Stella Koch Ocker

Voyager 1

Persistent plasma waves detected in interstellar space.

NE2025

An updated electron density model of the Galactic interstellar medium.

Scintillating Pulsars

Mapping the puzzlingly abundant au-scale structures in the ISM.

FRBs backlighting halos

Forecasting horizons for Galactic and extragalactic transients.

The Remarkable FRB190520

A repeating FRB in an extreme, dynamically evolving environment.

Galactic HII Regions

Revealing the hundreds of pulsar sightlines that probe HII regions.

Neutron Star Bow Shocks

Zooming in on neutron star winds interacting with the ISM.

NANOGrav Pulsar Timing Array

Characterizing ISM-induced noise in the search for gravitational waves.

Circumgalactic Turbulence

FRBs and quasars reveal energetics of multi-phase gas.

About Me

I'm a radio-turned-optical astronomer working at the intersection of observations and theory.

I grew up in northern California and went to Oberlin College, where I received a B.A. with High Honors in Physics in 2018. It was during that time that I had my first research experiences working on pulsars and fast radio bursts, both at Oberlin and during the summers at McGill University. I then moved to Ithaca, NY to pursue a Ph.D. in Astronomy at Cornell University, which I finished in 2023. During my career I've had the opportunity to work with a number of wonderful teams, including the Voyager Interstellar Mission, the NANOGrav Collaboration, and the DSA-110 group at Caltech. My research involves conducting observations at telescopes across the globe, including Magellan, Keck, FAST, and the GBT. I combine these data with large surveys to study neutron stars and ionized gas across a wide range of astrophysical environments. You can learn more about my research by clicking on the interactive image reel above (and by exploring my CV and publications linked at the top of this page).

Media & Outreach Highlights

Scientific discovery gains meaning through dissemination. Click on the images below if you'd like to see scientific explanations for general audiences; to explore more, see my CV linked at the top of this page.