Ronan Kerr
Primary Supervisor
Research Interests: Reconstructing recent star formation history using Gaia and SDSS-V data of young stars
My role: Assistant Professor
Mentorship & Supervision
Guiding the next generation of astrostatisticians and data scientists
Overview
Supervision Overview
76
Total
20
Current
56
Former
Career Stage Breakdown
Bar charts showing distribution of mentees by career stage for current and former supervision
Current
Former
Current Mentees
Postdoctoral Researchers (5)
Duo Xu
Co-Supervisor
Research Interests: Using AI to understand star formation, stellar feedback, and turbulence
Co-supervisors: Peter Martin (CITA)
My role: Assistant Professor
Biprateep Dey
Primary Supervisor
Research Interests: Developing novel statistical machine learning tools to study formation and evolution of galaxies
My role: Assistant Professor
Tanveer Karim
Co-Supervisor
Arts & Science Fellow (2023-2025)Dunlap Fellow (Fall 2025-Present)
Research Interests: Developing frameworks to constrain cosmological models by cross-correlating multiple surveys (DESI and DESC collaborations)
Co-supervisors: Renée Hložek (Dunlap Institute)
My role: Assistant Professor
Jacqueline Antwi-Danso
Co-Supervisor
Banting Fellow (2023-2025)Dunlap Fellow (Fall 2025-Present)
Research Interests: Searching for the most massive galaxies in the distant Universe
Co-supervisors: Adam Muzzin (York University)
My role: Assistant Professor
Doctoral & Masters Students (7)
Siyang Li
Secondary Supervisor
Research Interests: Developing an astrostatistics-oriented software package
Co-supervisors: David van Dyk (Imperial College London)
PhD candidate (Imperial College London)
My role: Assistant Professor
Pinchen Fan
Secondary Supervisor
Research Interests: SETI, biosignature detection, exoplanet characterization, and gravitational waves
Co-supervisors: Jason Wright (Penn State), Keith Vanderlinde (Dunlap Institute)
PhD candidate (Penn State)
My role: Assistant Professor
Leo Watson
Co-Supervisor
Research Interests: Statistical learning, quantum computing, and MCMC methods for astronomical Bayesian inference
Co-supervisors: Radu Craiu (Statistical Sciences)
PhD candidate
My role: Assistant Professor
Alex Laroche
Co-Supervisor
Research Interests: Machine learning and stellar evolution to discover rare stellar populations in large-scale surveys
Co-supervisors: Maria Drout (Astronomy & Astrophysics)
PhD candidate
My role: Assistant Professor
Phil Van-Lane
Co-Supervisor
Research Interests: Machine learning stellar dating methods using rotation and magnetic activity for M-dwarf exoplanet demographics
Co-supervisors: Gwen Eadie (Astronomy & Astrophysics / Statistical Sciences), Ryan Cloutier (McMaster University)
PhD candidate
My role: Assistant Professor
Alicia Savelli
Secondary Supervisor
Research Interests: Hot plasma simulations in AGN accretion disks and Milky Way analogues in cosmological simulations
Co-supervisors: Bart Ripperda (CITA), Norm Murray (CITA)
PhD candidate
My role: Assistant Professor
Mairead Heiger
Co-Supervisor
Research Interests: Galactic chemical evolution using metal-poor stars and dwarf galaxies with hierarchical modeling
Co-supervisors: Ting Li (Astronomy & Astrophysics)
PhD candidate
My role: Assistant Professor
Master's Projects (3)
Philip Loewen
Primary Supervisor
Project: Understanding Architectural Biases in Neural Time Series Models
MSc Statistics student
My role: Assistant Professor
Isabelle Huang
Primary Supervisor
Project: Time Series Forecasting with Deep Markov Models
MSc Statistics student
My role: Assistant Professor
Alex Brisebois
Co-Supervisor
Project: Exploring the Feasibility of Detecting a Time-Dependent σ8 with LSST
Co-supervisors: Renée Hložek (Dunlap Institute), Tanveer Karim (Dunlap Institute)
PhD student (AST 1501)
My role: Assistant Professor
Bachelors Students & Other Researchers (5)
Mehmet Bükücü
Primary Supervisor
Project: Galaxy evolution with a single star?
