Lab News
The September 18 talk was the first open house of the series.
NASA is supporting the lab's work on multi-wavelength characterization of stellar activity in nearby K dwarf stars, in partnership with Dr. Allison Youngblood at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The award funds post-baccalaureate researchers and undergraduate research positions in the lab.
Mai is the first post-baccalaureate researcher supported by the lab's NASA award, working on multi-wavelength characterization of stellar activity in nearby K dwarfs. She also continues the optical follow-up of the Wow! Signal with Prof. Abel Méndez (UPR Arecibo).
Invited talk at RECONSaganza, Georgia State University, covering the K dwarf survey results and the lab's astrobiology program.
Makaila Jennings spent the summer at the Flatiron Institute in the Simons-NSBP Scholars Program, and Sasha Arbogast at Cornell University. Kayla Gossett Roper worked at Agnes Scott College and Spelman College, and Lia Faulks continued the growth chamber work at Agnes Scott.
Selected as a 2026 Frontiers of Science Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences, and presented the poster "The K Dwarf Advantage: Exploring Habitability Around the Sun's Cooler Cousins" with co-authors Todd Henry, Sebastián Carrazco Gaxiola, Allison Youngblood, Kayla Gossett Roper, Makaila Jennings, and Lia Faulks.
See the poster →
ISLANDS students presented research at the Southeastern Astronomy Research Conference (SpARC), at Georgia Tech, and as a poster at the ExplOrigins symposium.
ISLANDS Lab publishes The Solar Neighborhood LV in
The Astronomical Journal, 171, 175, presenting spectral characterization of 580 K dwarfs within 33 parsecs. 7.4% (43 stars) show youth or chromospheric activity; the remaining 529 mature stars are the better targets for terrestrial planet searches. Undergraduate researcher Sasha Arbogast is a co-author.
Read the paper →
Collaborative paper with Prof. Abel Méndez (Planetary Habitability Laboratory, University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo) submitted to
The Astrophysical Journal, analyzing archival Ohio SETI data related to the famous Wow! Signal. Undergraduate researcher Mai Le serves as co-author on the technosignature study.
Read preprint →
Students showcase research across multiple venues including Agnes Scott research symposium, Georgia Regional Astronomy Meeting (GRAM), and National Society of Black Physicists annual meeting in San Jose, California.
Mai Le and Sasha Arbogast present at Agnes Scott STEM Scholars Program - Mai on optical follow-up search for the Wow! Signal trigger, Sasha on radial velocity confirmation of exoplanets around K dwarf stars.
Undergraduate researcher Jacinda Byam co-authors collaborative paper published in
The Astrophysical Journal on a radio-loud quiescent K dwarf - her first peer-reviewed publication.
Read paper →
Students Jacinda Byam and Daniela Garcia-Lara present research posters at National Society of Black Physicists annual meeting in Houston, Texas, showcasing K dwarf spectral analysis and stellar activity correlations.
Dr. Hubbard-James presents spectral characterization of 615 K dwarfs at the International Astronomical Union General Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa, showcasing the lab's stellar census work to the international astronomy community.
First cohort of ISLANDS undergraduate researchers begins hands-on work with stellar spectroscopy data, launching lab's student research program.
Dr. Hubbard-James joins Agnes Scott College as Assistant Professor of Astronomy, establishing the ISLANDS research group.
