Monica Gallegos-Garcia

I am currently a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and an ITC Fellow at the Institute for Theory and Computation at Harvard College Observatory. I am a theoretical astrophysicist broadly interested in advancing our understanding of binary star evolution to uncover the origin of some of the most energetic phenomena in the Universe.

I am interested in using and developing detailed simulations, along with leveraging information from both electromagnetic and gravitational wave sources, to form a comprehensive understanding of the formation pathways of energetic transients deeply intertwined with binary evolution, from the diverse array of supernovae to compact object mergers. 

I earned my PhD in astronomy from Northwestern University, where I was a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellow and Northwestern Presidential Fellow. I earned my bachelor's degree in physics with a concentration in astrophysics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.