The recent announcement from NASA of over 5,000 total discovered exoplanets represents an incredible achievement for astronomy and planetary science. This large and growing dataset enables study of not just individual planets but the patterns of planetary systems in general. This talk explores research on formation of planetary systems and focuses on the role water plays in sculpting the planet population. The model developed for this research (“the PPOLs Model”) self-consistently forms planets in protoplanetary disks with an evolving snow line and determines planet masses and water content. Applying this model across a range of stellar and disk masses reveals a mechanism to deliver Earth-like amounts of water to Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of solar-mass stars, but only for a narrow range of parameters. The model does not explain initial conditions for observed compact exoplanet systems, which has implications for the importance of full disk interactions in determining planetary system architectures.
Sean currently teaches astronomy at Lehigh University as Visiting Assistant Professor in Physics. He was selected as one of a dozen members of the Spring 2023 NASA “ExoExplorer" early career development program and collaborates with astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute on exoplanet transit spectroscopy, pursuing an observational as well as theoretical (modeling) approach to exoplanet research.
He completed his Ph.D. in Aerospace Sciences in Spring 2024 from the University of North Dakota. Sean is deeply motivated by questions of life’s presence in the universe. On the side, Sean enjoys mythology, folk music, and science fiction.