That’s a Wrap for Summer 2026!
Another summer of research in the Follette Lab is in the books! This year’s group spanned both of our research areas. The exoplanet team worked on accreting planets, brown dwarfs, and planet-forming disks, and the education team worked on understanding how to effectively mentor undergraduate researchers.
The Summer 2026 Follette Lab, pointing the way to the stars outside the Science Center. Back row: Isaac Rosenthal, Jia Jia Jiang, Julia Aram, Kate Follette, Vonna Hemmler. Middle row: Becca Michelson, Alyx Bardoe, Meadow Perez, Valentina “Nini” Guerrero. Front row: Hermione Arias Soto, Abby Quinby.
The summer wrapped up with Amherst’s summer research poster session in September, where every student presented their work:
Nini Guerrero (‘27) analyzed Hubble Space Telescope (STIS) spectra of the planetary-mass companion Delorme 1 (AB)b to measure ultraviolet and optical accretion signatures. This is the start of her senior thesis.
Meadow Perez (‘27) and Hermione Arias Soto (‘28) went “Ghost Hunting.” They expanded CASPAR, our Comprehensive Archive of Substellar and Planetary Accretion Rates, with new objects from the literature to help us understand how young stars, brown dwarfs, and planets grow.
Alyx Bardoe (‘29) and Abby Quinby (UMass ‘29) built tools to make sense of images of planet-forming disks. Alyx worked on automatically centering and deprojecting disk images. Abby built the database structure behind CATNIP, our Comparative Analysis Tool for Normalized Imagery and Profiles, to compare disk substructures across large samples.
Jia Jia Jiang (‘29) and Julia Aram (‘28) worked on FURTHESST (Facilitating Undergraduate Research Through Holistic and Extensive Skills Training). They analyzed surveys of lab alumni to understand how research mentoring practices shape STEM persistence and career outcomes.
Postbac Becca Michelson split her time across three projects: Delorme 1 (AB)b analysis, our JWST Cycle 3 program on young brown dwarfs, and an HST coronagraphic spectroscopy project with Kim Ward-Duong.
In July, the exoplanet team headed down to Wesleyan for the 12th annual CT Exoplanet Picnic at Van Vleck Observatory. It’s a day of talks, lightning talks, pie, and frisbee with exoplanet researchers from across the region.
The exoplanet team at the CT Exoplanet Picnic. From left: Catalina Zamora, Meadow Perez, Nat Kerman, Nini Guerrero, Kate Follette, Hermione Arias Soto, Abby Quinby, Jada Louison, Alyx Bardoe.
And no Follette Lab summer would be complete without a trip for ice cream at Flayvors of Cook Farm in Hadley, with the cows looking on.
Lab ice cream outing. From left: Julia Aram, Meadow Perez, Alyx Bardoe, Nini Guerrero, Abby Quinby, Hermione Arias Soto, Jia Jia Jiang.
Congratulations to everyone on a great summer! I’m looking forward to seeing Nini, Meadow, Alyx, and Abby present their work at the January 2027 AAS meeting.