: New NanoSIMS multielement isotope data reveal CO novae as key sources of 13C-rich presolar SiC grains.
03/2026 BU undergraduate mentee Ananya Jain gave an oral talk at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference: On the claimed 26Al–50Ti exclusivity in presolar grains.
02/2026 Published with BU undergraduate Ananya Jain in Research Notes of the AAS: On the claimed 26Al–50Ti exclusivity in presolar grains.
01/2026 Began stay as Visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (Spring 2026, January–July).
01/2026 Invited talk at the AAS 247 Winter Meeting, Phoenix, AZ: Presolar grains from supernovae.
10/2025 Nuclear Science Seminar at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University: Presolar grains as probes of supernova nucleosynthesis.
09/2025 Center for Meteorite Studies Virtual Seminar, Arizona State University: Stellar origins of types Y and Z silicon carbide grains revealed by nickel isotopes.
08/2025 Presented at the 87th Meteoritical Society Annual Meeting in Perth, Australia: oral talk on Constraining neutron-burst nucleosynthesis in core-collapse supernovae through multielement isotopic composition of presolar Type C and X grains.
06/2025 Invited lecture at the Carpathian Summer School of Physics 2025, Sinaia, Romania: Presolar grains.
06/2025 Invited presentation at the International Symposium on Nuclei in the Cosmos XVIII, Girona, Spain: Presolar grains from supernovae.
06/2025 Presented at the s, i & r Element Nucleosynthesis (sirEN) Conference, Giulianova, Italy: Diverse stellar neutron-capture isotopic signatures recorded in presolar silicon carbide grains.
05/2025 Presented at the 2025 IReNA-CeNAM Frontiers in Nuclear Astrophysics Conference: Presolar grains as probes of Type II supernova nucleosynthesis.
05/2025 Published in Nature Geoscience: Galactic messages carried by moissanite — a perspective piece on what presolar moissanite grains reveal about the origin and evolution of the Solar System.
03/2025 Presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference: Stellar origins of Types Y and Z silicon carbide grains revealed by Nickel isotopes.
03/2025 Department Seminar at UMass Dartmouth Physics: Isotope variations in meteorites linked to nucleosynthesis in Type Ia supernovae.
02/2025 Book chapter published in Treatise on Geochemistry (3rd ed., Vol. 7): Presolar grains.
09/2024 Invited presentation at OMEG2024, Chengdu, China: Explosive nucleosynthesis in core-collapse Type II supernovae: constraints from presolar grains.
09/2024 Department Seminar at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, China: Presolar stardust grains in the solar system.
09/2024 Presented at the XIV Torino Workshop on AGB Stars, Frascati, Italy: Unveiling the stellar origins of Types Y and Z silicon carbide grains.
08/2024 Presented at the 86th Meteoritical Society Annual Meeting: Sulfur isotopic compositions of presolar silicon carbide grains.
06/2024 Invited presentation at the CeNAM Frontiers in Nuclear Astrophysics Meeting, Notre Dame: Explosive nucleosynthesis in core-collapse Type II supernovae.
04/2024 Presented at the Presolar Grain Workshop, Arizona State University: The stellar origin of a 25Mg-rich mainstream SiC grain.
03/2024 Presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference: Potassium-calcium isotope systematics of supernova silicon nitride grains.
02/2024 Published in ApJL: Explosive nucleosynthesis in core-collapse Type II supernovae: insights from new C, N, Si, and Al-Mg isotopic compositions of presolar grains.
02/2024 Coauthor on ApJS paper: The Presolar Grain Database: I. Silicon Carbide (Stephan et al.).
01/2024 Published an invited review in Space Science Reviews (with M. Lugaro, J. Leitner, B. S. Meyer, M. Schönbächler): Presolar grains as probes of supernova nucleosynthesis.
08/2023 Presented at the 85th Meteoritical Society Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, USA: Radioactive 44Ti found in 15N-rich Type AB presolar SiC grains.
06/2023 Invited talk at the ISSI Workshop on Evolution of the Solar System, Bern, Switzerland: Presolar SiC grains from Type II core-collapse supernovae.
06/2023 Department Seminar at the Carnegie Earth & Planets Laboratory: The cosmic connection: ancient supernovae and their legacy in the Solar System.
03/2023 Presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference: Late formation of silicon carbide in supernova remnants confirmed by new vanadium-titanium isotope data.
02/2023 Astro Seminar at the University of Missouri Physics & Astronomy: Presolar stardust grains in the solar system.
01/2023 IAR Seminar at Boston University Astronomy: Nucleosynthesis and dust formation in supernovae.
01/2023 Joined Boston University as Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Astrophysical Research.
12/2022 INAC-COSNAP colloquium at the Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics of China: Presolar grains from asymptotic giant branch stars.
11/2022 Published in European Physical Journal A: Presolar silicon carbide grains of types Y and Z: their strontium and barium isotopic compositions and stellar origins.
10/2022 Published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta: Oxygen and aluminum-magnesium isotopic systematics of presolar nanospinel grains from Orgueil.
09/2022 Invited talk at the Platinum Planetary Seminar, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India: AGB stars and their dust grains in the solar system.
08/2022 Presented at the 84th Meteoritical Society Annual Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland: Presolar silicon carbide grains of types Y and Z: stardust from low-metallicity asymptotic giant branch stars?
07/2022 Published in Universe: Slow neutron-capture process: low-mass asymptotic giant branch stars and presolar silicon carbide grains.
04/2022 Department Colloquium at Washington University in St. Louis Physics: Cosmic forensics using presolar stardust.
