Research Staff

Stephanie Tonnesen, Ph.D.

Research Scientist, Center for Computational Astrophysics

Email: [email protected]

Bio

Stephanie Tonnesen joined the foundation in 2017 and was promoted to research scientist in 2021 at the Center for Computational Astrophysics. Her research interests lie in the fields of galaxy formation and evolution. A focus of her research is examining how a galaxy’s environment can impact its growth. To study how galaxies evolve, Tonnesen uses both cosmological simulations spanning large regions of the ‘universe’ and smaller, galaxy-scale simulations. She completed her Ph.D. at Columbia University. Before joining the foundation, Tonnesen was a Lyman Spitzer, Jr. Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University and an Alvin E. Nashman Fellow at the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science.

Publications

To Survive or To Shatter: The Impact of Cosmic Rays on the Fate of Stripped Cold Clouds

The Astrophysical Journal, arXiv:2510.21699, June 2026

Manami Roy, Kung-Yi Su, Stephanie Tonnesen, Yue Samuel Lu, Cameron Hummels, and Sam B. Ponnada

Great Balls of Fire: Star Formation in Gas Clouds Accelerated by a Hot Wind

The Astrophysical Journal, arXiv:2603.26899, May 2026

Stephanie Tonnesen, Rory Smith, Bianca Poggianti, Benedetta Vulcani, et al.

Exploring the Impact of Active Galactic Nucleus Feedback Model Variations on the Ly\(\alpha\) Forest Flux Power Spectrum

The Astrophysical Journal, arXiv:2509.18260, May 2026

Megan Pirecki, Megan Taylor Tillman, Blakesley Burkart, Stephanie Tonnesen, and Simeon Bird

Mechanisms Affecting Galaxies Nearby and Environmental Trends (MAGNET)

Astronomy & Astrophysics, arXiv:2602.15142, April 2026

Benedetta Vulcani, Gabriella De Lucia, Daria Zakharova, Paolo Serra, et al.

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