Meet the NEWTS

Benjamin Montet Bluesky Github Email

I'm the PI of the NEWTS group and the Scientia Lecturer in the School of Physics at the University of New South Wales. I'm interested in developing data-driven methods to understand the formation and dynamics of planetary systems and how the magnetic activity of their host stars changes over time.

Brendan McKee Github Email

I am a fourth year PhD student working on transiting exoplanets. I am studying transit timing variations, the changes in transit times due to gravitational interactions between planets. I am using these to better characterise the planets we know about, as well as finding entirely new ones.

Conaire Deagan Twitter Github Email

I am a 3rd year PhD candidate interested in solar-like stellar activity, Wolf-Rayet stars, exoplanets, and optical physics. I am a science member on the TOLIMAN project. Additionally, while I don't actively research SETI, it is a research interest of mine and something I like to talk about.

Margo Thornton

I am a first year PhD student working on discovering circumbinary planets through the apsidal precession they impart on their host stars.

Jay Rawlinson Github Email

I'm an undergrad student studying physics at UNSW. I work with data from the Kepler mission to investigate stellar activity of planet-hosting stars.

Emma Tam

I’m a second year undergraduate physics/engineering student at UNSW. I analyse TESS data, looking for exoplanets through variations in transits.

Group Alumni

Adina Feinstein Website

PhD student, 2019-2022, now faculty at Michigan State

Elsa Palumbo

Undergraduate student, 2020-2022, now PhD student in statistics at Carnegie Mellon

Jenny Wang

Undergraduate student, 2020-2022, now a software engineer at Jane Street Capital.

Morgan Porritt

Undergraduate student, 2020-2022, now a data scientist at ANSTO.

Yihong Guo Github Email

Honours student, 2024. I worked with TESS light curve data to investigate stellar activity cycles through flares and their relationship with different stellar parameters.

Riley White Email

Honours student, 2024. For my honours project I searched for circumbinary planets by identifying precession using a century of observational data from the DASCH archive.