Undergraduate Research
Undergraduate Students just beginning their research careers are an integral part of WiCOR!
If you want to get involved with research we recommend following Steps 1 and 2 shared on the Chemistry Undergraduate Research website linked here, which will help you 1) identify what research you’re interested in and 2) contact a Professor whose research you’re interested in.
Undergrad Spotlights
Eva Stafne
Undergraduate researcher Eva Stafne and Advisor Juliette Becker (Astronomy) published a paper entitled “General Relativity Can Prevent a Runaway Greenhouse on Potentially Habitable Planets Orbiting White Dwarfs ” in The Astrophysical Journal. Eva created a YouTube video to explain the scientific findings to a public audience: Watch it here! Eva was also interviewed by the UW–Madison College of Engineering about her paper and about her time studying abroad in Norway.
Ritvik Sai Narayan
Recent graduate Ritvik Sai Narayan published multiple astronomy papers during his time at UW–Madison with advisors Melinda Soares-Furtado, Rich Townsend, and Bob Mathieu. One recent work with Profs. Melinda Soares-Furtado and Rich Townsend, entitled “The Tale of a Hungry Subgiant and Its Brown Dwarf: Interior Radiative Damping Dominates the Tidal Evolution of TOI-5882“, was featured in The New York Times. Ritvik will begin Graduate School at MIT in the Fall of 2026.
Adam Distler
Adam graduated from UW–Madison in 2024 (B.S. Astronomy-Physics & Mathematics) and did post-baccalaureate research with Profs. Melinda Soares-Furtado, Juliette Becker, and Nick Stone. He joined Harvard University as a graduate student in Astronomy in the Fall of 2025. He is a Hertz Fellow and a NSF Graduate Research Fellow.
Undergraduate Research News
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The Tale of a Hungry Subgiant and Its Brown Dwarf
This week, The New York Times, published and article entitled “This Star Just Ate a Planet, and It’s Not Done Yet“. This article features two recent papers astronomy papers. One involving Prof.…