About me


Email: sstawins [at] uci.edu - Full CV

Hello! I am an Astrophysics Ph.D candidate and observational astronomer at University of California, Irvine. My main interests surround galaxy formation and evolution at high redshifts. I work mostly with spectroscopic observations, both in emission and in absoprtion.
In 2019, I earned my MS in Astronomy at San Diego State University studying the gas around galaxies (specifically involving the CGM of Damped Lyman-alpha systems) and its effects on the host galaxy. Now at UCI, I have been working on detecting Lyman-alpha emitters at z > 4. Using the telescopes at Keck (both DEIMOS and LRIS), I have conducted large spectroscopic surveys searching for Lyman-alpha emission in distant galaxies.
I am part of the WERLS collaboration which sought to find Lyman-alpha emitters at the end of reionization in the EGS, COSMOS, and UDS fields using Keck/LRIS. I am also part of the MAGAZ3NE collaboration, specifically studying detected Lyman-alpha emission from Ultra-Massive galaxies at z > 4.
Outside of my research, I believe mentorship, teaching, and outreach are incredibly important and crucial in encouraging others to pursue science and helping students succeed in academia. Throughout my career, I strive to give back to the community in this way. Take a look at some of the outreach efforts and mentorship programs I am a part of here.