This week, I met with Konstantin Gerbig at one of the Astronomy buildings on Hillhouse Avenue. Konstantin is a German PhD student in Astronomy. He grew up near Stuttgart and studied Physics at Heidelberg University. Through the research experiences at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy there, he became interested in theoretical astrophysics. During his master’s, he spent a year doing research in Santa Cruz, California and joined Yale for his PhD studies.
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For research, Konstantin studies the formation of planets from a theoretical perspective. With the discovery of more exoplanets, the theories need to evolve to explain very diverse planetary architectures. He simulates the systems where the planets form, trying to figure out the physics that governs such formation. Recently he just published a paper on hurricanes in space which could be the locations of planet formation. Konstantin is also an active contributor to the website of Astrobites, where he and other graduate students all around the world present interesting papers in a brief format that is accessible to undergraduate students who are interested in astronomy research.
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In his free time, Konstantin likes staying active by working out and joining social dancing such as Salsa and Tango which he has been doing for almost ten years. He also visits New York very often. In New Haven, one of his favorite spots is the Jitter Bus.
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Overall, Konstantin is enjoying his life in the US. What he misses most about Europe is how the cities are built to accommodate pedestrians and how convenient the public transport is, which makes it easier to go around the cities for daily needs without a car.
#humansofoiss
