I’m an astrophysicist at the Institute for Theory and Computation in the Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows. I also hold a recurring appointment at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg. In August 2023, I will move to Caltech as an assistant professor.

My research is focused on binary stars. I use a combination of large-scale surveys, targeted observations of individual objects, and theoretical stellar evolution calculations to better understand how binaries form, evolve, and interact with their surroundings. I am also interested in Milky Way stellar populations, galaxy formation, and statistical astronomy. Most generally, I like exploring astronomical datasets, learning new things, and developing methods to extract information from data. I have been called the “black hole destroyer” but am working to make my net black hole count positive.

I grew up in Roseburg, Oregon. I was an undergraduate at Yale University (B.S., astrophysics, 2016) and a graduate student at UC Berkeley (Ph.D., astrophysics, 2021). I moved to Harvard in 2021. Besides astronomy, I like food, running, hiking and cycling, playing chess, and memes.

I am happy to talk anytime with Harvard grads and undergrads – or current and prospective Caltech students and postdocs – interested in working on a research project.

Contact Me

kareem.el-badry@cfa.harvard.edu