We are a graduate-student powered initiative.
GRAD-MAP is led by a team of graduate students from the Astronomy and Physics Departments at the University of Maryland, with support from faculty and staff in both departments, as well as many volunteers (students, researchers, and faculty) from both departments and across the University of Maryland’s campus. GRAD-MAP began in 2013, when graduate students worked to develop a program to change the status quo in physics and astronomy. (Image: GRAD-MAP founders: Dr. Ashlee Wilkins (left), Dr. Katie Jameson (center), and Dr. Alex McCormick (right).)
Physics PhD Candidate
Particle astrophysics
Astronomy PhD Student
High energy astrophysics
Astronomy PhD Student
Computational astrophysics, galaxies
Benedikt has served as the faculty liaison for GRAD-MAP since 2022.
Role: Assistant Professor, Department of Astronomy
Daniel has worked with GRAD-MAP since 2022. He is also the program director of the TREND REU program hosted by IPST.
Role: Senior Faculty Specialist, Department of Physics
Exoplanets
Role: Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Astronomy
Computational astrophysics, high-redshift cosmology
Role: Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Astronomy
Active Galactic Nuclei
Role: Graduate student, Department of Astronomy
Active Galactic Nuclei
Role: Graduate student, Department of Astronomy
Active Galactic Nuclei
Role: Graduate student, Department of Astronomy
Radio Astronomy, Galaxies
Role: Graduate student, Department of Astronomy
Radio Astronomy, Galaxies
Role: Professor, Department of Astronomy
Active Galactic Nuclei
Role: Professor, Department of Astronomy
Neutrino astrophysics
Role: Assistant Professor, Department of Physics
Computational astrophysics, galaxies, cosmology
Role: Assistant Professor, Department of Astronomy
Computational astrophysics, galaxies
Role: Graduate student, Department of Astronomy
Role: PhD Student, Department of Astronomy
Role: PhD Candidate, Department of Astronomy
Role: PhD Candidate, Department of Astronomy
Katie founded GRAD-MAP in 2013 with a group of astronomy and physics grad students.
Role: Postdoctoral Researcher, Australian National University
Ashlee was part of the founding team of GRAD-MAP and defended her PhD thesis in 2017.
Role: House Science Committee
Alex was part of the founding team of GRAD-MAP and defended his PhD thesis in 2015.
Role: Instructor, University of South Florida
Amy served on numerous committees in the Astronomy department and as the Team Lead for GRADMAP for two years.
Role: Senior Research Associate, Planetary Science Institute
Robyn became team lead in 2016 during her second year at UMD. She was responsible for building ties to the TREND physics REU program.
Role: now in private sector
John Collini started working with GRAD-MAP in 2016 by mentoring students and assisting with the python boot-camp of the Winter Workshop.
Role: PhD Candidate, Department of Physics
Milena joined GRAD-MAP in her first year of graduate school in 2017 and was an Astronomy Team co-lead from 2019. She was also involved in a number of other diversity initiatives at UMD.
Role: Postdoctoral Fellow, Oskar Klein Centre
Andrew taught Python for GRAD-MAP from 2017-2022.
Role: Postdoctoral Fellow, Sandia National Laboratory, Co-Lead (2020-2022)
In 2018 and 2019, Charlotte mentored Winter Workshop students on AGN research projects and gave various presentations.
Role: Posdoctoral Researcher, Princeton University, Co-Lead (2020-2022)
Amitava helped with the application review gave presentations and feedback to scholars while they were preparing their talks.
Role: PhD Candidate, Department of Physics, Co-Lead (2022)
Tomas mentored students for the Winter Workshop (2021) and has developed and given Python lectures during the 2019-2021 Winter Workshops.
Role: GRAD-MAP Volunteer (2019-2021)
Robert was the Physics GRAD-MAP co-lead from 2022 to 2024 before he moved to University of Detroit as an assistant professor.
Role: Assistant Professor, University of Detroit
Katya was the Astronomy GRAD-MAP co-lead from 2022 to 2025. Together with Arjun, they played a key role in making GRAD-MAP an even more impactful experience for our winter and summer students.
Role: PhD Candidate, Department of Astronomy, Co-Lead (2022-2025)
Arjun was the Astronomy GRAD-MAP co-lead from 2022 to 2025. Together with Katya, he played a key role in making GRAD-MAP an even more impactful experience for our winter and summer students.
Role: PhD Candidate, Department of Astronomy, Co-Lead (2022-2025)
Stuart provided general-purpose mentoring for the Summer Scholars, and he was the primary faculty support to the GRAD-MAP Team Leads.
Role: Faculty Advisor (2013-2021), Professor Emeritus, Department of Astronomy
Jordan Ealy
Siddhant Solanki
Jaiden Moore
Frank Fazekas
Joe DeMartini
Matthew Connell
Dr Alex Dittmann (now at IAS)
Dr Jacob Bringewatt (now at Harvard)
Peter Megson (now in private sector)
Dr Lora Price (now at Gallatin College)
Dr Jegug Ih
Dr Ramsey Karim
Dr Gareth Roberg-Clark (now at MPI Germany)
Corbin Taylor (now in private sector)
Prof Thaddeus Komacek (now at Oxford)
Prof Jordan Goodman
Prof Wolfgang Losert
Prof Arpita Upadhyaya
Prof Mike Boylan-Colchin (now at UT Austin)
Dr Suvi Gezari (now at STScI)
Prof Doug Hamilton
Prof Eliza Kempton
Prof Cole Miller
Prof Jimmy Williams
Dr Esteban Wright
Dr Matthew Nixon (now at Arizona)
Dr Igor Andreoni
Dr Lenny Campanello (now in private sector)
Dr Lori Feaga
Dr Sara Frederick (now at Vanderbilt)
Dr Pradip Gatkine (now at UCLA)
Donna Hammer
Prof Erin Kara (now at MIT)
Dr Matthew Knight (now at US Naval Academy)
Dr Rebecca Levy (now at University of Arizona)
Dr Dana Louie (now at NASA Goddard)
Dr Matthew Nixon
Dr Matej Malik
Dr Alex McCormick (now at USF)
Dr Kate O’Neill
Dr Zeeve Rogoszinski (now in private sector)
Dr Nathan Roth (now at American University)
Dr Geoffrey Ryan (now at Perimeter)
Dr Kyle Sheppard (now in private sector)
Dr Sonali Shukla
Dr Paul Syers (now at US DoE)
Dr Peter Teuben
Elizabeth Warner
Dr Sylvia Zhu (now at DESY Germany)