This is a list of PhD graduates of the Astronomy program at the University of Illinois. We try to keep this list up-to-date, but it is inevitable that some of the information listed below will be out-of-date. If you are a graduate of the program and your information is missing/inaccurate, please contact the department webmaster, Rebecca Bare at rsbare@illinois.edu.
| NAME | GRADUATION DATE | FIRST POSITION & INSTITUTION | CURRENT POSITION & INSTITUTION | ADVISOR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jianyang Fu (Frank) | December 2025 | Postdoctoral Researcher, Princeton University | Postdoctoral Researcher, Princeton University | Vieira |
| Cail Daley | December 2024 | Post Doc, France | Post Doc, France | Holder |
| Frankie Encalada | December 2024 | Researcher, UIUC | Researcher, UIUC | Looney |
| Melanie Archipley | August 2024 | Associate KICP Fellow and Postdoctoral Scholar, Calgary, Alberta | Associate KICP Fellow and Postdoctoral Scholar, Calgary, Alberta | Vieira |
| Kedar Phadke | August 2024 | Post Doc UIUC | Post Doc UIUC | Vieira |
| Kwok Sun Tang | May 2024 | AI Scientist specializing in LLMs, Graph Neural Networks, JP Morgan Chase, Google X | AI Scientist specializing in LLMs, Graph Neural Networks, JP Morgan Chase, Google X | Turk |
| Patrick Aleo | May 2024 | Senior Data Scientist, Kansas City National Security Center | Senior Data Scientist, Kansas City National Security Center | Narayan |
| Colin Burke | August 2023 | Post Doc Yale University | Post Doc Yale University | Liu |
| Yu-Ching (Tony) Chen | August 2023 | Post Doc John Hopkins University, MD | Post Doc Johns Hopkins University, MD | Liu |
| Alexander Gagliano | May 2023 | Post Doc MIT & Harvard Center for Astrophysics | Post Doc MIT & Harvard Center for Astrophysics | Narayan |
| Samantha Thrush | May 2023 | Data Scientist, Python Programmer, Science Educator, Destelbergen, Belgium | Data Scientist, Python Programmer, Science Educator, Destelbergen, Belgium | Kemball |
| Rachel Harrison | December 2022 | Post-Doc at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia | Post-Doc at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia | Looney |
| Jesse Miller | December 2022 | Post-Doc at Boston University | Post-Doc at Boston University | Fields |
| Adrienne Ertel | December 2022 | Fields | ||
| Sreevani Jarugula | December 2022 | Post Doc at Fermi Lab | Post Doc at Fermi Lab | Vieira |
| Jennifer Li | August 2021 | Postdoc position at U of Michigan. | NCSA Researcher | Shen |
| Patrick Mullen | August 2021 | Joint postdoctoral appointment at the IAS in Princeton, NJ and CCA in NYC | Staff Scientist, Los Alamos National Laboratory | Gammie |
| Di Wen | December 2020 | Postdoc at University of Groningen, Netherlands | Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen, Netherlands | Kemball |
| Ko-Yun (Monica) Huang | December 2020 | Post doc, Leiden University, Netherlands | Data Engineer, AkzoNobel, Netherlands | Kemball |
| Wei-Ting Liao | December 2020 | ASTRO3D postdoc in University of Melbourne, Australia | Software Engineer, Data Scientist, Roblox, Seattle, WA | Turk |
| Yinghe (Celeste) Lu | August 2020 | Postdoc at Cambridge University UK | Computational Physicist | Research Software & Data Engineer, Cambridge University, UK | Ricker |
| Miguel Holgado | August 2020 | Post Doc, Carnegie Mellon University | Senior Data Scientist, Tokio Marine HCC | Ricker |
| Andrew Nadolski | May 2020 | Intel, Portland, OR | Intel, Portland, OR | Vieira |
| Taylor Tobin | December 2019 | Post Doc at Notre Dame University | Post Doc, FEPS Research Group at University of Michigan | Kemball |
| Yixian Cao | December 2018 | Post doc at Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, France. | Post doc at Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics, Germany | Wong |
| Daniel George | December 2018 | AI Research Scientist, Google X | Vice President, AI Lead, JP Morgan Chase | Allen |
| Ricky Chun Yin Chue | December 2018 | Teaching Assistant, U of I | R&D Engineer, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. Dongguan, Guangdong, P.R. China | Dalal |
| Xilu Wang | December 2018 | Post Doc at Notre Dame University | Associate Professor at the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. | Fields |
| Erin Cox | August 2018 | Post-Doc at Northwestern University | SkAI Assistant Director of Education and Outreach at Northwestern University | Looney |
