MEET THE TEAM

Nora Eisner - Project Leader and Research Fellow at the Flatiron Institute, New York City
Born in Switzerland and raised in Cambridge, I completed my PhD at the University of Oxford before hopping across the pond to work as a research fellow at the Flatiron Institute in New York City. At the age of 7, my life ambition was to become an astronaut and to travel to distant alien worlds. Since then I have come to the realisation that searching for exoplanets from Earth is much easier. My goal is to find the most bizarre planetary (and stellar) systems out there, the ones that will test our current theories of planetary evolution and shed light on how habitable planets form. With your help we can discover new exciting worlds and find out more about the fascinating Universe that we live in.

Chris Lintott - Professor of Astrophysics, University of Oxford and PI of Zooniverse
Astronomer and co-founder of both Galaxy Zoo and the Zooniverse that grew from it, Chris was a member of the original Planet Hunters team. When not considering the Universe, he can often be found playing real tennis.

Suzanne Aigrain - Professor of Astrophysics, University of Oxford
Suzanne's research focuses on the detection and characterisation of extrasolar planets and their atmospheres, stellar variability and its impact for exoplanet detection and evolution, and the Bayesian analysis of astrophysical time-series.

Oscar Barragán - Post Doc, University of Oxford
Oscars main interest is to discover and characterise faraway worlds, also called exoplanets. His primary expertise is data analysis of radial velocities and light curves to extract exoplanet and orbital parameters.

Sofia Kalamatianou- PhD student, University of Oxford
Sofia is a graduate student in Astrophysics at the University of Oxford. She is interested in finding ways to optimize the interaction between Machine and Human Intelligence to improve the way we detect exoplanets.

Ian Mason- PHT Data Maintenance
I've been involved in PHT since 2021 as well as other Zooniverse projects including the original Planet Hunters. I hold a B.Sc.(Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics from the University of Leicester, England. Originally I just classified light curves but seeing Nora's excellent series of videos on vetting planet candidates excited my interest in following up on the PHT candidates and I joined the vetting team in 2022. Now Nora has left the project I have taken on responsibility for uploading new TESS sectors to the Zooniverse platform.

Nick Saunders - * PhD student, University of Hawaii*
Nick is a graduate student at the University of Hawaii and is interested in uncovering how planetary systems evolve and eventually die. His research blends theoretical modeling of stellar interiors with exoplanet discovery and characterization.

Sam Grunblatt - * Research Scientists, Johns Hopkins University*
Sam is a Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. His research focuses on the detection of planets transiting evolved stars, and the analysis of the oscillations of these stars as well.

Emma Page - * PhD student, Lehigh*
Emma is a PhD candidate in physics at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. Her research involves applying machine learning to detect exoplanets transiting evolved stars.

Valentina Tardugno Poleo - * PhD student, New York University*
Valentina is a PhD student in physics at New York University and a guest researcher at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics. Her research centers on employing machine learning techniques to help bridge the gap between the theory and observations of planet populations.

Campbell Allen - Zooniverse Developer
Responsible for building the Zooniverse's API infrastructure. Cam considers himself a music and fine wine connoisseur - others do not. In his spare time he enjoys playing an obscure form of rugby.

Grant Miller - Zooniverse Communications Lead
A former exoplanetary scientist, Grant is now responsible for communicating with our volunteers and researchers. He is also behind the Zooniverse's presence on social media and publishes the Daily Zooniverse blog.

Shaun Noordin - Zooniverse Developer
Shaun was raised by Nintendo consoles and somehow transformed his love for video games into a love for creating interactive experiences. When not at his PC playing games or reading comics, he's at his PC studying web design and coding experimental apps.

Zach Wolfenbarger - Zooniverse Developer Zach is a software developer. He was a molecular biologist, but then the lab needed some code to be written and the die was cast. He’s also in a couple of bands and can be found playing shows at bars and comic conventions all over the midwest.