04/2022 Featured in WashU Ampersand: Conversation: Two award-winning space scientists — interview following the Nier Prize.
03/2022 Presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference: Distributions of chemical, isotopic, and structural compositions of presolar silicon carbide grains.
02/2022 Published in MNRAS (with Hystad et al.): Evaluation of the classification of presolar silicon carbide grains using consensus clustering.
01/2022 Published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (with Vacher et al.): Cosmic symplectite recorded irradiation by nearby massive stars in the solar system’s parent molecular cloud.
10/2021 Published in ApJL: New multielement isotopic compositions of presolar SiC grains: implications for their stellar origins.
09/2021 Invited talk at the 16th International Symposium on Nuclei in the Cosmos School, Chengdu, China: Isotopes in Stardust.
08/2021 Presented at the 83rd Meteoritical Society Annual Meeting in Chicago, USA: NanoSIMS isotopic investigation of the CO3 chondrite Dominion Range 14359.
07/2021 Awarded the Meteoritical Society’s Nier Prize for outstanding research in meteoritics and closely allied fields by an early-career scientist.
07/2021 Featured in WashU Source and ScienceDaily: Sculpted by starlight — coverage of Vacher et al. GCA paper.
06/2021 Seminar at The Open University, UK: Coordinated chemical, isotopic and structural analysis of extraterrestrial materials.
05/2021 Published in ApJ (with Singerling et al.): TEM analyses of unusual presolar silicon carbide: insights into the range of circumstellar dust condensation conditions.
03/2021 Presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference: Multielement isotopic compositions of presolar SiC from asymptotic giant branch stars.
02/2021 INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico d’Abruzzo Virtual Seminar, Italy: AGB stars and their dust grains in the solar system.
01/2021 Published in ApJL (with Boujibar et al.): Cluster analysis of presolar silicon carbide grains: evaluation of their classification and astrophysical implications.
08/2020 Center for Meteorite Studies Virtual Seminar, Arizona State University: AGB stars and their dust grains in the solar system.
07/2020 Presented at the Goldschmidt 2020 Virtual Conference: Structural and elemental analysis of presolar silicon carbide grains.
07/2020 Published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters (with Nie et al.): Iron isotopic and chemical tracing of basalt alteration and hematite spherule formation in Hawaii.
06/2020 Featured in WashU Source: Ancient micrometeoroids carried specks of stardust, water to asteroid 4 Vesta — covering my Kapoeta howardite paper.
06/2020 Published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta: NanoSIMS isotopic investigation of xenolithic carbonaceous clasts from the Kapoeta howardite.
06/2020 Published in ApJL (with Vescovi et al.): Magnetic-buoyancy induced mixing in AGB stars: I. Presolar SiC grains.
04/2020 Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics (with Cristallo et al.): Mass and metallicity distribution of parent AGB stars of presolar SiC.
03/2020 Department Seminar at LASP and the Department of Planetary and Space Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder: Laboratory astrophysics: isotopic and structural characterization of presolar grains and micrometeorites.
03/2020 Presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference: A new method for constraining explosive environments in Type II supernovae using presolar silicon carbide X grain isotopic data.
11/2019 Department Seminars at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa: Presolar dust from supernovae and its implication to solar system formation.
09/2019 Presented at the 7th p-process Workshop: s-process isotopic signatures of presolar SiC grains: their constraints on AGB models and implications to p-process.
08/2019 Presented at the 82nd Meteoritical Society Annual Meeting in Sapporo, Japan: NanoSIMS isotopic imaging of volatile-rich clasts from achondritic Kapoeta meteorite and Isotopic and elemental analyses of meteorites and Mars analogues by Hyperion-NanoSIMS.
08/2019 Published in ApJ: Presolar silicon carbide grains of types Y and Z: their molybdenum isotopic compositions and stellar origins.
06/2019 Presented at the Presolar Grain Workshop in Chicago: Searching for presolar SiC grains in Curious Marie.
03/2019 Invited lecture at the Russbach School in Nuclear Astrophysics, Austria: Presolar grains and their stellar origins.
03/2019 Presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference: Presolar silicon carbide grains of groups Y and Z: their strontium and barium isotopic compositions and stellar origins.
09/2018 Invited talk at the Robert Clayton Memorial Symposium, University of Chicago: Presolar supernova grains and solar system formation.
08/2018 Presented at the 81st Meteoritical Society Annual Meeting in Moscow, Russia: Stellar origins of presolar Y and Z grains: constraints from their molybdenum isotopic compositions.
07/2018 Invited session talk at Goldschmidt 2018 in Boston: Late formation of silicon carbide in Type II supernovae.
04/2018 Published two papers in ApJ: Common occurrence of explosive hydrogen burning in Type II supernovae and New constraints on the major neutron source in low-mass AGB stars.
04/2018 Published in ApJL (with Nittler et al.): Extreme 54Cr- and 50Ti-rich presolar oxide grains in a primitive meteorite.
03/2018 Presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference: New constraints on the major neutron source for s-process nucleosynthesis in AGB stars.
02/2018 Brown Bag Talk and Department Colloquium at the University of Arizona Planetary Sciences: Laboratory astrophysics: isotopic and structural analysis of presolar SiC.
01/2018 Began affiliation with Carnegie Earth & Planets Laboratory as Visiting Investigator (ongoing).
01/2018 Published in Science Advances: Late formation of silicon carbide in Type II supernovae.
01/2018 Joined Washington University in St. Louis as Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics.