About Me

Partial eclipse at sunrise over Lake Michigan

Partial eclipse at sunrise over Lake Michigan, Summer 2021.

About:
Hi, I'm Ezra! I'm studying Astrophysics at JHU in Baltimore, MD. I work with the Slice and Dice group, lead by Dr. Susan Kassin. I'm using JWST spectroscopy to study outflows and metals in galaxies.

I spend my free time ice skating and playing board games!

Research

Astronomical image. There is an arc of three red bright knots in a half-ring at the center of the image. Inside the arc are two similarly bright yellow-orange galaxies. Between them is a very bright star.

gr(z + H) image of COOL J1323+0343. This image was constructed using grz-band imaging from DECaLS and H-band imaging from FOURSTAR on Magellan. The lensed galaxy is seen as a bright red multiply-imaged source, with three images. The foreground cluster has two similarly bright central galaxies. The bright blue source between the two brightest cluster galaxies is a foreground star.

I use observations to better understand how galaxies evolve. Here's some of the specific projects I have been involved with:

I discovered strongly lensed galaxies by searching through public imaging surveys with COOL-LAMPS while at UChicago. One of those galaxies was C00L-J1323+0343, a particularly bright lensed quiescent galaxy at z~1. We characterized its morphology and star formation history to better understand early-type galaxy evolution and hope to further study CJ1323 with future space based observations!

I used KAST on the Shane Telescope at Lick Observatory to follow up on strongly lensing systems found with a neural network while working with Prof. Xiaosheng Huang and Prof. David Schlegel as a SULI intern at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. I also helped create lens models using GIGA-Lens.

Community

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Dobsonian Telescope outside of Yerkes Observatory at a Star Party, Summer 2018.

The innate wonder people feel when looking up at the night sky and seeing the amazing images astronomers capture with telescopes like JWST make astronomy a great gateway to science! I ran the public observation nights at the Maryland Space Grant Observatory at JHU. I have organized and ran observation nights, dark sky camping trips, and talks for the public and students as President of UChicago's Astronomical Society.

I'm also interested in working to making STEM more accessible for those who have been traditionally excluded. At UChicago, as president of our chapter of Out in STEM, I launched new events to help queer students find successful role models & create relaxed environments where we could form community.

Contact

Email: ezrasukay at gmail.com