Academic Record · Julio M. Morales

Solar & stellar astrophysics

Research

I study the Sun through its oscillations and atmospheric waves, while continuing a research thread in young-star accretion that began during my undergraduate work.

01 · Solar atmosphere

Atmospheric gravity waves

Preliminary atmospheric gravity wave observational data.

Preliminary atmospheric gravity wave model results.

My graduate research includes atmospheric-wave diagnostics in the lower solar atmosphere. I co-authored Atmospheric Gravity Waves Modulated by the Magnetic Field Configuration, published in The Astrophysical Journal in 2025.

Read the 2025 paper →

02 · Stellar research · 2021–2022

Accretion in young stars

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Young-star accretion research image 1 coming soon.

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Young-star accretion research image 2 coming soon.

With Prof. Katherine B. Follette and Dr. Connor Robinson, I worked on accreting protoplanets and disk-host star variability in the Giant Accreting Protoplanet Survey. My senior thesis examined second-to-minute Hα variability in transitional disk host-stars, and I continued that analysis as a post-baccalaureate researcher at Amherst College.

Read the detailed project, figures, and results →

Interactive transverse-wave interference

Explore how two transverse waves combine as you adjust their direction, frequency, amplitude, phase, and polarization.

Adjust the wave controls, drag the canvas to rotate the view, and scroll to zoom. Open the simulation in a new tab.

Solar wave simulations

Numerical visualizations of atmospheric gravity waves, wave conversion, and magnetic infall.

Three-dimensional atmospheric gravity-wave particle motion. Download video.

Magnetic infall, from shocks to planets. Download video.

Solar gravity-wave conversion. Download video.

Alfvén wave propagation. Download video.

Solar gravity-to-Alfvén wave conversion, multiview. Download video.

Refined solar gravity-to-Alfvén wave conversion. Download video.

Solar gravity waves viewed from the photosphere. Download video.

Instruction, research readiness & mentorship

Teaching & Mentorship

Helping students build quantitative confidence, observational skills, and a place in science.

Fall 2024–present · Independent

Private tutor

One-on-one instruction in Algebra I–II, Precalculus, Trigonometry, Calculus I–II, Introductory Statistics, Physics I, Introductory Astronomy, Observational Astronomy, Modern Astrophysics, and Numerical Methods.

Summer 2024 · UNC–Chapel Hill

Teaching Assistant · Summer Science Program in Astrophysics

Tutored advanced international high-school students in physics, calculus, and Python; delivered observational astronomy instruction; trained students on research-grade telescopes; supervised asteroid-tracking data acquisition; and modeled professional academic communication, collaboration, and networking.

Jan 2023–May 2025 · NMSU Astronomy Graduate Student Organization

FRIENDS Mentorship Program · Liaison to Undergraduate Affairs

Redesigned FRIENDS into a structured, research-preparatory mentorship pipeline. Mentored undergraduate Daniela Reyes in research readiness, expectations, accountability, and academic communication, and developed mentor–mentee agreements and individualized development plans.

Aug 2022–present · New Mexico State University

Introduction to Astronomy · Lab Instructor

Lead undergraduate astronomy laboratory instruction and support students in applying quantitative and observational concepts.

2021–2022 in CV · UMass Amherst

Astronomy Help Desk · Tutor

Tutored undergraduates in astronomy problem-solving, quantitative reasoning, and course preparation.

2019–2020 · TRIO Upward Bound, UMass Boston

Instructor, tutor & teaching assistant

Supported college-preparatory STEM instruction for first-generation and low-income high-school students. The original teaching page preserves the individual courses and additional Leominster High School teaching-assistant experience.

Tools for the practice of science

Software & Workflows

Research software, reproducible analysis, and practical tools for scientific work.

Research workflow development

AstroStack

I develop AstroStack, a research workflow platform for scientific project organization and automation. My computational work also includes applying language models to workflow automation, code generation and debugging, scientific visualization, documentation, and version-controlled development.

