Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Hello! I'm Jensen, a planetary science PhD candidate in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. Broadly, I'm interested in how planets and planetary systems form and evolve. To this end, I work in the Planet Formation Lab under the supervision of Prof. Richard Teague, where I study protoplanetary disks and newborn exoplanets. I also study planetary surface processes in Prof. Gaia Stucky de Quay's group.
I research the formation of planets and planetary systems under the supervision of Prof. Richard Teague in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science. Specifically, my work aims to (1) constrain the physics and chemistry of protoplanetary disks (the environments where planets form) using millimetre wavelength observations from telescopes like ALMA, and (2) detect and characterize newborn giant planets embedded within protoplanetary disks using visible/IR observations from telescopes like the Magellan Telescopes. I additionally work with Prof. Gaia Stucky de Quay on determining how Mars' surface and climate have evolved over time using observations from Mars missions. As well, I work with Dr. Jason Soderblom and collaborators on studying the surface of Saturn's moon Titan using computational models.
I served as a teaching assistant for the classes 12.410 Observational Techniques of Optical Astronomy and 12.411 Astronomy Field Camp, and as a lab instructor for the class 12.409 Hands-On Astronomy: Observing Stars and Planets. Duties included guiding the design of student-led telescope observations, supervising student telescope observations (on the roof of Building 37 for 12.409; at MIT Wallace Astrophysical Observatory for 12.410; and at Teide Observatory for 12.411), driving students to and from observing sites, marking problem sets, hosting office hours, and presenting guest lectures.
I contributed to the development of a Python code that fits CMASS galaxy autocorrelation data and CMASS-unWISE galaxy cross-correlation data to Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) models of the CMASS and unWISE galaxies across multiple redshift bins from z = 0.3 to z = 0.8. Beyond-Limber approximation effects, redshift space distortion, and magnification were accounted for. The statistical distributions of the HOD parameters were then explored using Markov chain Monte Carlo. Supervised by Dr. Alex Krolewski and Prof. Will Percival at the Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics. Funded by an NSERC USRA from Sep - Dec 2020.
I tutored students in physics and mathematics through the University of Waterloo's Tutor Connect service. Part-time position.
I investigated grid-scale stochastic backscatter as a means of improving large eddy simulations of stratified atmospheric turbulence. I added four backscatter models (two of which were original) to an existing Fortran code that solves the uniformly stratified Boussinesq equations using spectral methods, and ran simulations at resolutions of 256³ and 512³. The effectiveness of each model was then assessed by comparison to results from a direct numerical simulation with a resolution of 2048³. Supervised by Prof. Michael Waite in the Department of Applied Mathematics. Funded by an NSERC USRA.
I ran simulations of spherically symmetric scalar field collapse in maximally sliced general relativity, and then compared these results to the results from my previous work on Einstein-aether theory to assess similarities between collapse in maximal slicing and incompressible Einstein-aether. Supervised by Prof. Niayesh Afshordi and Prof. David Garfinkle. Part-time, unpaid position.
I modified an existing Fortran numerical relativity code to investigate the collapse of spherically symmetric scalar fields in the "incompressible" (i.e. the speed of the spin-0 aether mode goes to infinity) limit of Einstein-aether theory. I established that universal horizons still form, despite the arbitrarily high speed of the spin-0 mode. Supervised by Prof. Niayesh Afshordi. Funded by the Mike Lazaridis Scholarship in Theoretical Physics.
I contributed to the development of Octofitter.jl, a Julia-based, multi-method exoplanet detection and characterization library. I expanded the code to support radial velocity observations, enabling Octofitter.jl's detection algorithm to spot exoplanets in radial velocity data. As well, I added simulation-based calibration to the code, allowing Octofitter.jl to statistically validate its outputs. Supervised by Dr. William Thompson and Dr. Christian Marois in the NEW EARTH Lab.
I used real space beam tomography and data from ion beam simulations to create a Python code that assessed the effectiveness of beam profile monitors in the ARIEL beamline in preparation for the commissioning of the CANREB experiment. Supervised by Dr. Suresh Saminathan and Dr. Marco Marchetto in the Beam Physics Group.