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Education
- Ph.D. in Physics
- Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
2020 – 2026, est.
- B.A. cum laude in Physics, Mathematics, and Classical Studies
Minor in Computer Science
- Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
2016 – 2020
Research
- 2025 • Dark Matter Velocity Distributions for Direct Detection: Astrophysical Uncertainties are Smaller Than They Appear
- DF, C. Blanco, M. Lisanti, L. Necib, M. Vogelsberger, L. Hernquist
arXiv:2505.07924, to submit to PRL
- 2024 • Cosmological Simulations of Stellar Halos with Gaia Sausage–Enceladus Analogues: Two Sausages, One Bun?
- DF, M. Lisanti, L. Necib, D. Horta, M. Vogelsberger, L. Hernquist
arXiv:2408.02723, Published ApJ, 983, 119 (2025)
- 2023 • Probabilistic Inference of the Structure and Orbit of Milky Way Satellites with Semi-Analytic Modeling
- DF, O. Slone, M. Lisanti, F. Jiang, M. Kaplinghat
arXiv:2311.05676, Published MNRAS, 536, 2891 (2025)
- 2020 • Next-to-Leading Order Simulation of Singlet Vector-like Quarks Decaying to a Bottom Quark and W Boson
- Undergraduate thesis, earned highest departmental honors
Supervised by J. Haley and W. Johns
Contributed to ATLAS internal note ATL-COM-PHYS-2020-152
- 2019 • NSF Physics Research Experience for Undergraduates
- at Oklahoma State University, supervised by J. Haley
Contributed to ATLAS internal note ATL-COM-PHYS-2019-1026
Talks
- Halo-to-Halo Similarity in IllustrisTNG Dark Matter Velocity Distributions (poster)
- Dark Matter Symposium – UCLA DM
University of California, Los Angeles, March 2025
- Probabilistic Inference of the Structure and Orbit of Milky Way Satellites with Semi-Analytic Modeling
- TeV Particle Astrophysics – TeVPA
University of Chicago, August 2024
- Two Sausages, One Bun? GSEs in TNG (poster)
- Small Galaxies, Cosmic Questions II
Durham University, July 2024
- Probabilistic Inference of the Structure and Orbit of Milky Way Satellites with Semi-Analytic Modeling
- Local Local Group Group – L2G2
Columbia University, December 2023
- Semi-Analytic Inference of the Dark Matter Structure of Satellite Galaxies
- Galactic Frontiers: Dwarf Galaxies in the Local Volume and Beyond
Flatiron Institute, June 2023
Teaching, Mentorship, and Service
- Undergraduate Advising
- Worked with Tal Shpigel on summer project "Stellar Tracers of Dark Matter Kinematics in GSE-like Mergers from the IllustrisTNG Simulation"
- Continuing to advise Tal on Princeton Junior Paper research
- Assistant in Instruction
- PHY 105: Advanced Physics (Mechanics, Lab), Fall 2023, Fall 2024
- PHY 104: General Physics II (Electricity and Magnetism, Lab), Spring 2023
- PHY 115: Physics for Future Leaders, Fall 2022
- PHY 110: General Physics II (Electricity and Magnetism), Summer 2022
- PHY 109: Physics Methods and Applications (Mechanics), Spring 2022
- PHY 105: Advanced Physics (Mechanics), Fall 2021
- Resident Graduate Student, Butler College
- 2021 – 2022
Honors and Awards
- Joseph H. Taylor Graduate Student Fellowship
- 2024, Princeton University Department of Physics
- President's Fellowship
- 2020 & 2021, Princeton University Graduate School
- Joseph Henry Merit Prize
- 2020, Princeton University Department of Physics
- Nancy and William McMinn Scholarship for Physics
- 2017 – 2020, Vanderbilt University Department of Physics
- STEM and Business Scholarship
- 2016 – 2020, Scarlett Family Foundation
- Pi Mu Epsilon Mathematics Honors Society
- Inducted 2019
- Sigma Pi Sigma Physics Honors Society
- Inducted 2018