People
Dr. Karin Öberg
Karin Öberg is Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University. Her specialty is astrochemistry and her research aims to uncover how chemical processes affect the outcome of planet formation, especially the chemical habitability of nascent planets. Her research group approaches this question through laboratory experiments, simulating the exotic chemistry that gives rise to chemical complexity in space, through astrochemical modeling, and through astronomical observations of molecules in planet-forming disks around young stars.
Dr. Öberg left Sweden for Caltech in 2001, where she matriculated with a B.Sc. in chemistry in 2005. Four years later she obtained a Ph.D. in astronomy, with a thesis focused on laboratory astrochemistry. In 2009 she moved to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics with a Hubble fellowship, focusing on millimeter observations of protoplanetary disks and joined the Harvard faculty as an assistant professor in astronomy in 2013, was promoted and named the Thomas D. Cabot Associate Professor in Astronomy in 2016, and promoted to full professor in 2017. Dr. Öberg’s research in astrochemistry has been recognized with a Sloan fellowship, a Packard fellowship and the Newton Lacy Pierce Award. Link to Professor Öberg's CV (pdf)
Dr. Mahesh Rajappan
Dr. Mahesh Rajappan is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. He is an expert in a large set of experimental techniques relating to surface science, thin film manipulation and solid state physics. In the Öberg Astrochemistry Group, Mahesh Rajappan leads the development of our new ultra high vacuum ice experiment and is responsible for the daily management of the laboratory.
Current Postdoctoral Fellows
Alice Booth
Alice Booth is a Clay Fellow whose research revolves around unravelling the chemical makeup of planet-forming disks. Alice uses high-sensitivity observations taken with ALMA to map the distribution of different molecular species in nearby disks. Their...
Michelle Brann
As a Postdoctoral Fellow, Michelle Brann conducts laboratory experiments to understand abundances and formation pathways of complex organic molecules in interstellar ice analogs during planet formation. Previously she was a NRC postdoc at National...
Jenny Calahan
Jenny Calahan is a Kavli-Laukien Origins Fellow working on linking exoplanets to their formation environments. She uses 2D thermo-chemical models to characterize protoplanetary disk environments in concert with the highest quality observations from ALMA...
Elettra Piacentino
Dr. Piacentino received her PhD in physical and analytical chemistry at Northern Illinois University. She previously worked on the computational and mass spectrometric study of the fundamental properties of transition metal-based molecules as well as on...
Julia Santos
Current Graduate Students
Jea Adams
Jea studies how disk environments shape planet atmospheres and influence the types of planets birthed in various disk regions.
Marissa Maney
Marissa Maney combines instrumentation and laboratory experiments to explore the origins of chemical complexity in planetary bodies.
Alexandra McKinnon
Alexandra studies the photolysis and radiolysis of interstellar ice analogues to unravel chemical pathways in the interstellar medium.
Clara Ross
Clara studies the chemical and physical processes that occur during exoplanet formation.
Alexia Simon
Alexia uses laboratory experiments to better understand diffusion and entrapment in interstellar ices.
Elizabeth (Liza) Yunerman
Liza Yunerman is a planet formation theorist, who is interested in modeling protoplanetary disk dynamics and relevant chemical processes.
Qijia Zhou
Qijia Zhou is an NSF Fellow studying the chemistry of planet-forming environments from an observational and laboratory perspective. She is currently investigating the effects of external irradiation on protoplanetary disks in clustered environments.
Former Group Members
L. Cleeves
Dr. L. Ilsedore (Ilse) Cleeves was a Hubble fellow in the Öberg group (2015-2018). Dr. Cleeves is a graduate of University of Michigan. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular and physical origins of planetary systems such as our own, using a...
Rafael Doménech
Dr. Rafael Martín Doménech was a postdoc in the Öberg group (2017-2023). He got his PhD at the Complutense University in Madrid, by means of his work in the Astrobiology Center studying the cycle of interstellar matter. His research focused on the...
Edith Fayolle
Dr. Edith Fayolle was a Rubicon fellow in the Öberg group (2013-2017). Dr. Fayolle is a graduate of Leiden Observatory. In the astrochemistry group she studied the desorption and reaction kinetics of ices, focused on non-thermal processes following...
