Research Team
Professor Seager’s research focuses on the search for other Earths, via space mission concepts and observations, modeling, and/or interpretation of exoplanet atmospheres, interiors, and biosignatures.
Graduate Students
Mary Knapp
Graduate student
Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
Mary Knapp is working on radio detection of exoplanet magnetic fields and next generation instrumentation for space-based detection.
Akshata Krishnamurthy
Graduate student
Dept. of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
Akshata Krishnamurthy is a third year PhD student in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. She is working on the design and fabrication of precision instrumentation to characterize CCD detectors as well as developing a comprehensive instrument noise model for the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission.
Gabriella Serrato Marks
Graduate student
Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
Liang Yu
Graduate student
Dept. of Physics
Liang Yu is developing machine learning-based tools to automatically identify exoplanet candidates and other interesting astrophysical phenomena in TESS data. She is also working on improving the TESS simulated data.
Zhuchang Zhan 
Graduate student
Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
Zhuchang Zhan is working on simulating exoplanet atmospheres with the goals of evaluating a broad range of potential biosignature gases.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Jennifer Burt
Torres Postdoctoral Fellow
Kavli Institute for Space Sciences
Jennifer Burt’s research focuses on detecting and characterizing extra solar planets using precision radial velocity observations. She was also the lead in developing the Automated Planet Finder telescope’s fully autonomous observing mode, and continues to work towards improving its nightly operations.
Dr. Diana Dragomir
Hubble Fellow
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Dr. Dragomir’s Website
Diana Dragomir finds and studies the atmospheres of super-Earth exoplanets transiting bright stars. Her long-term goal is to understand the composition and formation of super-Earths, and how these correlate with the planets’ orbital parameters and the properties of the host stars.
Dr. Elisabeth Newton
NSF Fellow
Kavli Institute for Space Sciences
Dr. Newton’s Website
Dr. Elisabeth Newton is interested in red dwarf stars and the planets that orbit them. She uses observations to study rotation and magnetism in red dwarfs and the impact stellar activity has on their exoplanets.
Dr. Mihkel Pajusalu
Postdoctoral Associate
Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
Mihkel Pajusalu is exploring methods for low-cost asteroid characterization using nanosatellites and technologies for in-situ resource utilization. He also works on laboratory experiments and instrumentation development for a better understanding of biosignature gas evolution on exoplanets and early Earth.
Dr. Janusz Petkowski
Postdoctoral Associate
Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
Dr. Petkowski’s Website
Janusz Petkowski works on novel approaches to biosignature gases reasearch. He is also interested in origin and biochemical limits of life on Earth and on exoplanets.
Dr. Clara Sousa Silva
Postdoctoral Associate
Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
Clara Sousa-Silva works on molecular lines lists from quantum mechanics-based computation.
Julien de Wit
Postdoctoral Associate
Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Dr. de Wit’s Website
Julien de Wit works in the field of data science where math, science, and engineering are brought together. Over the past six years, he has developed and applied new techniques to study exoplanets, their atmospheres and their interactions with their stars. Currently his focus is on applying these techniques to study temperate Earth-sized exoplanets, the TRAPPIST-1 planets.
Past Graduate Students
Dr. Bjoern Benneke
PhD MIT Aero/Astro 2013
Faculty at U. de Montreal – www.umontreal.ca
- Main thesis paper, establishing exoplanet atmosphere retrieval:
Atmospheric Retrieval for Super-Earths: Uniquely Constraining the Atmospheric Composition with Transmission Spectroscopy, B. Benneke, S. Seager, ApJ, 753, 100, 2012.
Dr. Renyu Hu
PhD MIT EAPS 2013
Research Scientist at JPL – science.jpl.nasa.gov
- Main thesis paper, the first photochemistry code created from a blank page in decades:
Photochemistry in Terrestrial Exoplanet Atmospheres. I. Photochemistry Model and Benchmark Cases, R. Hu, S. Seager, W. Bains, ApJ, 761, 166, 2012
Dr. Nikku Madhusudhan
PhD MIT Physics 2012
Lecturer at Cambridge University, UK – www.ast.cam.ac.uk
-
Main thesis paper, the first paper introducing the concept of exoplanet atmospheric retrieval:
Dr. Leslie Rogers
PhD MIT Aero/Astro 2012
Faculty at University of Chicago – hastro.uchicago.edu
- Main thesis paper, the first paper on mini Neptune interior composition interpretation and permanent ambiguity:
Three Possible Origins for the Gas Layer on GJ 1214b, Rogers, L., Seager, S., ApJ, 716, 1208, 2010.
Co-Advised Past Graduate Students
Dr. Matthew Smith
PhD MIT Aero/Astro 2014
Engineer at JPL
- PhD thesis paper:
Smith, M., and Miller, D., 2014, “Model-Based Requirement Definition for Instrument Systems”
Dr. Eliza Kempton (formerly Miller-Ricci)
PhD Harvard Astronomy 2009
Faculty at Grinnell College – web.grinnell.edu
- Main thesis paper, the first paper on super-Earth atmospheres:
Miller-Ricci, E., Seager, S., and Sasselov, D. 2009, “The Atmospheric Signatures of Super-Earths: How to Distinguish Between Hydrogen-Rich and Hydrogen-Poor Atmospheres”, ApJ 690, 1056
Past Master’s students
Dr. Thomas Beatty
MIT Masters in Physics 2009
Postdoctoral Fellow at Penn State
- Main thesis paper:
Beatty, T., and Seager, S., 2010, “Transit Probabilities for Stars with Stellar Inclination Constraints”, ApJ 712, 1433
Past Postdoctoral Fellows
Prof. Brice Demory
University of Bern – www.csh.unibe.ch
Research highlights from time at MIT:
- Demory, B.-O. et al. 2011, “Detection of a transit of the super-Earth 55 Cancri e with warm Spitzer”, AA, 533, 114.
- Demory, B.-O., and Seager, S., 2011, “Lack of Inflated Radii for Kepler Giant Planet Candidates Receiving Modest Stellar Irradiation”, ApJ, 197, 12.