| Benjamin Ryan | May 2018 | Director's Postdoctoral Fellowship at Los Alamos National Laboratory | Staff Member at Los Alamos National Laboratory | Gammie |
| Dominique Segura-Cox | December 2017 | Postdoctoral Researcher at Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany | Assistant Professor of Astronomy, University of Rochester | Looney |
| Susmita Adhikari | August 2017 | Post-Doc, Stanford University, KIPAC | Asst. Professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research | Dalal |
| Manichandra Morampudi | December 2016 | Own business, India | Quazar Tech, Ltd., India | Gammie |
| Brian Fry | August 2016 | Air Force | Technical Staff Member at MIT Lincoln Laboratory | Fields |
| Jessica Evans | August 2016 | Visiting Lecturer, U of I | Physical Therapist, Kalamazoo, MI | Chu |
| Gary Foreman | May 2016 | Data Scientist, State Farm | AI Engineer, Google Cloud, Phoenix, AZ | Ricker |
| Rukmani Vijayaraghavan | August 2015 | NSF Post Doctoral Fellow at the University of Virginia | Innovation Lead, Water Power Technologies Office, US Department of Energy, Washington, DC | Ricker |
| Rui (Jerry) Xue | August 2015 | Post Doc, Purdue University | Software Engineer at National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Iowa | Wong |
| Matias Carrasco Kind | December 2014 | Research Scientist, NCSA | Research Scientist, NCSA | Brunner |
| Yiran (Janet) Wang | December 2014 | Post Doc, NCSA | Start-up Company, Texas | Brunner |
| Ian Stephens | December 2013 | Postdoc, Boston University | Assistant Professor, Worcester State University, Worcester, MA | Looney |
| David Rebolledo | December 2013 | Postdoc, Univ of Sydney | Astronomer at ALMA, Chile | Wong |
| Kuo-Chuan Pan | August 2013 | Postdoc, Department of Physics at Basel University in Switzerland | Associate Professor, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan | Ricker |
| Nicholas Hakobian | August 2013 | Audax Health, Data Scientist | Staff Data Scientist at Rally Health | Crutcher |
| Nachiketa Chakraborty | August 2013 | Postdoctoral Fellow at Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik | Lecturer in Mathematics and Data Science, Coventry University, UK | Fields |
| Hotaka Shiokawa | August 2013 | Postdoc, Johns Hopkins | Senior Data Scientist at Fidelity, Boston, MA | Gammie |
| I-Jen Lee | May 2013 | Postdoc, University of Maryland (College Park) | Consultant, Ab Initio Software | Looney |
| Ki-Jeong Yim | December 2012 | Postdoc, Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen | Korea Astronomy and Space Institute | Wong |
| Modhurita Mitra | August 2012 | Postdoctoral Research Associate, U of I | Data Analysis Researcher , Germany | Kemball |
| Brett Hayes | August 2012 | Visiting Lecturer, University of Illinois | Boost Services at Epic | Brunner |
| Jana Bilikova | May 2012 | Adjunct Faculty, Santa Monica College | Chu | |
| Hsin-Fang Chiang | December 2011 | Astrobiology Postdoctoral Fellow at Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii | Data Management Science Analyst and Engineer, Rubin Observatory, San Francisco, CA | Looney |
| Joshua Dolence | December 2011 | Postdoctoral Research Associate, Princeton University | Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory | Gammie |
| Troy Hacker | December 2011 | Major, United States Air Force | Program Director at TEC Solutions | Brunner |
| Nicholas Indriolo | August 2011 | Assistant Research Scientist, Johns Hopkins University | Scientist, Space Telescope Science Institute | McCall |
| Amy Lien | August 2011 | Research Fellow, NASA/GSFC | Assistant Research Scientist1, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center | Fields |
| Hsiang-Yi (Karen) Yang | August 2011 | Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Michigan | Assistant Professor, National Tsing Hua University | Ricker |
| Paul Sutter | August 2011 | Paris Institute of Astrophysics | NASA external advisor | Ricker |
| Po Kin Leung | December 2010 | Postdoc at UC Santa Barbara | Senior Lecturer, Chinese University of Hong Kong | Gammie |
| Jonathan Seale | December 2010 | Postdoc at Space Telescope Science Institute | Principal Data Scientist & Big Data Architect at ATA, LLC; Washington, DC | Looney |
| Jeeseon Song | December 2010 | Postdoc at University of Michigan | High School Math and Physics Teacher, Singapore | Mohr |
| Chao-Chin Yang | August 2010 | Postdoc at UC Santa Cruz | Senior Research fellow at Lund Observatory, Sweden | Ricker |
