Joseph Lewis-Merrill

Joseph Merrill

they/them

B.S. Physics, 2020

stellarremnants@g.ucla.edu

Joseph Lewis-Merrill began their college education at Las Positas College in Livermore, California,  before transferring to UCLA and graduating with B.S. in Physics in 2020. Thereafter, they completed a  one year post-baccalaureate position in the Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences (EPSS) department at  UCLA. Joseph is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Geophysics and Space Physics under the supervision of  Carolina Lithgow-Bertelloni and Jon Aurnou in the UCLA EPSS department. Their research centers on  convection in planetary interiors, with a focus on the Earth’s core-mantle boundary and its role in  plume formation and global heat transport. They hope their research will help to expand our  understanding of the histories and futures of terrestrial planets like Earth. After their Ph.D., they plan to continue researching planetary scale convection by applying for post-doctoral scholar and, eventually,  faculty positions.