Curriculum Vitae


Appointments

2024 - Present: Torres Postdoctoral Fellow for Exoplanet Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA

Education

2024: PhD in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
2022: MA in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
2019: BSc in Honours Physics and Astronomy Co-op, English Language and Literature Minor, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON

Research Awards

2024 - Present: Torres Postdoctoral Fellowship, MIT Kavli Institute
2021 - 2024: Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctoral (converted to PGS-D), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
2019 - 2022: James Mills Peirce Fellowship, Harvard University
2018: Trottier Excellence Grant, Institute for Research on Exoplanets (iREx)
2017, 2018, 2019: Undergraduate Student Research Awards (3), NSERC
2017: New Technologies for Canadian Observatories (NTCO) CREATE Trainee, NSERC
2016: CPSX Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research Award, Western University

Other Awards

2026: 30 Under 30 - Science, Forbes
Awarded to 30 individuals under the age of 30 for trailblazing contributions to their field
2024: Fireman Prize, Harvard University
Awarded for an outstanding doctoral thesis in observational astronomy
2024: Rodger Doxsey Travel Prize, American Astronomical Society (AAS)
Awarded to ten graduating students based on the scientific merit of their dissertation research
2019: President's Award of Excellence, University of Waterloo
Awarded to the graduating student with the top academic standing in the Faculty of Science
2017: National Co-op Student of the Year, Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada
Awarded to the top co-op student in Canada
2014: Schulich Leader Scholarship, The Schulich Foundation
Full four-year undergraduate scholarship awarded for academic excellence and extracurricular leadership

Refereed First-Authored Publications

  1. Pass, E., Cargile, P., DiTomasso, V., et al. Metallicities from High-Resolution TRES Spectra with uberMS: Performance Benchmarks and Literature Comparison. December 2025, ApJS, 281, 27 (arXiv:2506.18961).
  2. Pass, E., Charbonneau, D, and Vanderburg, A. The Receding Cosmic Shoreline of Mid-to-Late M Dwarfs: Measurements of Active Lifetimes Worsen Challenges for Atmosphere Retention by Rocky Exoplanets. June 2025, ApJL, 986, 3 (arXiv:2504.01182; press coverage).
  3. Pass, E., Charbonneau, D., Latham, D., et al. The Mass Dependence of Hα Emission and Stellar Spindown for Fully Convective M Dwarfs. May 2024, ApJ, 966, 231 (arXiv:2401.10167).
  4. Pass, E., Winters, J., Charbonneau, D., et al. HST/WFC3 Light Curve Supports a Terrestrial Composition for the Closest Exoplanet to Transit an M Dwarf. October 2023, AJ, 166, 171 (arXiv:2307.02970; press release).
  5. Pass, E., Winters, J., Charbonneau, D., Irwin, J., and Medina, A. Active Stars in the Spectroscopic Survey of Mid-to-Late M Dwarfs Within 15pc. July 2023, AJ, 166, 16 (arXiv:2306.00799).
  6. Pass, E., Winters, J., Charbonneau, D., et al. Mid-to-Late M Dwarfs Lack Jupiter Analogs. July 2023, AJ, 166, 11 (arXiv:2305.19357; press release).
  7. Pass, E. and Charbonneau, D. G 68-34: A Double-lined M-Dwarf Eclipsing Binary in a Hierarchical Triple System. June 2023, ApJ, 949, 37 (arXiv:2304.02466).
  8. Pass, E., Charbonneau, D., Irwin, J., and Winters, J. Constraints on the Spindown of Fully Convective M Dwarfs Using Wide Field Binaries. September 2022, ApJ, 936, 109 (arXiv:2206.15318).
  9. Pass, E., Cowan, N., Cubillos, P., and Sklar, J. Estimating dayside effective temperatures of hot Jupiters and associated uncertainties through Gaussian process regression. October 2019, MNRAS, 489, 941 (arXiv:1908.02631).
  10. Pass, E., Metchev, S., Brown, P., and Beauchemin, S. Pipeline for the Detection of Serendipitous Stellar Occultations by Kuiper Belt Objects with the Colibri Fast-Photometry Array. January 2018, PASP, 130, 014502 (arXiv:1711.00358).

