Rahul Jayaraman

Rahul is a PhD candidate working with Dr. George Ricker on analyzing data from the TESS mission that are not directly related to exoplanets. Specifically, his primary research interests center on identifying and characterizing fast optical transients (specifically gamma-ray bursts and gravitational-wave counterparts) in TESS’s field of view. In addition, he also works on stellar astrophysics, with a particular focus on the observational signatures of pulsating stars in tight binaries.

Rahul is very active in the MKI community and Physics Department, having served as a member of the Graduate Student Union Bargaining Committee, President of the Physics Graduate Student Council, and as one of the student readers on the Admissions Committee. He graduated from Brown University in 2019 with a BS in Physics and a BA in Computer Science; as an undergraduate, he worked on exoplanet atmospheres as part of the planning for JWST Early-Release Science.