Alicia Aarnio
Education
Ph.D. Physics, Vanderbilt University
M.S. Physics, Vanderbilt University
B.A. Physics and Astronomy, Smith College
Courses Taught
PHY 211L, PHY 291, AST 233, AST 235, PHY 431
Research
Professor Aarnio is interested in solar and stellar magnetic fields. She studies how magnetic fields facilitate the flux of mass and energy within a star-disk system and how they drive solar and stellar activity, outflows, and accretion. Aarnio uses large data sets and the solar-stellar connection to understand stars like the Sun when it was a few million years old and how it evolved to be the star we know now. Her results from stellar observations and models inform possible solar extremes that are of great concern for the denizens of 1 au. Professor Aarnio observes, taking photometric and spectroscopic data, and models, running radiative transfer and magnetohydrodynamic convection codes to understand the data she gathers.