AST Colloquium - Time-domain Astrophysics in the Era of Big Data
Time-domain Astrophysics in the Era of Big Data
Ashley Villar
PhD candidate
Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellow
Harvard University
Abstract:
The eruptions, collisions and explosions of stars drive the universe’s chemical and dynamical evolution. The upcoming Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will drastically increase the discovery rate of these transient phenomena, bringing time-domain astrophysics into the realm of “big data.” With this transition comes the important question: how do we classify transient events and separate the interesting “needles” from the “haystack” of objects? In this talk, Ashley will discuss efforts to discover and classify unexpected phenomena using semi-supervised machine learning techniques. She will highlight one particularly exciting needle: the electromagnetic counterparts of neutron star mergers.
Speaker Bio:
Ashley Villar is an astrophysics PhD candidate and Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellow at Harvard University. She studies eruptions, explosions and collisions of stars in our night sky. She received her BS in Physics from MIT.
Intended Audience:
No background knowledge is required. All are welcome.
Event Snapshot
When and Where
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This is an RIT Only Event
Interpreter Requested?
No