Kumar, Diya
Forschungsinteressen
I am an astrophysicist interested in planet formation theory, particularly why our Solar System looks different from most other exoplanetary systems. I am a Fulbright Fellow at the MPS where I am improving models of dust evolution in protoplanetary disks around very low-mass stars. By comparing these models to observations, I ultimately aim to distinguish between formation pathways and determine which kinds of planets can form. The goal of my work is to develop a predictive, universal pathway for planet formation and understand where our Solar System fits within it.
Vita
Awards and Fellowships:
2026: Fulbright Germany Research Grantee
2026: Perpall Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Speaking Competition Winner (Associated with Caltech)
2025: Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa
2024: Margie Lauritsen Leighton Prize (Associated with Caltech)
2024: Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales
2023: Edward C. Stone Voyager Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Education and Employment:
2026-2027: Fulbright Germany Grantee, MPS
2022 – 2026: B.Sc. Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
2022 – 2026: B.Sc. Planetary Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
Selected Publications:
Thornton, M., Montet, B. T., White, R., Shao, A., & Kumar, D. T. (2026). Detection of 27 candidate circumbinary planets through apsidal precession of eclipsing binaries observed by TESS. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 548(3), Article stag515.
doi:10.1093/mnras/stag515