Dr. Mariona Badenas-Agusti is an astrophysicist working at the intersection of astronomical observations, machine learning, and data science. She completed her Ph.D. in Planetary Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she developed a machine learning framework to measure the chemical abundances of polluted white dwarfs and enable large-scale statistical studies of extrasolar geochemistry. Prior to MIT, she earned a B.Sc. in Astrophysics from Yale University and an M.Sc. in High Energy Physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Beyond her research, she is deeply committed to science outreach and communication, and she co-founded the Hypatia Mars Association to encourage young people to pursue STEM careers and to promote the work of underrepresented groups in science. As a commander of several Mars analogue simulation missions, she has also led research projects and outreach initiatives to promote international collaboration in the field of space exploration. At St John’s College, she will continue her work on exoplanetary science at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge.
Dr. Mariona Badenas-Agusti specialises in “polluted white dwarfs,” that is, stellar remnants exhibiting atmospheric metal pollution from the accretion of planetary debris. These white dwarfs provide a unique opportunity to measure the bulk chemical composition of exoplanetary material, offering a rare window into the geology and formation history of ancient exoplanetary systems. To characterise these systems at the scale, Dr. Mariona Badenas-Agusti combines large astronomical surveys with machine learning and statistical methods. More broadly, she is interested in how novel data-driven techniques can accelerate scientific discovery across both exoplanetary science and stellar astrophysics.
