Dr./Prof. Meredith MacGregor

The Landscape of Undergraduate Astronomy and Astrophysics Degree Requirements In this document we summarize the results of a survey of undergraduate degree-granting programs conducted by the 2024-2025 American Astronomical Society Education Committee's Subcommittee on UndeRgrad...

Our AAS Education Committee report on 'The Landscape of Undergraduate Astronomy and Astrophysics Degree Requirements' is now available on arXiv: www.arxiv.org/abs/2602.03959. Please give it a read!

Some new recommendations from our AAS Working Group on Graduate Admission: aas.org/posts/news/2...

So excited to see our EVE science highlighted in Evgenya Shkolnik’s fantastic plenary at #AAS247! I’m thrilled to be proposing this mission to NASA

IRSTIG splinter now in Room 231!

And now it’s the PRIMA special session in Room 224B!

First up are a bunch of talks (including mine!) about the POEMM balloon mission in the 10am session in Room 222C

It’s far-infrared day at #AAS247! Come learn about how cool this part of the spectrum is and why it is critical for a multi-wavelength understanding of the universe!

Our session for the AAS Task Force on Graduate Admissions is this morning at 10am in Room 226 B #AAS247

Come join us in the session discussing our report on the landscape of undergraduate degrees in astronomy and astrophysics at #AAS247 in room 226B!

What a great birthday present today - SMEX is back on! Let’s go EVE!

JWST TRAPPIST-1 e/b Program: Motivation and first observations One of the forefront goals in the field of exoplanets is the detection of an atmosphere on a temperate terrestrial exoplanet, and among the best suited systems to do so is TRAPPIST-1. However, JWST tr...

Pretty excited to be part of this awesome team doing super cool science! arxiv.org/abs/2512.07695

Oiselle! They make running clothes specifically for women and are amazing in all seasons!

New research on flares from a hot-tempered star could inform search for habitable planets A new study takes a close look at TRAPPIST-1, a little star roughly 40 light-years from our sun that hosts seven Earth-sized planets.

1/ It's press day!🔭🧪 We apply a grid of time-dependent physical models to explain TRAPPIST-1 flares, predicting the X-ray & UV flux driving escape and photochemistry in planetary atmospheres, and correcting flare contamination in transit spectroscopy down to ~60 ppm:
www.colorado.edu/today/2025/1...

I always go more formal just to be sure that they treat the applicant like every other applicant. But, really either should be fine!

Schedule from the 2025 ExoJamboree at JHU and STScI

Today is the ExoJamboree at @jhuartssciences.bsky.social and @stsci.edu - How cool is that we are such a powerhouse of exoplanet research here that we can have an awesome conference with just local people?!?!

Another wonderful article about our RZ Psc work!

Believe me I had that same thought writing that paper 😂

This! Here's a slide pulled from my class lecture notes this semester. Comets have two clear tails - one from dust and one from ions. They point in different directions because one feels the solar wind while the other feels radiation pressure.

A host of ‘exocomets’ swarms a distant star Dimming of the starlight from RZ Piscium reveals that 24 unseen bodies are whizzing around the star.

Nature published a research highlight on our RZ PSc exocomet paper: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Flying to Rochester today to give the colloquium. Can confirm that most of security at BWI is shut down and people aren’t happy about it 🫠

So excited that our paper is finally out! We analyzed archival TESS observations of RZ Psc and detected 24 transiting exocomets. And, Adalyn is an amazing undergrad applying for grad school this year!

Never hurts to reach out! It helps you figure out whether you actually want to work with that person. And, it can help you make a better justification for the host institution.

Ugh that all sounds terrible! (The fact that I started my new biologic injections the same week is definitely not helping... So far, Mom is the hardest hit. Dad is fine. Dogs are fine. Little one had the sniffles and bounced back within a few days.)

Our little one started daycare last week, and I have been sick ever since... My immune system is clearly no match to school germs!

Calling the Astronomy hive mind! Who is your favorite deceased astronomer that deserves to have something named after them posthumously? And why?

Neighboring Star’s Warped Ring Shaped by Evolving Planets - National Radio Astronomy Observatory Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have made the highest resolution image to date, revealing new insights...

National Radio Astronomy Observatory: Neighboring Star’s Warped Ring Shaped by Evolving Planets public.nrao.edu/news/neighbo...

ALMA Reveals an Eccentricity Gradient in the Fomalhaut Debris Disk We present evidence of a negative eccentricity gradient in the debris disk of the nearby A-type main sequence star, Fomalhaut. Fitting to the high-resolution, archival ALMA 1.32 mm continuum data for ...

Paper #2 led by Center for Astrophysics postdoctoral fellow Joshua Lovell: arxiv.org/abs/2509.02884

High Resolution ALMA Data of the Fomalhaut Debris Disk Confirms Apsidal Width Variation We present long-baseline observations of the Fomalhaut outer debris disk at 223 GHz (1.3 mm) from ALMA Cycle 5, which we use along with archival short-baseline observations to produce a 0".57 resoluti...

Paper #1 led by @jhuartssciences.bsky.social graduate student Jay Chittidi here: arxiv.org/abs/2509.02825

Neighboring Star’s Warped Ring Shaped by Evolving Planets - National Radio Astronomy Observatory Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have made the highest resolution image to date, revealing new insights...

Super excited that these results are finally out! This is the highest resolution ALMA image of Fomalhaut ever, and we can learn new things about the structure of the disk and the planet that is likely shaping it. Press release here: public.nrao.edu/news/neighbo...

a sign that says " what is even happening " next to a dumpster ALT: a sign that says " what is even happening " next to a dumpster

It's the first day of classes and I spent the weekend in the hospital with a sick little one who needed emergency surgery... Let's do this! (Also, please send coffee!)