About

I'm a computational astrophysicist specializing in diffuse plasmas. I seek to uncover the interconnected nature between nonthermal “microscale” physics, (e.g. cosmic rays and magnetic fields) on “macroscale” galactic evolution. I am particularly interested in how nonthermal processes shape galactic halos, a regime that is observationally and theoretically underconstrained. Since the relevant range of physical scales can easily exceed ~10 orders of magnitude, I work on these problems using a variety of numerical techniques (including implementing new physics and simulating a variety of conditions, ranging from idealized microphysics to cosmological simulations) as well as pen-and-paper theory. Whenever possible, I work closely with observers to generate realistic synthetic observations from my simulations.

I am currently a Hubble Fellow at Stanford. Before that, I was a DuBridge Postdoctoral Scholar at Caltech. I received my Ph.D. in 2021 from the University of Washington, where I was a Blue Waters Graduate Fellow and Flatiron CCA Predoctoral Fellow. Prior to starting grad school, I worked as a research assistant at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. I received my B.S. in Astrophysics from Caltech.  I am originally from Ukraine, but spent most of my childhood in San Jose, California.

 To find out more about my research, check out this recent public lecture.

E-mail: ibutsky@stanford.edu