Steve Rossland
Postdoc
Grew up in Montana where I enlisted into the United States Marine Corps out of high school. I eventually found physics at Boise State University before joining the University of Utah as a grad student. I've measured the Cosmic X-Ray Background (CXB) in the 3-30 keV bandpass, as well as helped search for sterile neutrino-like dark matter, using a large fraction of the data in NuSTAR's observational archive, developing a custom data analysis pipeline to do so. I'm currently looking into the nature of emission from the Galactic Ridge. For fun, I like all kinds of activities including spending time with my family.
Randall Rojas
Postdoc
I graduated from UMass Amherst Honors College with degrees in Astronomy and Physics. My scientific interests include cosmology and high energy physics and other interests include playing the piano and sketching.
Aysegul Tumer
Postdoc
Now at MIT, Aysegul Tumer works on high energy (X-ray) astrophysics, particularly on extended emission from clusters of galaxies. During her PhD, she studied noncool core galaxy clusters and their brightest cluster galaxies using XMM-Newton and Chandra observatories. Since she joined our group, she has been working on modeling the stray light of the NuSTAR observatory. Her interest include cool-noncool core galaxy clusters and mergers; evolution of galaxy clusters; background reduction methods; intracluster medium; AGN feedback mechanisms in brightest cluster galaxies and X-ray spectral and imaging methods.
Hannah Moon
Graduate Student
Hannah is a graduate student working on observational X-ray astrophysics research on intermediate mass black holes and other compact objects in x-ray binaries. She has previously done experimental work at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and has served as chair of GSAC. Her non-academic interests include playing Dungeons & Dragons, hiking, reading, and playing board games.
Cicely Potter
Graduate Student
I graduated from Utah Valley University in 2018, and started at University of Utah in the fall of 2019. I have been working on finding the hydrostatic mass of 4 relaxed galaxy clusters with temperature profiles from Chandra, NuSTAR, and XMM-Newton. Chandra and XMM-Newton measure temperature differences of ~10%, which results in a difference in cluster mass of ~10%. NuSTAR has a larger effective area at higher energies than both Chandra and XMM-Newton, enabling higher precision temperature measurements, and can help investigate the nature of this calibration discrepancy. I also like reading, drawing, and board/card games.
Samantha Creech
Graduate Student
I work with Dan Wik and also with Francesca Civano, who is a Physics of the Cosmos chief scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. As an X-ray astronomer, I use space-based telescopes like NuSTAR and XMM-Newton to study Galaxy Clusters and Active Galactic Nuclei. Outside of graduate school, I enjoy doing anything that gets me outside, especially snowboarding, backpacking, and taking road trips. I also swing dance, make art, and volunteer as a paleontology gallery interpreter at the Natural History Museum of Utah.
Christian Norseth
Graduate Student
I am a graduate student with an interest in extragalactic astronomy and cosmology. I am currently looking at an observation of a galaxy cluster merger to try to gain some insight into the heating mechanisms involved. I also worked as a post-bacc with Dan where I simulated observations of gas clumps in the outskirts of galaxy clusters.
Eliza Diggins
Undergraduate Student
Eliza is an undergraduate student researching non-Newtonian gravitational theory and its implications for clusters of galaxy. She uses high resolution hydrodynamics / N-Body simulations in conjunction with analytical and semi-analytical techniques to explore the observational implications of these theories, which can be used to support or refute them. In addition to her work in physics, Eliza also moonlights as a mathematical epidemiologist. Beyond academia, Eliza's interests include hiking, white water rafting, herpetology, and science communication. She is also heavily involved in the LGBTQIA+ community in Utah and runs a support group for fellow transgender adults.
Fiona Lopez
Undergraduate Student
I’m an undergraduate student at Texas A&M University where I previously researched evidence for a dark matter particle. At the University of Utah, my research involves using X-Ray telescopes like Chandra and NuSTAR to study galaxy clusters. I work with Dan Wik and Cicely Potter to understand the discrepancy between Chandra and XMM-Newton’s temperature measurements of galaxy clusters using NuSTAR’s precision calibration. Non-academically, my interests include drawing, reading comic books, and spending time with friends and family.
Sunny Joy Rasmussen
Undergraduate Student
I study Physics & Astronomy and Political Science at The University of Utah. In the lab, I help analyze data from the Chandra telescope looking for black holes in dwarf galaxies. I am also involved in the Society of Physics Students, and serve as Zone 15 Associate Zone Councilor. Outside academia, I love to play volleyball, sew, and knit.