Nick Tusay
2025 AAS SciAct Affiliate
Affiliate bio
I am particularly excited to learn from the training session, talk with others in the program, and see how I can improve upon the things that I do to communicate my science. [Being a part of the] SciAct Affiliate Program will help me assess best practices for the different types of outreach and science communication I hope to do in the near future, both at AAS and beyond.
Nick Tusay
Graduate Student
Penn State University
Nick Tusay is a 5th-year graduate student in the Astronomy & Astrophysics Department at Penn State University, working towards a PhD with a dual title in Astrobiology. His research primarily focuses on radio SETI and exoplanet science. The aim of his research is to identify the building blocks of a terrestrial sized planet and gain a deeper understanding of the building blocks of rocky worlds in service of teasing out the possible substrates for life in the universe. Nick is also a 2025 NASA ExoExplorer, and a Visiting Graduate Research Fellow at IPAC. He is currently working with Aurora Kesseli on high-resolution data from KPF on Keck and ESPRESSO on the VLT to characterize the atmospheric composition of an ultra-hot jupiter, WASP-82b, using transmission spectroscopy.