Team Magrathea

Postdoctoral Researchers

• Carver Bierson, 2020–2024, co-supervised with Lindy Elkins-Tanton (next stop: astronomy faculty at Scottsdale Community College)

Graduate Students (Primary)

• Madison Borrelli, PhD 2024, Geological Sciences (next stop: Georgia Tech postdoc)

  • Accolades: Amelia Earhart Fellowship, Chateaubriand Fellowship

• Samuel Courville, PhD 2025, Geological Sciences (next stop: UC Berkeley postdoc)

  • Accolades: AGU SEDI Award for Graduate Research (2025)

• Kevin Trinh, PhD 2025, Geological Sciences (next stop: Caltech postdoc)

  • Accolades: AGU SEDI Award for Graduate Research (2026)

• Trevor Austin, PhD in progress, Geological Sciences (next stop: Intuitive Machines postdoc)

• Lana Tilke, PhD in progress, Astrophysics

• Liam Royle-Grimes, PhD in progress, Astrophysics

• Benjamin Douglass, MS in progress, Geological Sciences

Graduate Students (Secondary)

Extraordinarily Substantial Projects (multiple publications, etc.)

• Allyson Trussell (lava channels on Venus)

  • Accolades: NSF GRFP, Anthropic STEM Fellowship

• Saira Hamid (lunar dynamo)

  • Accolades: NSF GRFP, ASU SESE Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow

• Caitlin Roe (public attitudes about planetary protection)

Normal and Successful Secondary Projects

• Sarah Braunisch (argon degassing at Venus)

• Jessica Norrell (gravity waves at Venus)

• Yoav Rotman (basal magma oceans in exoplanets)

• Joe DuBois (neuromorphic lightning detection)

• Joseph Kulenguski (catastrophic volcanism on exoplanets)

Undergraduate Researchers

Out of my four undergraduate mentees, two have won the SESE Dean’s Medal and the NSF GRFP in their senior year.

• Claire Blaske, BS 2023, Astrophysics (next stop: PhD program at Stanford)

• Sarah Lunetto, BS 2024, Astrobiology (next stop: MS program at ASU)

• Elizabeth Higgins, BS 2026, Astrophysics (next stop: PhD program at Harvard)

• Emma Guinan, BS 2026, Astrophysics (next stop: PhD program at Alberta)