Astronomy PhD Candidate at Yale University
I am a third-year Ph.D. candidate at the Astronomy Department at Yale University working with Prof. Daisuke Nagai. I was born and raised in Philadelphia, where I attended a Spanish Immersion elementary and middle school and a project based high school. In May of 2021 I graduated with honors from Princeton University with a B.A. in Astrophysics and minors in Computer Science and Russian Language and Culture. I matriculated to the Yale University Astronomy Department in the Fall of 2021 to pursue my PhD in Astrophysics. My research interests broadly lay in computational cosmology. Specifically, I am interested in a wide range of topics including fast radio bursts, the circumgalactic medium, feedback in hydrodynamical simulations, and cold streams that feed star forming high-z galaxies. Outside of research I am passionate about increasing the accessibility of astronomy in the Latinx community. In my free time I enjoy cooking and baking new foods and reading novels.
For a comprehensive overview of my research activities and more please see my:
My general research interest is computational cosmology. I am interested in using numerical simulations and techniques to answer questions related to cosmology, large-scale structure, and galaxy formation and evolution. Here is a selection of my current and recent projects:
As part of a NSF-BSF funded collaboration, I am developing high-resolution zoom-in simulations to study the interaction of cold gas streams feeding massive, star-forming, high-z galaxies with the circumgalactic medium.
Recent JWST observation indicate that a vast majority of high-z dwarf galaxies are prolate in shape but cosmological simulations such as IllustrisTNG are in contention with these results. I am working on developing a suite of zoom-in simulations of high-z dwarfs with sufficient resolution to properly model stellar kinematics and 3D morphologies.
I am working on using the CAMELS project to quantify the energetics of AGN and SNe feedback and their effect on halo properties, especially the CGM gas fraction, as a function of mass and redshift.
I am interested in using fast radio bursts (FRBs) as cosmological probes to study the IGM and CGM. I have used cosmological simulations to study the contribution of the IGM to FRB dispersion measure, as well as the correlation of dispersion measure with the Compton-y parameter. More recently, I used the CAMELS project to study FRBs as probes of baryons in the CGM and their potential to constrain models of baryonic feedback.
While at Yale I have had the opportunity to serve as a teaching assistant as well as lead my own teaching endeavors. I believe that teaching is a fundamental aspect of astronomy, in letting all have the opportunity to learn about and study the universe.
I have served as a teaching assistant for the following courses at Yale University:
I designed and taught a two-week introductory course on Astronomy to Latin American middle schoolers and high schoolers visiting Yale University through the EduExplora summer program. As part of the course, students participated in several hands-on activities, including designing, building, and launching their own stomp rockets and creating and visualizing computationally their own solar systems.
Outside of research at Yale, I am involved in several outreach activities, highlighted here.
I am the creator and organizer of Spanish Language Public Nights at Leitner Planetarium and Observatory in New Haven, Connecticut. On the last Thursday of every other month, the planetarium hosts a night open to the public including planetarium shows in Spanish and night sky telescope viewing.
I am the current secretary and treasurer of the Yale chapter of the Society for Advancing Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in STEM (YSACNAS).
I have given talks targeted towards the local New Haven community through several avenues, including at local libraries through the Yale Science in the News program, for school visits at the Leitner Planetarium, and at the after school EVOLUTIONS program of the Peabody Museum.
Please feel free to contact me via my email: isabel.medlock@yale.edu or via the form below regarding any questions, including my research and outreach activities. I especially welcome inquiries from prospective students considering applying to and joining the Yale Astronomy PhD program or working in the Nagai research group!