| Rishi Khatri | August 2010 | Postdoc at Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik | Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India | Wandelt |
| Woojin Kwon | December 2009 | Postdoc at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Staff, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute | Looney |
| Xiaoyue Guan | October 2009 | Postdoc at University of Virginia | Chevron | Gammie |
| Britt Lundgren | October 2009 | Postdoc at Yale University | Associate Professor of Physics, UNC-Asheville | Brunner |
| Ashley Ross | October 2009 | Postdoc at University of Portsmouth (UK) | Research Assistant Professor at Ohio State University | Brunner |
| Zarija Lukic | October 2008 | Postdoc at Los Alamos National Lab | Research Scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy | Ricker |
| Yu-Shao "Jerry" Shiao | October 2008 | Postdoc at ASIAA | National Nano Device Laboratories, Hsinchu, Taiwan | Looney |
| Shiya Wang | October 2008 | Postdoc at University of Michigan | Uranium and TENORM Lead at Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment | Looney |
| Amit Pratap Singh Yadav | October 2008 | Postdoc at Harvard Center for Astrophysics | Wandelt | |
| Bryan C. Dunne | May 2007 | Visiting Teaching Associate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Teaching Assistant Professor of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Chu |
| Chang-Hui Rosie Chen | May 2007 | Postdoc, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Scientific Staff, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy | Chu |
| Tijana Prodanovic | October 2006 | Research Associate, University of Novi Sad, Serbia | Professor, University of Novi Sad, Serbia | Fields |
| Yun Chen | May 2006 | Research Associate, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences | Lamb | |
| Douglas Friedel | December 2005 | Postdoc, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Sr. Research Programmer, NCSA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Snyder |
| Paulo Cortes | December 2005 | Postdoc, Universidad de Chile, Santiago | Staff Astronomer, ALMA, Santiago, Chile | Crutcher |
| Paschalis Paschos | December 2005 | Research Associate, University of California, San Diego | Sr. Computational Scientist at University of Chicago | Norman |
| Vasiliki Pavlidou | October 2005 | Postdoc, University of Chicago | Professor, University of Crete | Fields |
| Konstantinos Tassis | October 2005 | Postdoc, University of Chicago | Professor, University of Crete | Mouschovias |
| Ian O'Dwyer | October 2005 | NRC Fellow, JPL/Caltech | COO of Rosemont Veterinary Hospital LaCrescenta, California | Wandelt |
| Yen-Ting Lin | August 2005 | Fellow, Princeton/Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile | Associate research fellow, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica | Mohr |
| Anthony Remijan | January 2004 | Postdoc, GSFC | Scientist; Manager of Observatory Scientific Support and Research, NRAO | Snyder |
| Wen-Ching Lin | October 2003 | Postdoc, University of California San Diego | Machine Learning Engineer, META, CA | Norman |
| Michelle Griffin | December 2003 | Language Student | Thompson | |
| David Fong | May 2003 | Postdoc, Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Hawaii | Professor, Olympic College, Washington | Meixner |
| Richard Frazin | May 2002 | Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge MA | Associate Research Scientist, University of Michigan | Mihalas |
| Toshiya Ueta | May 2002 | Postdoc, Royal Observatory of Belgium | Associate Professor, University of Denver | Meixner |
| Sean Points | October 2001 | Postdoc, Northwestern University | Scientist, NOAO/CTIO, Chile | Chu |
| Shih-Ping Lai | October 2001 | Postdoc, JPL | Professor, National Tsing-Hua University, Taiwan | Crutcher |
| Ward Manchester | May 2000 | Research Fellow, University of Michigan | Research Professor, University of Michigan | Mihalas |
| Jeff Veal | May 2000 | Instructor, Southwestern College | Professor, Southwestern College | Snyder |
| Sheng-Yuan Liu | January 2000 | Postdoc, California Institute of Technology | Adjunct Assistant Professor, Institute of Astronomy, National Tsing Hua University | Snyder |
| Ramprasad Rao | May 1999 | Postdoc, University of Chicago | Physicist/Astronomy at Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian | Crutcher |
