Room 4083, Engineering
Laramie, WY
Phone: 307-766-5299
Email: mjoyce8@uwyo.edu
Ph.D, in Physics and Astronomy, Computational Stellar Structure and Evolution, Dartmouth College, 2018
B.Sc, in Mathematics, Bucknell University, 2013
B.Sc, in Physics, Bucknell University, 2013
This year (2024), I am joining the faculty at the University of Wyoming as a tenure-track assistant professor, appointed jointly in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences' School of Computing and Department of Physics & Astronomy.
I currently hold one of the European Union's most prestigious fellowships for young scientists: the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Widening Fellowship. On this grant, I study stellar interior mixing processes and determine the ages of stars with host CSFK Konkoly Observatory in Budapest, Hungary. In August of 2019, I joined the MESA developers.
I am a frequent collaborator with my former colleagues at the Space Telescope Science Institute, at which I held the Lasker Data Science Fellowship from 2021 - 2022. I have worked and continue to work closely with many international groups, including the University of Sydney's asteroseismology group, Monash University's stellar astrophysics and nucleosynthesis group, and the network of stellar astrophysicists connected by the MESA (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics) software suite.
In 2018, I completed my Ph.D. in computational stellar structure and evolution under the advising of Professor Brian Chaboyer at Dartmouth College. The last two years of my Ph.D. were spent jointly at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Cape Town, South Africa. My area of expertise is theoretical stellar evolution and precision stellar modeling.
When I'm not building stars or pushing computers to their limits, I enjoy hiking, playing piano, dancing, painting, skiing, and advocating for the inclusion and support of women and other historically excluded groups in physics and software development.
My research interests are broad and touch upon many subfields:
Stellar structure and evolution
Stellar age determinations
Statistical methods
Convection and mixing in stellar interiors
Precision stellar modeling across the mass spectrum
Asteroseismology
Numerical methods
Astronomy software development
Variable, oscillating, and pulsating stars
Low-metallicity stars
Globular clusters, evolved stars, young stars and planet hosts
