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The SETI Institute has awarded the prestigious Davie Postdoctoral Fellowship to astronomer Dr Isabel Angelo, who will lead a pioneering project using artificial intelligence and machine learning to uncover hidden worlds beyond our solar system.
Machine learning has become central to exoplanet research, helping astronomers sift through massive datasets generated by telescopes such as NASA’s Kepler and TESS missions.
Angelo’s research will refine and expand machine-learning pipelines, enhancing their ability to detect subtle or unconventional signals. Her work will focus on advancing convolutional neural network architectures and integrating anomaly-detection tools to identify unusual planetary systems ranging from ringed or disintegrating planets to exocomets and, potentially, signs of alien megastructures.
Angelo, who earned her PhD in astronomy and astrophysics at UCLA this year, has already worked extensively at the intersection of astrophysics, statistics and machine learning. Her past projects include identifying planets, binary stars and anomalies in large datasets such as Kepler and Gaia.
“Joining the SETI Institute as a postdoc is a full-circle moment,” Angelo said. “My very first research project in 2015 was at SETI, looking for planets in Kepler data. To return a decade later to search for anomalies and even possible megastructures in that same dataset feels surreal.”
She will collaborate closely with SETI Institute researcher Dr Vishal Gajjar and his team, as well as colleagues at IIT Tirupati in India.
The fellowship is supported by philanthropist John Davie, who said Angelo’s appointment marked “an exciting new chapter” for the program. “With her proven track record in analysing complex astronomical datasets, Isabel is uniquely positioned to pioneer AI-driven approaches that could uncover profound insights into the cosmos,” Davie said.
Exoplanet detection has surged in recent years, but the sheer scale of telescope data now demands new methods. Gajjar noted that Angelo’s work will help shift the focus from “finding more planets” to “finding the unexpected”.
The Davie Postdoctoral Fellowship aims to combine advanced AI tools with astrophysical modelling and interpretability, pushing the boundaries of exoplanet discovery. For Angelo, the goal is not just to find new worlds, but to tackle the enduring question at the heart of SETI’s mission: “Are we alone in the universe?”
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