Dr./Prof. Meredith MacGregor

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!)

Perfect evening for the department welcome crab feast @jhuartssciences.bsky.social! 🦀

Challenge: post your last photo taken in DC to show what a hell-hole it is.

Ugh that's annoying! (Typed as I wait for my insurance company to decide if they want to approve the new biologic my doctor prescribed for me...)

Picture time! #HWO25

Back for another day of #HWO25 at the stunning at the @jhuartssciences.bsky.social Bloomberg Center!

That’s such an encouraging story! The last flight I was on I felt like I was the only one on the flight wearing mask… (annoying since I’m also riding the autoimmune medication bus) Also, looking forward to seeing you this week!

Wow wow wow 🤩 It’s just amazing what we humans can do when we support scientific research and funding

Dogs are the most wonderful creatures and I'm so sorry you have to say goodbye to such a very good boy ❤️

Great article, @hannah-richter.bsky.social!

AAS Graduate Admissions Task Force: Final report and recommendations In March of 2024 the AAS formed our Graduate Admissions Task Force (GATF), asking us to produce recommendations aimed at improving the state of graduate admissions in astronomy. The task was a timely ...

The report from our AAS Task Force on Graduate Admission is out! This has become a complicated problem in recent years, and is made even worse with the recent federal budget. You can read the report here: arxiv.org/abs/2505.09759

I don’t think that all of the ones selected in the last call have actually received full funding yet. POEMM has its CSR this fall.

I'm so sorry Jessie...

So far I've parsed that it eliminates AAPF and ASCEND. ALMA will still be support by Green Bank Observatory will start close out. Cuts to a bunch of other facilities as well.

nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00-NSF...

The NSF hasn't fared any better including completely eliminating postdoctoral fellowships. I was an NSF AAPF. That program is responsible for me getting to where I am now. We will lose so many early career scientists because of this.
nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00-NSF...

The president's budget request for NSF FY26 is also out. It zeroes out the NSF astronomy & astrophysics and NSF MPS ASCEND postdoc fellowships. nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00-NSF...

The President's Budget Request for NASA is out - What a disaster for astrophysics! Numerous missions already in development are canceled. It is well past time for all of us to raise our voices if we value science in this country.
You can find the documents here:
www.nasa.gov/fy-2026-budg...

Missed this yesterday because I was on an airplane but check out this video highlighting grad student Kiana Burton’s awesome thesis work!

Computational Topology to Find Exoplanet Signatures in Astronomical Images | SIAM Elizabeth Bradley presented mathematical approaches to enhance the characterization of structures that signify exoplanet formation at DS25.

Great write-up about an interdisciplinary project I've been working on to apply topological data analysis (TDA) to ALMA data: www.siam.org/publications...

Excited to be at this workshop this week and talk about all of the exciting science we can do in the far-infrared!

It has been so joyful to spend a day sharing science with the public. I didn’t realize how much I needed that!

It’s Physics Fair day at Johns Hopkins! @jhuartssciences.bsky.social