# People Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University ### 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)](https://prod-oberg.drupalsites.harvard.edu/file_url/146) ![Dr. Karin Öberg](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-04/dsc03163-portrait-800-500-lg.jpg?itok=aAOxbPLh) Senior Research Scientist ### 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. ![Dr. Mahesh Rajappan](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-04/dr-rajappan-portrait-800-500-lg.jpg?itok=KfFR1t5o) ## Current Postdoctoral Fellows [### Alice Booth ](/people/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... ![Alice Booth Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/oberg/files/alice_photo.jpeg?itok=Aeh68qJy) [### Michelle Brann ](/people/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... ![Michelle Brann Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-04/MichelleBrannHeadshot.jpg?itok=zsvNJ9dk) [### Jenny Calahan ](/people/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... ![Jenny Calahan Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/oberg/files/jenny_calahan.jpg?itok=2jW3mnKw) [### Elettra Piacentino ](/people/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... ![Dr. Elettra Piacentino](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-04/elettra_crop.png?itok=qvv_v6ZM) [### Julia Santos ](/people/julia-santos) Julia Santos is a 51 Pegasi b Fellow who studies the chemical makeup of planet-forming regions. She uses vacuum cryogenic setups to recreate the chemistry occurring on interstellar icy dust grains and employs submillimeter and infrared observations to... ![Julia Santos](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-09/profile_1_conv_comp_crop%20%281%29.jpg?itok=A3734ztR) ## Current Graduate Students [### Jea Adams ](/people/jea-adams)NSF Fellow Jea studies how disk environments shape planet atmospheres and influence the types of planets birthed in various disk regions. ![Jea Adams Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/oberg/files/jea-adams.png?itok=NlHmgfbj) [### Marissa Maney ](/people/marissa-maney) Marissa Maney combines instrumentation and laboratory experiments to explore the origins of chemical complexity in planetary bodies. ![Marissa Maney](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-04/maney_headshot_01.png?itok=h4ZIGkch) [### Alexandra McKinnon ](/people/alexandra-mckinnon) Alexandra studies the photolysis and radiolysis of interstellar ice analogues to unravel chemical pathways in the interstellar medium. ![Alexandra McKinnon Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-05/AlexandraMcKinnonHeadshot.jpg?itok=ONRkLPX5) [### Clara Ross ](/people/clara-ross) Clara studies the chemical and physical processes that occur during exoplanet formation. ![Clara Ross](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-04/ross_headshot.jpg?itok=oDr2so8R) [### Alexia Simon ](/people/alexia-simon) Alexia uses laboratory experiments to better understand diffusion and entrapment in interstellar ices. ![Alexia headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/oberg/files/31360455.jpg?itok=_A1gkjuI) [### Elizabeth (Liza) Yunerman ](/people/elizabeth-liza-yunerman) Liza Yunerman is a planet formation theorist, who is interested in modeling protoplanetary disk dynamics and relevant chemical processes. ![Elizabeth (Liza) Yunerman](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-04/yunerman_photo1_01.jpg?itok=TVhL68Jt) [### Qijia Zhou ](/people/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. ![Qijia Zhou Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-04/QijiaZhouHeadshot.JPG?itok=X3b_5_Bb) ## Former Group Members Open all sections Close all sections ### Former Postdoctoral Fellows expand\_more [### L. Cleeves ](/people/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... person [### Rafael Doménech ](/people/rafael-domenech) **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... person [### Edith Fayolle ](/people/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... person [### Viviana Guzman ](/people/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... person [### Beatrice Kulterer ](/people/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... ![Dr. Beatrice Kulterer](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-04/kulterer_headshot.jpg?itok=ufVnyUY3) [### Romane Le Gal ](/people/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... person [### Pavlo Maksyutenko ](/people/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... person [### Diana Powell ](/people/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... person ### Former