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Greetings! My name is Joni-Marie Clark Cunningham, I earned my Masters of Physics from Fisk University and recently completed (2022) my PhD at Vanderbilt through the Fisk-Vanderbilt Bridge to PhD program. My main research interests include stellar evolution, binary systems, exoplanets and astrobiology. During my Undergraduate experience at NMSU and into my Masters, my research entailed using Spectroscopic observations from APOGEE combined with Kepler photometric observations and Gaia distance estimates to extract stellar and orbital parameters from binary systems. My Doctoral research at Vanderbilt uses TESS photometry combined with APOGEE spectroscopy to fully characterize a young pre main sequence trinary system in AB Doradus. Later my dissertation “Stellar Multiplicity Systems as a Metric of Stellar Evolution” utilized the TESS/APOGEE overlap to fully characterize a number of Spectroscopic Eclipsing Binaries. Read more about that and my other research endeavors on my Publications page.
When I’m not looking for Tatooine, I enjoy volunteering, mentoring, crafting, baking nerdy treats, and figuring out how to be a parent to my young son.