Curriculum Vitae
Appointments
Sept 2024 - : Torres Postdoctoral Fellow for Exoplanet Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 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
Selected Awards
May 2024: Fireman Prize, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Awarded for an outstanding doctoral thesis in observational astronomy
Jan 2024: Rodger Doxsey Travel Prize, AAS 243, New Orleans, LA
Awarded to ten graduating students based on the scientific merit of their dissertation research
June 2019: President's Award of Excellence, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON
Awarded to the graduating student with the top academic standing in the Faculty of Science
Mar 2018: National Co-op Student of the Year, Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada, Toronto, ON
Awarded to the top co-op student in Canada
May 2014: Schulich Leader Scholarship, The Schulich Foundation, Toronto, ON
$60,000 scholarship awarded for academic excellence and extracurricular leadership
Research Awards
Sept 2021 - Aug 2024: Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctoral (converted to PGS-D), NSERC
Sept 2019 - Aug 2022: James Mills Peirce Fellowship, Harvard University
May 2019 - Aug 2019: Undergraduate Student Research Award, NSERC
May 2018 - Aug 2018: Trottier Excellence Grant, Institute for Research on Exoplanets (iREx)
May 2018 - Aug 2018: Undergraduate Student Research Award, NSERC
Sept 2017 - Dec 2017: New Technologies for Canadian Observatories (NTCO) CREATE Trainee, NSERC
Jan 2017 - Apr 2017: Undergraduate Student Research Award, NSERC
Sept 2016 - Dec 2016: CPSX Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research Award, Western University
Refereed First-Authored Publications
- Pass, E., Charbonneau, D., Latham, D., et al. The Mass Dependence of Hα Emission and Stellar Spindown for Fully Convective M Dwarfs. ApJ, Volume 966, Issue 2, May 2024 (arXiv:2401.10167).
- 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. AJ, Volume 166, Issue 4, October 2023 (arXiv:2307.02970; press release).
- 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. AJ, Volume 166, Issue 1, July 2023 (arXiv:2306.00799).
- Pass, E., Winters, J., Charbonneau, D., et al. Mid-to-Late M Dwarfs Lack Jupiter Analogs. AJ, Volume 166, Issue 1, July 2023 (arXiv:2305.19357; press release).
- Pass, E. and Charbonneau, D. G 68-34: A Double-lined M-Dwarf Eclipsing Binary in a Hierarchical Triple System. ApJ, Volume 949, Issue 2, June 2023 (arXiv:2304.02466).
- Pass, E., Charbonneau, D., Irwin, J., and Winters, J. Constraints on the Spindown of Fully Convective M Dwarfs Using Wide Field Binaries. ApJ, Volume 936, Issue 2, Sept. 2022 (arXiv:2206.15318).
- Pass, E., Cowan, N., Cubillos, P., and Sklar, J. Estimating dayside effective temperatures of hot Jupiters and associated uncertainties through Gaussian process regression. MNRAS, Volume 489, Issue 1, Oct. 2019 (arXiv:1908.02631).
- 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. PASP, Volume 130, Issue 983, Jan. 2018 (arXiv:1711.00358).
Refereed Co-Authored Publications
- 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. Submitted to AJ (arXiv:2402:17163).
- 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. A&A, in press (arXiv:2404.12722).
- Ment, K., Charbonneau, D., Irwin, J., Winters, J., Pass, E., et al. LHS 475 b: A Potential Venus Analog Orbiting a Nearby M Dwarf. AJ, Volume 167, Issue 5, May 2024 (arXiv:2304.01920).
- 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. ApJ, Volume 961, Issue 1, Jan. 2024 (arXiv:2301.01375).
- 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. MNRAS, Volume 523, Issue 1, Jul. 2023 (arXiv:2305.18516; press release).
- 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. Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, Volume 9, Oct. 2022 (arXiv:2210.05808).
- 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. MNRAS, Volume 502, Issue 2, Apr. 2021 (arXiv:2006.15345).
- 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. Nature, Volume 556, Issue 7702, Apr. 2018 (arXiv:1804.09231; press release).
Non-Refereed Publications
- Cote, P., Abraham, B., Balogh, M., [and 49 others, including Pass, E.] CASTOR: A Flagship Canadian Space Telescope. Canadian Long Range Plan for Astronomy and Astrophysics White Papers, LRP2020, id.18, Oct. 2019 (http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3758463).
Conference Talks
- Exoplanets 5, Leiden, Netherlands. June 2024.
- Extreme Solar Systems V, Christchurch, New Zealand. Mar. 2024.
- AAS 243, New Orleans, LA. Jan. 2024.
- GMT Community Science Meeting on Exoplanets: Atmospheres to Architectures, Washington, DC. Sept. 2023.
- Towards Other Earths III: The Planet-Star Connection, Porto, Portugal. July 2023.
- Origins of Solar Systems Gordon Research Seminar, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA. June 2023.
- AAS 241, Seattle, WA. Jan. 2023.
- TESS Science Team Meeting #29, Cambridge, MA. Oct. 2022.
- Cool Stars 21 ("What's up with spin down" splinter), Toulouse, France. July 2022.
- Other Worlds Laboratory Exoplanet Summer Program, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA. June 2019.
Conference Posters
- Origins of Solar Systems Gordon Research Conference, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA. June 2023.
- Exoplanets IV, Las Vegas, NV. May 2022.
- Annual Meeting of the Canadian Astronomical Society / Société Canadienne d'Astronomie (CASCA), McGill University, Montreal, QC. June 2019.
- New Technologies for Canadian Observatories (NTCO) CREATE Annual General Meeting, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC. Dec. 2017.
- CASCA, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB. May 2017.
Invited Talks
- Astro Seminar, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. Feb. 2024.
- Exoplanets & Stars Seminar, Yale University, New Haven, CT. Feb. 2024.
- iREx Seminar, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC. Feb. 2024.
- Astro Seminar, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON. Jan. 2024.
- Astro Seminar, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY. Nov. 2022.
- Seminar, East Asian Observatory Office, Hilo, HI. Nov. 2017.
Local Talks
- Harvard-MIT Planetary Meeting, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. May 2024.
- Institute for Theory and Computation Luncheon, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA. Apr. 2023.
- Student-Faculty Forum, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA. Feb. 2023.
- Exoplanet Pizza Lunch, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA. Dec. 2022.
- Chalk Talk, Harvard Origins of Life Initiative, Cambridge, MA. Nov. 2022.
- Summer Luncheon, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA. Jun. 2022.
- Astronomy Department Research Forum, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA. Mar. 2022.
- Exoplanet Pizza Lunch, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA. Aug. 2020.
Time Awarded - Principal Investigator Observing Programs
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
Industry Experience
Jan 2016 - Apr 2016: Quality Assurance Developer (Co-op), 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
Department and Professional Service
2022 - : Journal Referee, The Astronomical Journal; The Astrophysical Journal Letters; Astronomy & Astrophysics
2020 - 2024: Organizer, Planetary Journal Club, Harvard University
Languages
English, native
French, fluent - Diplôme d'études en langue française (DELF) B2