| Rosa Williams | May 1999 | Postdoc, GSFC | Professor/Mead Observatory Director, Columbus State University, Georgia | Chu |
| Rolaine Young Owl | May 1999 | Postdoc, UCLA | Lives in California | Thompson |
| Dimitrios Psaltis | October 1998 | Postdoc, Harvard Smithsonian CfA - Fellow | Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona | Lamb |
| Vassiliki (Vicky) Kalogera | October 1997 | Postdoc, Harvard Smithsonian CfA - Fellow | Daniel I. Linzer Professor of Physics & Astronomy, Northwestern University Co-Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) | Webbink |
| Lisa Norton Young | May 1997 | Postdoc, New Mexico State University - Fellow | Lecturer at UIUC | Lo |
| Gregory Bryan | October 1996 | Research Associate, MIT Department of Physics | Professor, Columbia University | Norman |
| Nina Yanti Miao | October 1996 | Postdoc, UIUC | CEO, Nanjing Olo Home Furnishing Co., Ltd | Snyder |
| Yu Zhang | October 1996 | Postdoc, University of Rochester Medical Center | Staff Scientist, University of Rochester Medical Center | Norman |
| David J. Bell | May 1996 | Support Scientist, NOAO | IT Specialist, Tucson, Arizona Area
| Yoss |
| Byung-Il Jun | October 1995 | Postdoc, University of Minnesota | Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Lab | Norman |
| Letizia Stanghellini | May 1995 | Tenured Astronomer, Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, Italy | Astronomer, Head of National Gemini Office, NOAO/Kitt Peak | Kaler |
| Yi-Jehng Kuan | January 1995 | Postdoc, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Taiwan | Professor, National Taiwan Normal University | Snyder |
| Raymond Plante | January 1995 | Visiting Postdoc, NCSA | National Institute of Standards and Technology; Gaithersburg, MD | Lo |
| Paul D. Gensheimer | October 1994 | Postdoc, Max-Planck-Institut fur Radioastronomie | Lives in New Mexico | Snyder |
| Baolian Cheng | October 1993 | Postdoc, Los Alamos National Lab | Scientist, Los Alamos National Lab | Truran |
| John C. Hayes | October 1993 | Postdoc, University of Arizona | former professor at UC San Diego | Mihalas |
| Bennett Link | October 1991 | Postdoc, Los Alamos National Lab | Professor, Montana State University | Baym |
| Jin Wang | October 1991 | Postdoc, UIUC, Chemistry Dept. | Affiliated Professor, SUNY Stony Brook | Nanopoulos |
| Grant Bazan | May 1991 | Postdoc, University of Texas | ACC Program Manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory Santa Fe, New Mexico Area
| Truran |
| Dinshaw Balsara | January 1991 | Postdoc, Johns Hopkins University | Professor, Notre Dame | Norman |
| James M. Stone | October 1990 | Postdoc, NCSA | Professor, Princeton University | Norman |
| Gunnlaugur Bjornsson | May 1990 | Postdoc, University of Iceland | Research Scientist, University of Iceland | Truran |
| Preethi Pratap | May 1990 | Postdoc, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics | Senior Technical Fellow/Chief Engineer at Raytheon, Boxborough, MA
| Snyder |
| Anurag Shankar | May 1990 | Postdoc, University of Arizona | Senior Security Analyst, Indiana University (retired) | Truran |
| Michael Hjellming | October 1989 | Postdoc, Northwestern University | SVP, Shared Operations Technology Manager, Bank of America, North Carolina | Webbink |
| Robert Loushin | October 1989 | Staff, 3M | Quality Assurance Engineer at Carestream Health, Minneapolis, MN | Webbink |
| Richard Arendt | January 1989 | NRC Associateship, GSFC | Sr Res Sci, Center for Space Science and Technology, GSFC
| Dickel |
| Andrew Abrahams | October 1988 | Research Associate, Cornell University | COO of Long Dream Farm, Lincoln, CA | Smarr |
| Peter Barnes | October 1988 | Postdoc, CITA, University of Toronto | Associate Scientist, University of Florida | Crutcher |
| Dave Hollowell | May 1988 | Scientist, Los Alamos National Lab | Scientist, Los Alamos National Lab | Iben |
| Carol Neese | October 1987 | Scientist, NOAO | Scientist, Planetary Science Institute, Tucson | Yoss |
| Howard Bushouse | 1986 | NRC Associateship, NASA Ames Research Center | Senior Scientific Programmer, STScI | Gallagher |
| Mark Schenewerk | 1986 | Geoscientist, NOAA | National Geodetic Survey | Snyder |
| Dean Sumi | 1986 | Postdoctoral Research Associate, NCSA | Principal Electrical Engineer, MITRE; California | Smarr |
| Richard Shaw | 1985 | Post Doc, Lick Observatory | Senior Archive Scientist, Space Telescope Science Institute
| Kaler |
