Gabrielle Suissa

Graduate Student Exoplanetary Scientist Astrobiologist

More About Me

About Me

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I am an NSF Graduate Research Fellow at the University of Washington pursuing a dual-title PhD in Astronomy and Astrobiology. I am currently advised by Professor Eric Agol. Currently, I have two main research interests. The first is modeling the atmospheres of potentially habitable exoplanets, particularly Earth-sized planets, as well as super-Earths and sub-Neptunes. I also investigate the dominant mechanism behind the radius valley using Kepler and TESS data combined with advanced statistical methods.

Picture of me at NASA

Before attending UW, I spent a year at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Research Center as a research associate working with Dr. Avi Mandell and Dr. Ravi Kopparapu in the Sellers Exoplanet Environments Collaboration. While at NASA, I used 3D climate models to simulate observables for TESS's first Earth-size, habitable-zone planet.

Picture of me

For my undergrad, I graduated from Columbia University with a Bachelor's degree in Astrophysics. At Columbia, I worked with Prof. David Kipping in the Cool Worlds Lab researching exoplanet interiors. I was also actively involved in the undergraduate astronomy community and served as the President of Columbia Blueshift.

Research Areas
Exoplanetary Atmospheres
Exoplanet Demographics
Photochemical, Climate, and Radiative Transfer Models
Light Curve Analysis and Stellar Variability
Projects

Here's some of my previous research

I have worked on projects spanning the field of exoplanets — studying their interiors, atmospheres, and observables — at Columbia University, NASA Goddard, and the University of Washington.