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Astronomy Graduate Student Quadry Chance Named Pre-Doctoral Fellow

Department of Astronomy graduate student QUADRY CHANCE was recently named one of this year’s Pre-Doctoral Fellows at the Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA). Chance is the first UF astronomy graduate student to receive this honor.

The CCA’s predoctoral program enables graduate student researchers from institutions around the world to collaborate with CCA scientists for five months on-site at the Flatiron Institute in New York City. During his time at the center, Chance will be investigating how stellar binarity affects the formation and structure of exoplanet systems.

Astronomy graduate student Quadry Chance

“Broadly speaking, it’s trying to see how orbiting two stars instead of one affects the formation and structure of exoplanet systems using advanced statistical tools,” Chance said.

The CCA is funded by the Simons Foundation, and its mission is to create new computational frameworks to enable scientists to analyze large astronomical datasets and investigate forefront problems in astrophysics.

Chance recently completed his first year of graduate school at UF. He received his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Arizona in 2018 and attended the Fisk-Vanderbilt Bridge Program for one year before joining the Astronomy department, where he works with professor Sarah Ballard.

Along with his research, Chance also notes one additional perk of being named a Pre-Doctoral Fellow at the CCA.

“I’m told the Flatiron Institute has amazing catered lunches,” he said, “so I’m really looking forward to that.”