Undergraduate student
My role: Assistant Professor
Isabella Rivera
Secondary Supervisor
Project: Tracing Star Formation Histories and Evolution in Rho Ophiuchi
Co-supervisors: Ronan Kerr (Dunlap Institute)
Undergraduate student
My role: Assistant Professor
Diego Martinez Noriega
Co-Supervisor
Co-op Program
Project: Estimating Stellar Abundances Across Surveys using Probabilistic Deep Learning
Co-supervisors: Ting Li (Astronomy & Astrophysics)
Undergraduate student (University of Waterloo)
My role: Assistant Professor
Chuxuan Ai
Primary Supervisor
Project: Exploring the Chaotic Dynamics of Repelling-Attracting Hamiltonian Monte Carlo Systems
Undergraduate student
My role: Assistant Professor
Zehao "Harry" Peng
Co-Supervisor
Project: Exploring Galaxy Evolution in Cosmological Simulations with Machine Learning
Co-supervisors: Alicia Savelli (CITA)
Project: Infilling and Extending DESI Spectra with Masked Autoencoders
Co-supervisors: Biprateep Dey (Statistical Sciences)
Project: Multimodal Astronomical Learning with DESI Images and Spectra
Co-supervisors: Biprateep Dey (Statistical Sciences), Chris Maddison (Statistical Sciences)
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Former Mentees
Postdoctoral Researchers (1)
Mike Walmsley
Primary Supervisor
Research Interests: Building AI foundation models to interpret astronomical images
Outcome: Joined Wayve to work on AI in industry
AI Researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Doctoral & Masters Students (5)
Sam Berek
Co-Supervisor
Research Interests: Galaxy formation and evolution using globular cluster populations with Bayesian hierarchical modeling
Co-supervisors: Gwen Eadie (Astronomy & Astrophysics / Statistical Sciences), Monica Alexander (Statistical Sciences)
Outcome: NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow at UMass Amherst working with Kate Whitaker
PhD candidate
My role: Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Professor
Steffani Grondin
Secondary Supervisor
Research Interests: Evolution of massive stars in groups including post-common envelope binaries and dynamical interactions
Co-supervisors: Maria Drout (Astronomy & Astrophysics), Jeremy Webb (York University)
Outcome: NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at UC San Diego working with Floor Broekgaarden and Kyle Kremer
PhD candidate
My role: Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Professor
Maggie Zhai
Co-Supervisor
Research Interests: Image analysis and machine learning applications in astrostatistics
Co-supervisors: Gwen Eadie (Astronomy & Astrophysics / Statistical Sciences)
Outcome: Joined University Health Network (UHN) as Data Analyst
PhD student
My role: Assistant Professor
Henry Leung
Secondary Supervisor
Research Interests: Deep learning applications to stellar spectra and foundation models for astronomical data
Co-supervisors: Jo Bovy (Astronomy & Astrophysics)
Outcome: Senior AI Scientist at CIBC
PhD candidate
My role: Assistant Professor
Aarya Patil
Secondary Supervisor
Research Interests: Data-driven mathematical models of the Milky Way Galaxy using asteroseismology with multitaper methods
Co-supervisors: Gwen Eadie (Astronomy & Astrophysics / Statistical Sciences), Jo Bovy (Astronomy & Astrophysics), Sebastian Jaimungal (Statistical Sciences)
Outcome: LSST Discovery Alliance Catalyst Postdoctoral Fellow at Max Planck Institute for Astronomy; Incoming Assistant Professor at Penn State University
PhD candidate
My role: Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Professor
Bachelors Students & Other Researchers (50)
Mayesha Rahaman
Secondary Supervisor
Project: Kinematic and Demographic Analysis of the SCYA-89 Stellar Association
Co-supervisors: Ronan Kerr (Dunlap Institute)
Undergraduate student
My role: Assistant Professor
Alejandro Ortega Cruz Prieto
Co-Supervisor
Aurora Borealis FellowA&A SURP
Project: Building a Multi-Modal Model for Variable Star Spectra and Light Curves
Co-supervisors: Alex Laroche (Astronomy & Astrophysics)
Project: Applying cross-modal foundation models to Faraday spectra and images from POSSUM
Co-supervisors: Erik Osinga (Dunlap Institute), Bryan Gaensler (UC Santa Cruz)
