Monica Gallegos-Garcia

I am currently a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and an ITC Fellow at the Institute for Theory and Computation at Harvard College Observatory. I am broadly interested in advancing our understanding of binary star evolution to uncover the origin of some of the most energetic transients in the Universe.

I use a variety of methods to develop and test models of critical phases in binary evolution. Utilizing detailed MESA simulations and the POSYDON population synthesis code, I am particularly interested in leveraging information from both electromagnetic and gravitational wave sources to form a comprehensive understanding of the formation pathways of energetic transients deeply intertwined with binary evolution, from the diverse array of supernovae to compact object mergers.

I earned my PhD in Astronomy from Northwestern University, where I was a Ford Foundation Pre-doctoral Fellow and Northwestern Presidential Fellow.