Viviana Guzman
Dr. Viviana Guzman was a postdoc in the Öberg group (2013-2016). Dr. Guzman obtained her Ph.D. in Grenoble. In the astrochemistry group she studied the distributions of small organics in protoplanetary disks, focusing on cyanides. She is now faculty at...
Beatrice Kulterer
Dr. Beatrice Kulterer studies the onset of chemical complexity at the early stages of star-formation by running theoretical astrochemical models, and by analysing observational data of molecular clouds and star-forming regions. She is especially...
Romane Le Gal
was a postdoc in the Öberg group (2017-2020). Dr. Le Gal is a graduate from University Grenoble-Alpes (France). Her research is focused on studying the chemical evolution of interstellar matter from prestellar environments through the protostellar stages...
Pavlo Maksyutenko
Dr. Pavlo Maksyutenko was a postdoc in the Öberg group (2017-2020). He got his PhD in physical chemistry at EPFL, Switzerland. Pavlo was interested in applications of laser spectroscopy and mass spectrometry to molecular kinetics and dynamics. He built a...
Diana Powell
Dr. Diana Powell was a NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Center for Astrophysics. She will be starting as a Neubauer Family Assistant Professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the...
Jennifer Bergner
Dr. Jennifer Bergner (Ph.D. 2019) was a NSF fellow in the Öberg group whose research focused on the physics and chemistry of interstellar ice analogs. She was awarded a Hubble Sagan post doctoral fellowship at University of Chicago, and moved there in the...
Ilsa Cooke
Dr. Ilsa Cooke (Ph.D 2018) was a University of Virginia graduate student who did much of her thesis in the Öberg group, while formally advised by Eric Herbst. Dr. Ilsa Cooke studied the dynamics, chemistry and spectroscopy of interstellar ice analogs...
Dawn Graninger
Dr. Dawn Graninger (Ph.D 2017) was a Harvard graduate student in the Öberg group. Dawn Graninger's research in the astrochemistry group combined astrochemical modeling with laboratory experiments and millimeter observations to constrain the chemistry of...
Jane Huang
Dr. Jane Huang (Ph.D. 2020) was an NSF/Peirce fellow in the Andrews and Öberg groups. Jane used high angular resolution ALMA observations to study the chemical and dynamical evolution of protoplanetary disks and to search for indirect signatures of planet...
Trish Lauck, M.Sc.
Trish Lauck, M.Sc. (University of Virginia) Trish Lauck did her master thesis on diffusion in astrophysically relevant ices at University of Virginia 2012-2014.
Charles Law
Dr. Charles Law (Ph.D. 2023) was a Harvard graduate student in the Öberg group. Charles Law was an NSF Fellow and his senior thesis was aimed at characterizing the carbon chain chemistry in an unbiased sample of Solar-type protostars and he explored the...
Ryan Loomis
Dr. Ryan Loomis (Ph.D. 2018) was a Harvard graduate student in the Öberg group. Ryan Loomis’s research focused on the complex chemistry present during star and planet formation, and on how molecular emission in protoplanetary disks can be used to probe...
Carlos Muñoz-Romero
Carlos is interested in the chemistry of early star formation and how it affects the initial composition of exoplanets.
Jamila Pegues
Dr. Jamila Pegues (Ph.D 2021) was an NSF fellow graduate student in the Öberg group. Jamila’s Ph.D. thesis explored Protoplanetary Disk Chemistry across the Stellar Spectrum. She will be a Space Telescope Science Institute Postdoctoral Fellow in Baltimore...
Ana-Maria Piso
Dr. Ana-Maria Piso (Ph.D 2016) was a graduate student in the Öberg group. For her Ph.D. thesis Ana-Maria Piso explored the theory of planet formation in the context of disk physics and chemistry. She is now a Computer Project Manager at GMV in Romania.
Ellen Price
Dr. Ellen Price (Ph.D 2021) was an NSF/Peirce fellow graduate student in the Öberg group, where she explored interactions between chemistry and dynamics in protoplanetary disks. Ellen won the 2021 Eric. R. Keto Prize in Theoretical Astrophysics and will...