Refereed Co-Authored Publications

  1. DiTomasso, V., Charbonneau, D., Vanderburg, A., [and 37 others, including Pass, E.] The HD 60779 Planetary System: A Transiting Sub-Neptune on a 30-day Orbit and a More Massive Outer World. Submitted to AJ (arXiv:2508.16805).
  2. Winters, J., Pass, E., Charbonneau, D., et al. Radial and Rotational Velocities of a Volume-Complete Sample of M Dwarfs with Masses 0.1-0.3 Msun within 15 parsecs. ApJ, in press (arXiv:2602.00382).
  3. Callingham, J., Tasse, C., Keers, R., [and 15 others, including Pass, E.] Radio burst from a stellar coronal mass ejection. November 2025, Nature, 647, 603 (arXiv:2511.09289).
  4. Aloisi, R., Vanderburg, A., Soares-Furtado, M., [and 44 others, including Pass, E.] Searching for Exoplanets Born Outside the Milky Way: VOYAGERS Survey Design. November 2025, PASP, 137, 114404 (arXiv:2511.07632).
  5. Yalçınkaya, S., Barkaoui, K., Baştürk, O., [and 62 others, including Pass, E.] TOI-1743 b, TOI-5799 b, TOI-5799 c and TOI-6223 b: TESS discovery and validation of four super-Earth to Neptune-sized planets around M dwarfs. October 2025, A&A, 702, 209 (arXiv:2509.05038).
  6. Jenkins, S., Vanderburg, A., Sethi, R., Millholland, S., Rodriguez, J., Fossati, L., Krenn, A., Pass, E., et al. An Eccentric Sub-Neptune Moving Into the Evaporation Desert. August 2025, ApJL, 989, 20 (arXiv:2505.10324).
  7. Soubkiou, A., Barkaoui, K., Benkhaldoun, Z., [and 42 others, including Pass, E.] TOI-1846b: A super-Earth in the radius valley orbiting a nearby M dwarf. August 2025, MNRAS, 541, 3249 (arXiv:2506.18550).
  8. Côté, P., Wood, E., Hutchings, J., [and 177 others, including Pass, E.] The CASTOR mission. May 2025, JATIS, 11, 042202 (doi:0.1117/1.JATIS.11.4.042202).
  9. Marshall, M., Amen, L., Woods, T., Côté, P., Yung, L., Amenouche, M., Pass, E., et al. FORECASTOR -- II. Simulating Galaxy Surveys with the Cosmological Advanced Survey Telescope for Optical and UV Research. February 2025, MNRAS, 537, 1703 (arXiv:2402:17163).
  10. Barkaoui, K., Schwarz, R., Narita, N., [and 53 others, including Pass, E.] Three short-period Earth-sized planets around M dwarfs discovered by TESS: TOI-5720 b, TOI-6008 b, and TOI-6086 b. July 2024, A&A, 687, 264 (arXiv.2405.06350).
  11. Timmermans, M., Dransfield, G., Gillon, M., [and 54 others, including Pass, E.] TOI-4336 A b: A temperate sub-Neptune ripe for atmospheric characterization in a nearby triple M-dwarf system. July 2024, A&A, 687, 48 (arXiv:2404.12722).
  12. Ment, K., Charbonneau, D., Irwin, J., Winters, J., Pass, E., et al. LHS 475 b: A Potential Venus Analog Orbiting a Nearby M Dwarf. May 2024, AJ, 167, 197 (arXiv:2304.01920).
  13. Chapman, S., Hill, R., Aravena, M., [and 29 others, including Pass, E.] Brightest Cluster Galaxy Formation in the z = 4.3 Protocluster SPT 2349-56: Discovery of a Radio-loud Active Galactic Nucleus. January 2024, ApJ, 961, 120 (arXiv:2301.01375).
  14. Incha, E., Vanderburg, A., Jacob, T., LaCourse, D., Bieryla, A., Pass, E., et al. Kepler's Last Planet Discoveries: Two New Planets and One Single-Transit Candidate from K2 Campaign 19. July 2023, MNRAS, 523, 474 (arXiv:2305.18516; press release).
  15. Mazur, M., Metchev, S., Brown, R., Gupta, R., Bloch, R., Mills, T, and Pass, E.. The Colibri Telescope Array for KBO Detection through Serendipitous Stellar Occultations: a Technical Description. October 2022, FrASS, 9, 929573 (arXiv:2210.05808).
  16. Rotermund, K., Chapman, S., Phadke, K., Hill, R., Pass, E., et al. Optical and near-infrared observations of the SPT2349-56 proto-cluster core at z = 4.3. April 2021, MNRAS, 502, 1797 (arXiv:2006.15345).
  17. Miller, T., Chapman, S., Aravena, M., [and 35 others, including Pass, E.] A massive core for a cluster of galaxies at a redshift of 4.3. April 2018, Nature, 556, 469 (arXiv:1804.09231; press release).

Non-Refereed Publications

  1. Côté, P., Abraham, B., Balogh, M., [and 49 others, including Pass, E.] CASTOR: A Flagship Canadian Space Telescope. October 2019, Canadian Long Range Plan for Astronomy and Astrophysics White Papers (LRP2020), 18 (http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3758463).

