I received my Bachelor's degree in physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz and my Ph.D. in astrophysical sciences from Princeton University. I then moved to University of Wisconsin-Madison where I was a NASA Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow. In August 2024, I began a joint tenure-track faculty appointment in the Departments of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I also have a joint affiliation with the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, where I work closely with Andrew Vanderburg's exoplanet research team. You can learn more about my science research here.

My personal background is rooted in a first-generation college experience. My family migrated from the Povoação and Nordeste municipalities of São Miguel, Azores in 1966. A closer look at the history of the Azores, now an autonomous, self-governing region of Portugal, can be explored here. For those interested, a study detailing the genetic makeup of the Azorean population in comparison to mainland Portugal is available here.

My hobbies include photography, gardening, and amassing an ever-growing collection of books. I am also particularly fond of hiking with my two energetic golden retrievers, Murphy the Noble and Lily Belle.