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Isabelle Laing
Co-Supervisor
Project: Estimating Stellar Abundances from DESI Spectra with Deep Learning
Co-supervisors: Ting Li (Astronomy & Astrophysics), Mairead Heiger (Astronomy & Astrophysics), Biprateep Dey (Statistical Sciences)
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Anna Tsvetkova
Co-Supervisor
Project: Identifying and Characterizing Strong Gravitational Lensing Systems Using Probabilistic Machine Learning
Co-supervisors: Biprateep Dey (Statistical Sciences), Mike Walmsley (Dunlap Institute)
Undergraduate student (UKMA)
My role: Assistant Professor
Matthew Kustec
Co-Supervisor
Senior Thesis
Project: Exploring Galaxy Assembly Histories Across Cosmological Simulations
Co-supervisors: Alicia Savelli (CITA)
Outcome: Joined BEd program at Queen's University
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Zack Steine
Co-Supervisor
Project: Estimating Abundances from Stellar Spectra with Probabilistic Machine Learning
Co-supervisors: Andrew Saydjari (Princeton University), Ting Li (Astronomy & Astrophysics)
Outcome: Software Engineer at Veeva Systems
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Michelle Denny
Secondary Supervisor
Project: Counting Massive Galaxies in the Early Universe with JWST
Co-supervisors: Jacqueline Antwi-Danso (Astronomy & Astrophysics), Sam Berek (Astronomy & Astrophysics)
Undergraduate researcher (Ontario Tech University)
My role: Assistant Professor
Cissy Kuang
Co-Supervisor
Project: Exploring Galaxy Evolution in Cosmological Simulations with Machine Learning
Co-supervisors: Alicia Savelli (CITA)
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Weizhi "Luke" Shen
Primary Supervisor
Project: Galactic Paleontology with Probabilistic Machine Learning
Co-supervisors: Ting Li (Astronomy & Astrophysics)
Outcome: Joined Master's Program in Science Technology at UPenn
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Khalid Edris
Co-Supervisor
Project: Identifying Strong Lenses in Euclid Data with Active Learning
Co-supervisors: Mike Walmsley (Dunlap Institute)
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Junbo "Felix" Li
Project: Identifying Strong Lenses in Euclid Data with Active Learning
Co-supervisors: Mike Walmsley (Dunlap Institute)
Outcome: Joined Master's program in Data Science and AI at the University of Waterloo
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Seo Won "Sean" Yi
Project: Assessing the Robustness of Bayesian Model Comparison in Cosmological Analysis
Co-supervisors: Tanveer Karim (Dunlap Institute)
Outcome: Joined the MScAC program at the University of Toronto
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Semoore Tijani
Co-Supervisor
Aurora Borealis FellowA&A SURP
Project: Making the next generation of 3D Interstellar Medium Dust Temperature Maps
Co-supervisors: Ioana Zelko (CITA)
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Patrice Yee
Primary Supervisor
Project: Population Demographics of Exoplanets and their Host Stars
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Jimmy Yang
Primary Supervisor
Project: Population Demographics of Exoplanets and their Host Stars
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Xinpeng Xing
Primary Supervisor
Project: Population Demographics of Exoplanets and their Host Stars
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Wanshi Liang
Primary Supervisor
Project: Population Demographics of Exoplanets and their Host Stars
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Yonatan Eyob
Primary Supervisor
Project: Population Demographics of Exoplanets and their Host Stars
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Maximilian Zabrodski
Co-Supervisor
Junior Thesis
Project: Multiple Stellar Populations: Observations, Origins, and Onetime Solutions
Co-supervisors: Steffani Grondin (Astronomy & Astrophysics)
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor
Qianyu "Rita" Fan
Primary Supervisor
Project: Latent Parameter Inference with Probabilistic Dimensionality Reduction
Undergraduate researcher
My role: Assistant Professor