Lucy McNeill

Hello, I’m Lucy. I am a postdoctoral researcher at RIKEN iTHEMS working on various topics in theoretical stellar astrophysics.

I work on problems involving the theory of stellar structure and evolution, dynamics / celestial mechanics, binary stellar evolution. Sometimes these problems have applications to the emerging field of gravitational wave astronomy.

At iTHEMS, I will mainly work on numerical simulations and analytic theory for the evolution of stars just before they explode in a core-collapse supernova. These spectacular explosions mark the death of most massive stars (beyond around 8 solar mass).

While the majority of my training and research is in astrophysics, I am interested in a broad range of topics in science which utilise applied mathematics methods:

Prior to moving to Japan in 2021, I was a postdoctoral research officer in the DNA Repair & Recombination lab at St. Vincent’s Institute in Melbourne.

Also, my main hobbies are cooking and driving cars. So I look forward to chatting about all kinds of science and engineering with iTHEMS members.