DIX Planetary Science Seminar

Katerina's PhD work consists of combined experimental simulations and observational analyses of IR spectra of interstellar ices, with a focus on tracing molecular evolution from primordial environments like prestellar cores and protostellar envelopes to primitive solar system objects like comets. For example, she is using JWST observations of HDO ice to compare water deuterium ratios of interstellar ices to those in comets to resolve the degree of interstellar ice inheritance by object formed in the outer protoplanetary disk. Additionally, she has been searching JWST interstellar ice spectra for sulfur-bearing species recently detected in cometary dust grains. In the past, she has also worked in meteoritics and studied how aqueous alteration affects PAHs in carbonaceous chondrites with laser mass spectrometry. Looking ahead to potential postdoctoral research avenues, she would like to stay with the theme of chemical evolution throughout star and planet formation but branch back into addressing this topic with a more planetary focus.