Contact Information
1002 W. Green St.
Urbana, IL
Office 215
Research Areas
Biography
I am a fifth-year graduate student working with Decker French. I am broadly interested in the processes that shut down star formation in massive galaxies with a focus on AGN feedback. I also study changing-look AGN, a type of AGN which gains or loses broad line emission on timescales less than a decade. I'm passionate about science communication and outreach, and I'm currently an Astrobites author.
When I'm not doing research, I love reading, knitting, and hiking in Champaign county.
Education
B.S. in Physics, University of Pittsburgh, 2021
M.S. in Astronomy, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2024
Grants
A Census of AGN in Rapidly-Quenching Galaxies at Intermediate Redshift with Roman's High-Latitude Wide-Angle Survey, Roman Space Telescope Cycle 1 Small Program
AAS International Travel Grant, Summer 2026
AAS FAMOUS Grant Awardee, Summer 2025
NASA Pennsylvania Space Grant, Spring 2019, Summer 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021
Awards and Honors
UIUC Mr. and Mrs. Hsiang-pai and Wen-hua Chu Department Of Astronomy Excellence in Research Graduate Student Award, Spring 2026
UIUC Astronomy Department Lewis E. Snyder Memorial Travel Award, Spring 2026
Center for Astrophysical Surveys Graduate Fellowship, Fall 2024–Summer 2025
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention, Spring 2024
NASA Illinois Space Grant Graduate Fellowship, Fall 2023–Spring 2024
Courses Taught
Teaching Assistant, ASTR 121: Solar Systems and Worlds Beyond, Spring 2023, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Teaching Assistant, ASTR 122: Stars and Galaxies, Fall 2022, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, PHYS 0174: Basic Physics for Science and Engineering I, University of Pittsburgh
Highlighted Publications
Identifying Changing-Look AGN Transitions in Light Curve Data with the Zwicky Transient Facility, Verrico, M. E.; French, K. D.; Baldassare, V. F.; et al., 2026, ApJ, 1004, 121
Modeling Star Formation Histories of Changing-Look AGN Host Galaxies with Prospector, Verrico, M.E., French, K. D., Suess, K. A.; Agrawal, T., et al., 2025, The Astrophysical Journal, 989, 101
Morphologies of CLAGN Host Galaxies in Galaxy Zoo, Agrawal, T., Verrico, M. E., French, K. D., 2025, Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society, 9, 245
Merger Signatures are Common, but not Universal, in Massive, Recently Quenched Galaxies at z ~ 0.7, Verrico, M. E., Setton, D. J., Bezanson, R., et al., 2023, The Astrophysical Journal, 949, 5
The Compact Structures of Massive z ∼ 0.7 Post-starburst Galaxies in the SQuIGGLE Sample, Setton, D. J., Verrico, M. E., Bezanson, R., et al., 2022, The Astrophysical Journal, 931, 51