Nathaniel Starkman

Nathaniel Starkman is a Brinson Prize Fellow and Astrophysics Postdoc at MIT. He is a key maintainer for open-source projects including @astropy, @GalacticDynamics, and @cosmology-api, with over 2,500 GitHub contributions in the last year. His work focuses on dark matter detection, stellar stream dynamics, and computational astrophysics using JAX and differentiable simulations.

• Current affiliations: MIT, GalacticDynamics, cosmology-api
• Former affiliations: Astropy Project, Quax, Potamides

Research interests span dark matter substructure mapping via stellar streams, Hamiltonian perturbation theory applications, and JAX-based galactic dynamics tools. He develops unit-aware numerical frameworks (unxt, coordinax) and contributes to astronomical data infrastructure standards.

Scientific contributions include:

• Leading differentiable simulations for galactic potentials
• Creating data-driven stellar stream characterization methods
• Advancing type annotations in astropy

Awards:

• Brinson Prize Fellowship (MIT)

Contact: starkman@mit.edu | ORCiD