About Me
Hi, my name is Deryl (she/they) and I’m a 4th year PhD student in the Department of Astronomy at UVA. I work with the Cleeves Group to study the physical and chemical conditions related to planet formation. Through my research I seek to provide critical linkages between protoplanetary disks and the exoplanetary systems that are formed in these environments. You can view my full CV here.
Research
Protoplanetary Disk Ionization
Ionization drives important chemical and dynamical processes within protoplanetary disks, including the formation of organics and water and the transport of material throughout the disk via accretion and magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD). Despite its importance, the amount of ionization and its distribution is still a key piece of the planet formation puzzle that has yet to be solved. My current research aims to bridge this gap by providing the most sensitive constraints on ionization in protoplanetary disks to date using ALMA observations and 2D chemical models. Stay tuned for forthcoming results!
Planet Formation on Solar System Scales
Surveys of protoplanetary disks such as DSHARP reveal a diversity of substructure. These surveys have mainly targeted massive disks, while the majority of protoplanetary disks are much smaller. To investigate the presence of substructure on Solar System scales I looked at high resolution ALMA observations of the compact GQ Lup dust disk. My results hint at a rich world of substructures in small disks, which may be related to young forming planets. A subsequent analysis of compact sources in Taurus reveals substructure in half of the disks and finds that occurence rates for inferred planets are consistent with microlensing and direct-imaging surveys (Zhang et al. 2023).