| John F. Hawley | October 1984 | Bantrell Fellow at the California Institute of Technology | VITA Professor, Associate Dean, University of Virginia | Smarr |
| Scott Kenyon | 1983 | Post Doc, Center for Astrophysics | Senior Scientist, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory | Webbink |
| David J. Lien | 1983 | Lives in Arizona | Snyder | |
| Kenneth Cosner | 1982 | Physicist at MRC | Sr. Software Developer at Citadel LLC, Chicago | Truran |
| Deidre Hunter | 1982 | postdoctoral fellowship at Kitt Peak National Observatory | Astronomer, Lowell Observatory | Gallagher |
| Allan Wirth | 1982 | Post Doc, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics | Technical Staff at MIT Lincoln Labs
| Gallagher |
| Philip R. Jewell | 1982 | Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Max-Planck-Institut für Radiostronomie | Deputy Director, NRAO | Snyder |
| Wendee M. Brunish | 1981 | Post Doc, University of Southern California | Scientist, Los Alamos National Lab | Truran |
| William I. Hartkopf | 1981 | Research Associate, Georgia State University | Scientist, US Naval Observatory, retired | Yoss |
| Stephen A. Becker | 1979 | Scientist, Los Alamos National Lab | Iben | |
| John Lavery | 1978 | Defense & Space Professional, San Diego | Truran | |
| Richard R. Radick | 1978 | retired from NOAO, National Solar Observatory | Gallagher | |
| Willis Boughton | 1977 | Retired IT Faculty, Harper College | Dickel | |
| Sherman Kanagy | 1977 | Visiting professor, UIUC | Retired | Wyatt |
| L. Drake Deming | May 1976 | Research Professor, University of Maryland | Olson | |
| J. Richard Doughty | December 1976 | Kaler | ||
| Carolyn Lowrey Matthews | August 1975 | Lives in CA | Kaler | |
| Bert W. Rust | December 1974 | Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory | Scientist, NIST | Olson |
| Joseph Degioanni | August 1973 | Resident in Space Medicine, Ohio State University Medical School | CEO, Emtel, Inc. | Dickel |
| Bruno Jambor | May 1973 | Principal Engineer, Lockheed Martin Corp., Denver, CO | Retired. Author, resides in Colorado | Wyatt |
| Anthony Willis | October 1972 | Postdoc, Leiden Observatory, The Netherlands | retired from National Research Council of Canada | Dickel |
| George Nickas | June 1972 | Professor Emeritus, Hanover College | Wyatt | |
| Edward W. Weis | June 1972 | Professor Emeritus, Wesleyan University | Kaler | |
| Julie H. Lutz | February 1972 | University of Washington, Emerita Research Professor | Kaler | |
| Marshall Faintich | June 1971 | Author, resides in Virginia | Wyatt | |
| William W. Warnock | Sept. 1971 | NRC Associateship, NOAA Environmental Research Laboratory | Dickel | |
| Thomas May | June 1970 | Professor Emeritus, San Diego State University | McVittie | |
| Peter Melvin | June 1970 | Instructor of Physical Science, UIUC LAS Admin | Astrophysicist, Naval Research Laboratory (deceased) | McVittie |
| Thomas Lutz | October 1969 | Professor, Washington State University (deceased) | Wyatt | |
| Richard R. Ringenberg | October 1969 | Research Scientist, US Government | McVittie | |
| Gary C. Goodman | June 1969 | Postdoc in Planetary Sciences, NASA Ames Research Center | Professor, Oxnard College (retired) | Dickel |
| Michael E. Cahill | February 1969 | Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin West Bend, (deceased) | McVittie | |
| Joseph W. Erkes | October 1968 | Physicist, General Electric, retired | Dickel | |
| Leo V. Standeford | June 1968 | Professor, Mankato State University (deceased) | Wyatt | |
| Paul D. Lee | February 1968 | Professor, Middle Tennessee State University, retired | Kaler | |
| William E. Greig | October 1967 | Kaler | ||
| Raymond E. White | February 1967 | Professor Emeritus, University of Arizona (deceased) | McVittie | |
| Elaine Avner | January 1965 | Troy State University, Alabama | Senior Research Scientist, CERL Emerita, UIUC (deceased) | King |
| John E. Geisler | January 1965 | Post Doc at MIT | University of Utah, Professor Emeritus of Meteorology (deceased) | Bowhill |
| Pamela A. Gray Geisler | January 1965 | Strategic Consultant, Speaker and Author | McVittie | |
| Ronald A. Schorn | January 1963 | Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Professor, editor, author (deceased) | Wyatt |
| Robert C. Roeder | November 1962 | Assistant Professor, Queen's University | Professor Emeritus, Southwestern University | McVittie |
| Charles C. Wylie | 1922 | Professor Emeritus, University of Iowa (deceased) |