Graduate Students expand\_more [### Jennifer Bergner ](/people/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... person [### Ilsa Cooke ](/people/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... person [### Dawn Graninger ](/people/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... person [### Jane Huang ](/people/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... person [### Trish Lauck, M.Sc. ](/people/trish-lauck-msc) **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. person [### Charles Law ](/people/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... person [### Ryan Loomis ](/people/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... person [### Carlos Muñoz-Romero ](/people/carlos-munoz-romero) Carlos is interested in the chemistry of early star formation and how it affects the initial composition of exoplanets. ![Carlos Muñoz-Romero](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-04/Carlos.jpg?itok=VT9lerpL) [### Jamila Pegues ](/people/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... person [### Ana-Maria Piso ](/people/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. person [### Ellen Price ](/people/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... person ### Former Undergraduate and Visiting Students expand\_more [### Aurelia Balkanski ](/people/aurelia-balkanski) Aurelia Balkanski is a Harvard Undergraduate working on her senior thesis on the photo stability of mid-size organic molecules. person [### Jodi Balfe ](/people/jodi-balfe) **Jodi Balfe** (Harvard University) did her junior and senior theses in the astrochemistry group (2013-2015). Her senior thesis on the relative binding energies of N2 and CO on different water ices was awarded with both the Goldberg Prize (best astronomy... person [### Ananya Bansal ](/people/ananya-bansal) **Ananya Bansal** (Harvard University): Ananya Bansal was an undergraduate at Harvard. In the astrochemistry group she is exploring the sulfur chemistry in a sample of solar-like protostars using microwave observations. person [### Aida Behmard ](/people/aida-behmard) **Aida Behmard** (Yale) was a visiting undergraduate from Yale. Aida Behmard used laboratory experiments to explore the sublimation properties of the small hydrocarbons that may regulate the organic chemistry in space. She was awarded an Origins of Life grant... person [### Madison brady ](/people/madison-brady) **Madison Brady** (Caltech): Madison Brady was an undergraduate student at Caltech. In the astrochemistry group she worked with Dr Le Gal to model cyanides in PDRs. She is now an NSF Graduate Research Fellow at The University of Chicago. (2018) person [### Christina Bufoo ](/people/christina-bufoo) **Christina Buffo** (Wellesley College): Christina Buffo was an undergraduate student at Wellesley. In the astrochemistry group she explored the origins of cometary molecular oxygen using laboratory experiments. Christina is now a graduate student in the... person [### Jyoti Campbell ](/people/jyoti-campbell) **Jyoti Campbell** (Wellesley College) was a visiting undergraduate from Wellesley College. In the astrochemistry group she worked on a project titled "Sublimation kinetics of complex organic molecules during planet formation". Jyoti is now a graduate student... person [### Alessandra Canta ](/people/alessandra-canta) **Alessandra Canta** (Harvard University): Alessandra Canta is an undergraduate at Harvard. In the astrochemistry group she laboratory experiments simulating the thermal evolution of protostellar icy grain mantles. (2021) person [### Joseph Cavanaro ](/people/joseph-cavanaro) **Joseph Cavanaro** (Harvard University) worked on ALMA data to explore deuterium chemistry in the TW Hya disk (2019). His work is presented in Öberg et al. 2021a. person [### Lauren Chambers ](/people/lauren-chambers) **Lauren Chambers** (Yale University) worked with Ilse Cleeves and Karin Öberg on the theory of NH3 formation in protoplanetary disks, first as Banneker Institute fellow, and later for her senior thesis. She is a Banneker Institute alumna (2016). Lauren is... person [### Sage Crystian ](/people/sage-crystian) **Sage Crystian** (Harvard University): Sage Crystian is an undergraduate at Harvard. In the astrochemistry group he is using ALMA CO data to estimate the vertical structure of protoplanetary disks. (2021-2022) person [### Alex DelFranco ](/people/alex-delfranco) **Alex DelFranco** (Amherst College): Alex DelFranco was an undergraduate at Amhest College. In the astrochemistry group he investigated complex organic molecules (which are theorized to be precursors to extraterrestrial life). (2022) person Show morerefresh