Invited Conference Talks

  1. Workshop on Planets around M-Dwarfs, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. Feb. 2026.
  2. Sagan Summer Workshop, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. July 2025.

Invited Seminars/Colloquia

  1. Physics Colloquium, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA. Feb. 2026.
  2. Astronomy & Astrophysics Seminar, Tufts University, Medford, MA. Dec. 2025.
  3. Astro Seminar, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. Feb. 2024.
  4. Exoplanets & Stars Seminar, Yale University, New Haven, CT. Feb. 2024.
  5. iREx Seminar, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC. Feb. 2024.
  6. Astro Seminar, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON. Jan. 2024.
  7. Astro Seminar, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY. Nov. 2022.
  8. Seminar, East Asian Observatory Office, Hilo, HI. Nov. 2017.

Contributed Conference Talks

  1. AAS 247, Phoenix, AZ. Jan. 2026.
  2. Atmospheric Escape and Replenishment in Planetary Systems, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD. Nov. 2025.
  3. From Transits to Trends: the Next Decade of Long-Period Exoplanets, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. Aug. 2025.
  4. Binary Stars in the Space Era, Keele University, Keele, UK. July 2025.
  5. Annual Meeting of the Canadian Astronomical Society / Société Canadienne d'Astronomie (CASCA), Saint Mary's University, Halifax, NS. June 2025.
  6. Exoplanets 5, Leiden, Netherlands. June 2024.
  7. Extreme Solar Systems V, Christchurch, New Zealand. Mar. 2024.
  8. AAS 243, New Orleans, LA. Jan. 2024.
  9. GMT Community Science Meeting on Exoplanets: Atmospheres to Architectures, Washington, DC. Sept. 2023.
  10. Towards Other Earths III: The Planet-Star Connection, Porto, Portugal. July 2023.
  11. Origins of Solar Systems Gordon Research Seminar, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA. June 2023.
  12. AAS 241, Seattle, WA. Jan. 2023.
  13. TESS Science Team Meeting #29, Cambridge, MA. Oct. 2022.
  14. Cool Stars 21 ("What's up with spin down" splinter), Toulouse, France. July 2022.
  15. Other Worlds Laboratory Exoplanet Summer Program, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA. June 2019.

Contributed Conference Posters

  1. Origins of Solar Systems Gordon Research Conference, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA. June 2023.
  2. Sagan Summer Workshop, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. July 2022.
  3. Exoplanets IV, Las Vegas, NV. May 2022.
  4. CASCA, McGill University, Montreal, QC. June 2019.
  5. New Technologies for Canadian Observatories (NTCO) CREATE Annual General Meeting, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC. Dec. 2017.
  6. CASCA, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB. May 2017.

Local Talks

  1. Journal Club, MIT Kavli Institute, Cambridge, MA. Nov. 2025.
  2. Exoplanet Pizza Lunch, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA. Sept. 2025.
  3. Boston Area Planetary Science Meeting, MIT, Cambridge, MA. May 2025.
  4. Harvard-MIT Planetary Meeting, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. May 2024.
  5. Institute for Theory and Computation Luncheon, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA. Apr. 2023.
  6. Student-Faculty Forum, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA. Feb. 2023.
  7. Exoplanet Pizza Lunch, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA. Dec. 2022.
  8. Chalk Talk, Harvard Origins of Life Initiative, Cambridge, MA. Nov. 2022.
  9. Summer Luncheon, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA. Jun. 2022.
  10. Astronomy Department Research Forum, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA. Mar. 2022.
  11. Exoplanet Pizza Lunch, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA. Aug. 2020.

