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@setiinstitute.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 3:00 PM

Stephanie Striegel is the SETI Institute’s Lead Operations Engineer for the Science Processing Operations Center at NASA Ames Research Center. Her work supports NASA’s TESS mission, helping enable the detection and study of planets beyond our solar system.

#NotJustAliens 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬

Text: Stephanie Striegel is the SETI Institute’s Lead Operations Engineer for the Science Processing Operations Center at NASA Ames Research Center. Her work supports NASA’s TESS mission, helping enable the detection and study of planets beyond our solar system. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets in front of it.

Text: Stephanie earned her MS in Physics and Astronomy from San Jose State University in 2023. There, she explored how machine learning could identify phases of ultra-cold atoms in optical lattices, bringing together physics and data-driven techniques. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets.

@setiinstitute.bsky.social Oct 3, 2026, 3:00 PM

Dr. Mia Mace’s scientific research interests lie in numerical modeling of planetary ring systems, and her doctoral work focused on developing code to simulate and analyze the dynamics of charged dust grains in Saturn’s rings in response to questions about ring rain and spokes. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬 #NotJustAliens

Text: #notjustaliens. Mia Mace, Planetary Rings / Solar System Dynamics. Background: Starry night sky. Inset: Photo of Mia Mace.

Text: Dr. Mia Mace’s scientific research interests lie in numerical modeling of planetary ring systems, and her doctoral work focused on developing code to simulate and analyze the dynamics of charged dust grains in Saturn’s rings in response to questions about ring rain and spokes. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets in front of it.

Text: Dr. Mace now works as a planetary astronomer for the Ring-Moon Systems Node of NASA's Planetary Data System – a long-term public archive of data returned from NASA's outer planetary missions, and from other flight and ground-based observations. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets.

@setiinstitute.bsky.social Sep 26, 2026, 3:01 PM

Dr. Ben Tofflemire is a Pipeline Scientist for NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission at the SETI Institute. He helps manage and develop the Science Processing Operations Center (SPOC) pipeline at NASA Ames Research Center...

🧪 🔭 #NotJustAliens

Text: Dr. Ben Tofflemire is a Pipeline Scientist for NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission at the SETI Institute. He helps manage and develop the Science Processing Operations Center (SPOC) pipeline at NASA Ames Research Center, where observations from TESS are processed and transformed into exoplanet candidates. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets in front of it.

Text: His research also explores how stars and planets form and evolve, with a particular focus on young planetary systems less than 300 million years old. Dr. Tofflemire uses observations from facilities including TESS, ALMA, and the James Webb Space Telescope to study young stars, planet-forming disks, and the processes that shape emerging planetary systems. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets.

@setiinstitute.bsky.social Sep 19, 2026, 3:02 PM

Dr. Laura Venuti is an astronomer who studies how young stars form and evolve. She combines observations from ground- and space-based telescopes to investigate complex interactions among young stars, the gas and dust disks surrounding them, and their larger environments. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬

#NotJustAliens

Text: Dr. Laura Venuti is an astronomer who studies how young stars form and evolve. She combines observations from ground- and space-based telescopes to investigate complex interactions among young stars, the gas and dust disks surrounding them, and their larger environments. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets in front of it.

Text: By tracking how these young star-disk systems change in ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light, Dr. Venuti can uncover the physical processes shaping their early lives, from material falling onto a growing star to magnetic activity and dust movement within its disk. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets.

@setiinstitute.bsky.social Sep 12, 2026, 3:01 PM

Dr. Jason Young studies why some diffuse spiral galaxies form fewer stars than expected. He earned his PhD at Penn State, where he studied galaxy evolution, and completed postdoctoral research at UMass Amherst using JWST to investigate dusty, star-forming galaxies. 🧪 🔭 #NotJustAliens

Text: #notjustaliens. Jason Young, Astrophysics. Background: Starry night sky. Inset: Photo of Jason Young.

Text: Dr. Jason Young is a research scientist studying why some diffuse spiral galaxies form fewer stars than expected. He earned his PhD at Penn State, where he studied galaxy evolution, and completed postdoctoral research at UMass Amherst using JWST to investigate dusty, star-forming galaxies. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets in front of it.

Text: At the SETI Institute, Dr. Young combines observations from space- and ground-based telescopes to study how diffuse galaxies regulate star formation and the buildup of heavy elements. His work also explores the relationship between dark matter and the ordinary matter that makes up stars, gas, and dust. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets.

@setiinstitute.bsky.social Sep 5, 2026, 3:00 PM

Emilie Simpson is an early-career scientist with a research background in exoplanetary science and planetary habitability. Her master’s work primarily involved using TESS data products to study the behavior of variable host stars and how that behavior could affect their exoplanets. 🧪

#NotJustAliens