Explore the AstroStack feature gallery → AstroStack on GitHub →

Tools for Scientist Workflows

I authored this five-part AstroBetter series between October 2023 and February 2024.

Notion page templates

The existing personal and research-organization templates remain available.

Home Page Calendar Projects Research Diary References

Apple Shortcuts

Downloadable workflow shortcuts will appear here when their names, instructions, and iCloud links are ready.

Shortcut 01

Description coming soon.

Requires: Details coming soon.

iCloud link coming soon

Shortcut 02

Description coming soon.

Requires: Details coming soon.

iCloud link coming soon

Shortcut 03

Description coming soon.

Requires: Details coming soon.

iCloud link coming soon

Other Products

More tools and resources will appear here as they become available.

Products coming soon

Curriculum vitae / professional record

CV / Professional Record

Complete professional record from my May 2026 CV.

Download the latest compiled version of my CV.

Download CV

Research Profile

Astrophysics Ph.D. candidate working across helioseismology, solar atmospheric gravity waves, scientific computing, and research workflow development. Experience spans solar and stellar data analysis, observational astronomy, mentorship infrastructure, academic service, STEM outreach, and modern computational tooling for reproducible research.

Education

New Mexico State University

Ph.D. in Astronomy; Advisor: Prof. Jason Jackiewicz

Expected 2027

Las Cruces, NM

New Mexico State University

M.S. in Astronomy; College of Arts and Sciences

May 2025

Las Cruces, NM

University of Massachusetts Amherst

B.S. in Physics and Astronomy; College of Natural Sciences

May 2022

Amherst, MA

Research Experience

Ph.D. Candidate and Graduate Research Assistant

New Mexico State University

Aug 2022 - Present

Las Cruces, NM

Advisor: Prof. Jason Jackiewicz

Conduct research in helioseismology and solar atmospheric gravity waves, with emphasis on computational analysis of solar oscillation and atmospheric-wave diagnostics.
Develop reproducible workflows for scientific data analysis, visualization, documentation, and version control.
Co-authored peer-reviewed work on magnetic-field modulation of atmospheric gravity waves in the lower solar atmosphere.

Post-Baccalaureate Researcher

Amherst College

Jul 2022 - Sep 2022

Amherst, MA

Advisor: Prof. Katherine B. Follette

Continued analysis of second-to-minute timescale Hα variability in transitional disk host-stars.
Advanced thesis-derived accretion variability research for manuscript development within the Giant Accreting Protoplanet Survey.

Senior Thesis Researcher

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Sep 2021 - May 2022

Amherst, MA

Advisor: Prof. Katherine B. Follette

Thesis: Accretion Variability in Transitional Disk Host-Stars: Second-to-Minute Timescale Hα Variability in the Giant Accreting Protoplanet Survey

Investigated short-timescale Hα variability as a tracer of accretion variability in transitional disk host-stars.
Presented thesis results at departmental, regional, and national astronomy meetings.

Five College Astronomy Department Summer Researcher

Amherst College

Jul 2021 - Sep 2021

Amherst, MA

Advisors: Prof. Katherine B. Follette and Dr. Connor Robinson

Contributed to Giant Accreting Protoplanet Survey research on accreting protoplanets and disk-host star variability.
Presented research at the Amherst College Summer Research Poster Session and Five College Astronomy Department Research Presentations.

Publications

Vesa, O., Morales, J. M., Jackiewicz, J., Vigeesh, G., & Reardon, K. 2025, ApJ, 992, 201, Atmospheric Gravity Waves Modulated by the Magnetic Field Configuration.
Follette, K. B., Close, L. M., Males, J. R., Ward-Duong, K., Balmer, W. O., Morales, J. M., et al. 2022, arXiv:2211.02109, The Giant Accreting Protoplanet Survey (GAPlanetS).
Balmer, W. O., Follette, K. B., Close, L. M., Males, J. R., De Rosa, R. J., Morales, J. M., et al. 2022, arXiv:2206.00687, Improved Orbital Constraints and Hα Photometric Monitoring of HD 142527 B.
Morales, J. M., Balmer, W. O., & Follette, K. B. Hα Variability in the Giant Accreting Protoplanet Survey. Manuscript in preparation.

