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Alison Duck

Photo of Alison Duck

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive

Pasadena, CA 91109

Curriculum Vitae:

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Member of:

Exoplanet Atmospheres

JPL Postdoc

Biography

Alison Duck, originally from Maryland’s rural and remote Eastern Shore, got her start studying exoplanets at the University of Maryland’s observatory. She completed her bachelor's degree in physics and astronomy at the University of Maryland, College Park in 2019. At Ohio State, she became deeply invested in understanding the underlying systematic uncertainties in exoplanets and their host stars. Alison Duck received her PhD from the astronomy department at The Ohio State University, advised by Prof. Scott Gaudi in 2025. She is passionate about student mentorship and led a program pairing freshmen with graduate student mentors at Ohio State.

Education

  • 2019 B.S. Physics, Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, High Honors
  • 2022 M.S. Astronomy, The Ohio State University
  • 2025 Ph.D. Astronomy, The Ohio State University

Professional Experience

  • 2019-2025 Graduate Research Assistant
  • 2021-2024 Instructor of record for freshman physics major mentorship program
  • 2022-2025 Member of the Eclipsing Binaries Low Mass Collaboration
  • 2024-2025 Member of the Transits in the Roman galactic Exoplanet Survey collaboration

Community Service

Alison served on the leadership team for the Polaris mentorship program at Ohio State for 5 years. She volunteered as a mentor for a physics freshman, led the first virtual iteration of the two week physics freshman early arrival program, and served as the instructor of record for the yearlong mentorship course for 3 years. She led trainings for new mentors as well as new instructors for the mentorship course. She gives talks for audiences of 8th grade students at Salisbury Middle School in her hometown in Maryland.

Research Interests

Alison Duck’s research interests include: systematic uncertainties in exoplanet host stars, precise exoplanet transit model fitting, M-dwarf characterization, transiting planets with the Roman Space Telescope, and stellar characterization with SPHEREx.

Selected Awards

  • OSU Ann S. Tuttle Citizenship, Engagement, and Outreach Prize - 2024
  • NASA ExoExplorer - 2023

Selected Publications

FIRST AUTHOR PUBLICATIONS

  1. “Exploring systematic errors in the inferred parameters of the transiting planet KELT-15b and its host star” Duck, A., Gaudi, B. S., Eastman, J D., Rodriguez, J E. 2025, MNRAS
  2. “The EBLM project X. Benchmark masses, radii and temperatures for two fully convective M-dwarfs using K2” Duck, A., Martin, D V., and 24 co-authors 2023, MNRAS
  3. “K2, Spitzer, and TESS Transits of Four Sub-Neptune Exoplanets” Duck, A., Harada, C. K., Harrell, J.,and 5 co-authors. 2021, AJ, 162,136

CO- AUTHOR PUBLICATIONS

  1. “PEPSI Investigation, Retrieval, and Atlas of Numerous Giant Atmospheres (PIRANGA). I. The Ubiquity of Fe I Emission and Inversions in Ultrahot Jupiter Atmospheres” S. Petz, 6 co-authors including Duck, Alison 2025, AJ
  2. “PEPSI Investigation, Retrieval, and Atlas of Numerous Giant Atmospheres (PIRANGA). III. Composition and winds in the atmosphere of TOI-1518 b” C. Basinger, 8 co-authors including Duck, Alison 2025, AJ (Submitted), eprint arXiv:2503.07723
  3. “PEPSI Investigation, Retrieval, and Atlas of Numerous Giant Atmospheres (PIRANGA). II. Phase-Resolved Cross-Correlation Transmission Spectroscopy of KELT-20b” C. Lenhart, 7 co-authors including Duck, Alison 2025, AJ (Submitted), eprint arXiv:2503.07719
  4. “The EBLM project - XIV. TESS light curves for eclipsing binaries with very low mass compan-ions” J. Fitzpatrick, 5 co-authors including Duck, Alison 2025, MNRAS
  5. “Revised Temperatures For Two Benchmark M-dwarfs – Outliers No More” Martin, D V., Ar-mitage T., Duck, A., and 7 co-authors. 2024, MNRAS
  6. “Fundamental effective temperature measurements for eclipsing binary stars – V. The circumbinary planet system EBLM J0608–59” P. F. L. Maxted et al. 5 co-authors including Duck, Alison. 2024, MNRAS
  7. “BEBOP V. Homogeneous stellar analysis of potential circumbinary planet hosts” Alix V. Freck-elton, et al. 31 co-authors including Duck, Alison. 2024, MNRAS
  8. “The EBLM Project XII. An eccentric, long-period eclipsing binary with a companion near the hydrogen-burning limit” Yasmin T Davis et al. 19 co-authors including Duck, Alison, 2024, MNRAS
  9. “The EBLM Project– XI. Mass, radius, and effective temperature measurements for 23 M-dwarf companions to solar-type stars observed with CHEOPS” M. I. Swayne et al. 105 co-authors including Duck, Alison, et al. 2024, MNRAS 2024, MNRAS
  10. “PEPSI Investigation, Retrieval, and Atlas of Numerous Giant Atmospheres (PIRANGA). I. The Ubiquity of Fe I Emission and Inversions in Ultra Hot Jupiter Atmospheres” Petz, Sydney et al. 6 co-authors including Duck, Alison. 2024, AAS Journals, Submitted

Projects

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
SPHEREx