Time Awarded - Principal Investigator Observing Programs

2025b: MAROON-X - Gemini North 8.1m (4.45 hours)
Characterizing the two small planets of TOI 5553, a galactic thick-disk star
2025ab: WINERED - Magellan Clay 6.5m (4 nights)
Magnetic Field Strengths of Low-Mass M dwarfs with WINERED
2025a: IGRINS-2 - Gemini North 8.1m (9.9 hours)
A Complicated Adolescence? Probing the Magnetic Field Strengths of Fully Convective M Dwarfs During Their Transition from Activity to Quiescence
2025: JWST Cycle 3 (22.5 hours)
A Search for Exoplanet Satellites that are the Same Size as the Earth's Moon
Aug. 2023 - July 2024: FAST - FLWO 1.5m (12 nights)
Probing the Activity-Rotation Correlation for the Lowest-Mass M Dwarfs
2023b: MAROON-X - Gemini North 8.1m (14.4 hours)
Are Thick-Disk Terrestrial Planets Iron Poor, as Planet Formation Models Predict?
2023b: MAROON-X - Gemini North 8.1m (14.4 hours)
Calibrating a Metallicity Relation for Mid-to-Late M Dwarfs
Feb 2023 - July 2023: TRES - FLWO 1.5m (2 nights)
TRES Follow-up of Benchmark Systems for Investigating M-Dwarf Spindown
Aug. 2022 - July 2023: FAST - FLWO 1.5m (8.8 nights)
Identifying Benchmark Systems for Investigating M-Dwarf Spindown Using Halpha Emission
2022a: MAROON-X - Gemini North 8.1m (4.5 hours)
Discovery of Three Giant Planets Orbiting Two Nearby Low-mass M Dwarfs
Jan. 2021 - July 2022: TRES - FLWO 1.5m (23 nights)
Calibrating a Near-IR Metallicity Relation for Mid-to-Late M Dwarfs

Teaching Assistantships

Jan. 2021 - May 2021: GENED 1070, Life as a Planetary Phenomenon, Harvard University
Jan. 2020 - May 2020: ASTRON 16, Stellar and Planetary Astronomy, Harvard University
Sept. 2015 - Dec. 2015: CHEM 120L, General Chemistry Laboratory 1, University of Waterloo

Research Internships

May 2019 - Aug. 2019 Research Assistant (brown dwarfs), Western University, London, ON
May 2018 - Aug. 2018 Research Assistant (exoplanets), McGill University, Montreal, QC
Sept. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Research Assistant (galaxies/instrumentation), Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS
Sept. 2016 - Aug. 2017 Research Assistant (Kuiper Belt objects), Western University, London, ON
Jan. 2016 - Apr. 2016: Quality Assurance Developer, Validus Research Inc, Waterloo, ON

Volunteer Experience & Outreach

Aug. 2023 - Mar. 2024: Shortform Blog Editor-in-Chief, Science in the News, Cambridge, MA
Apr. 2023 - Mar. 2024: Shortform Blog Writer, Science in the News, Cambridge, MA
Feb. 2022 - Aug. 2023: Longform Blog Editor, Science in the News, Cambridge, MA
Sept. 2019 - Mar. 2020: Session Leader, Harvard Observing Project, Cambridge, MA
Jan. 2019 - Apr. 2019: President, Waterloo Space Society, Waterloo, ON
May 2018 - Aug. 2018: Astronomy Outreach Volunteer, Astro McGill, Montreal, QC
Sept. 2017 - Dec. 2017: Innovation Assistant, Discovery Centre, Halifax, NS
May 2017 - Aug. 2017 President, Waterloo Space Society, Waterloo, ON
Sept. 2016 - Nov. 2016: Science Writer, CurioCity, London, ON
May 2016 - Aug. 2016: Outreach Volunteer, Let's Talk Science, Waterloo, ON
Sept. 2014 - Dec. 2018: Communications Manager, Waterloo Space Society, Waterloo, ON

Broadcast Interviews & Public Talks

Aug. 2025: “Emily Pass on 2025ApJ...986L...3P," Youtube interview, AAS Journal Author Series, American Astronomical Society
July 2025: “Career Pathways in STEM," discussion panelist, FLIGHT Virtual Summer Camp, University of Waterloo
Feb. 2025: “Small Town Universe post-film discussion panel," discussion panelist, Boston SciFi Film Festival, Somerville Theater
Feb. 2025: “What the heck is out there? Looking to the worlds beyond ours," discussion panelist, Central Conversations for “SPACE”, Central Square Theater
Aug. 2019: “Emily Pass on the new Colibri telescope array and her love of astronomy," radio interview, Fresh Air, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Department & Professional Service

2025 - : Organizing Committee Member, Boston Area Planetary Science Meeting
2025 - : Organizer, Friday Coffee Hour, MIT Kavli Institute
2020 - 2024: Organizer, Planetary Journal Club, Harvard University
2020 - 2021: Organizer, Department Social Lunches, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

Referee for peer-reviewed journals: The Astronomical Journal; The Astrophysical Journal Letters; Astronomy & Astrophysics
Telescope Time Allocation Committee membership: three semesters for an institutional ground-based telescope, one semester for an international ground-based telescope, five semesters for a national ground-based telescope, two years as an external panelist for an international space telescope, and external expert reviewer for one international proposal

Students Advised

Feb. 2025 - Present: Claire Martin, MIT undergraduate
Jan. 2025 - Present: Niko Kopparapu, MIT undergraduate

Languages

English, native
French, fluent - Diplôme d'études en langue française (DELF) B2