I am Andreia “Dreia” Carrillo, Filipina astrophysicist.
I am from Baliuag, Bulacan, Philippines, an hour away from Manila, which is famous for its lechong manok (roasted chicken) and chicharon. I graduated in 2021 with my PhD in Astronomy at the University of Texas in Austin. Now, I’m a postdoc at the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University in UK working with Alis Deason on the chemodynamics of accreted halo stars using both observational (e.g., Gaia, APOGEE, GALAH) and simulation (FIRE, AURIGA) data.
My PhD (2016-2021) work involved stellar populations, both resolved into stars and unresolved where you get light from a group of stars with the aim of bridging knowledge between the two fields. I worked with Keith Hawkins on Galactic Archaeology to study the formation and structure of our own Milky Way galaxy and how that bleeds into other research areas (planet formation, satellite population, etc.). Before that, I worked with Niv Drory on decomposing spatially-resolved galaxy spectra into different stellar populations characterized by certain age and metal-content to uncover the galaxy’s star formation history. I was part of the first class of pre-doctoral fellows at the Flatiron Institute Center for Computational Astrophysics, where I worked with Melissa Ness and Robyn Sanderson in understanding the abundance trends for Milky Way-type galaxies in simulations.
In undergrad at the University of Michigan (2012-2016), I worked with Eric Bell on characterizing a dwarf galaxy (dw1335-29) in the M83 group using HST and ground-based data.
Learn more about what I do on my Research page.
As a scientist, I am invested in teaching and mentoring the next generation of creative minds. My teaching experience ranges from being a TA for Astronomy introductory class, being a research mentor for the Freshman Research Initiative, and developing my own class for honors Astronomy students (check out my Teaching page).
Aside from research, I also thoroughly enjoy giving back and getting involved in outreach activities and service. I’ve been part of the organizing team for Astronomy on Tap ATX, Girl Day at UT, and established the Graduate-Undergraduate Mentoring in Astronomy (GUMMY) at the UT Astronomy Department. Learn more about how I give back on my Outreach and Service page!
Email address: andreia.carrillo@durham.ac.uk