Conferences & Presentations

Waves and Instabilities in the Solar Atmosphere, Monte Porzio Catone, Italy. Presented.Oct 2024
SACNAS Diversity in STEM Conference, Phoenix, AZ. Attended.Oct 2023
SACNAS Diversity in STEM Conference, San Juan, PR. Presented.Oct 2022
2022 Northeast Star and Planet Formation Meeting, Middletown, CT. Attended.Jul 2022
Cool Stars Conference, Toulouse, France. Presented.Jul 2022
American Astronomical Society Meeting 240, Pasadena, CA. Presented.Jun 2022
Amherst College Physics and Astronomy Senior Thesis Talk, Amherst, MA. Presented.May 2022
Five College Astronomy Department Thesis Picnic Talk, Amherst, MA. Presented.May 2022
SACNAS Diversity in STEM Conference, Virtual. Attended.Nov 2021
Amherst College Summer Research Poster Session, Amherst, MA. Presented.Sep 2021
Five College Astronomy Department Research Presentation, Amherst, MA. Presented.Aug 2021

Teaching & Mentorship

Private Tutor

Independent

Fall 2024 - Present

Provide one-on-one instruction in Algebra I–II, Precalculus, Trigonometry, Calculus I–II, Introductory Statistics, Physics I, Introductory Astronomy, Observational Astronomy, Modern Astrophysics, and Numerical Methods.

Teaching Assistant, Summer Science Program in Astrophysics

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Summer 2024

Chapel Hill, NC

Tutored advanced international high-school students in physics, calculus, and Python.
Delivered instruction in observational astronomy and trained students on research-grade telescopes.
Supervised asteroid-tracking data acquisition.
Modeled professional academic communication, collaboration, and networking practices.

FRIENDS Mentorship Program

Astronomy Graduate Student Organization, NMSU

Jan 2023 - May 2025

Las Cruces, NM

Liaison to Undergraduate Affairs

Redesigned FRIENDS into a structured research-preparatory mentorship pipeline for undergraduate astronomy students.
Mentored undergraduate Daniela Reyes in research readiness, expectations, accountability, and academic communication.
Developed mentor-mentee agreements and individualized development plans to support goal-setting and follow-through.

Introduction to Astronomy

New Mexico State University

Aug 2022 - Present

Las Cruces, NM

Lab Instructor

Lead undergraduate astronomy laboratory instruction and support students in applying quantitative and observational concepts.

Astronomy Help Desk

University of Massachusetts Amherst

2021 - 2022

Amherst, MA

Tutor

Tutored undergraduates in astronomy problem-solving, quantitative reasoning, and course preparation.

TRIO Upward Bound

University of Massachusetts Boston

2019 - 2020

Boston and Paxton, MA

Instructor, Tutor, and Teaching Assistant

Supported college-preparatory STEM instruction for first-generation and low-income high-school students.

Service & Leadership

Inclusive Astronomy Coordinator

Astronomy Graduate Student Organization, NMSU

Jan 2023 - May 2025

Las Cruces, NM

Led restructuring of Inclusive Astronomy into an action-oriented equity initiative within the astronomy department.
Designed a department-wide Individual Development Plan framework for graduate-student career planning and mentorship accountability.

AstroBetter Contributor

Scholarly Communication

Oct 2023 - Feb 2024

Authored a five-part series on scientific workflows: Google Calendar, Zotero, Git/GitHub, Visual Studio Code, and Notion.

Teaching Academy

New Mexico State University

Aug 2022 - Present

Las Cruces, NM

Sustaining Member

Letters to a Pre-Scientist

Scientist Pen-Pal

Aug 2022 - Present

Hidden Figures Workshop

TRIO Upward Bound, UMass Boston

2020

Boston, MA

Founder and Facilitator

Outreach

Completed 12+ hours of AGSO STEM outreach at New Mexico State University.
Executive Producer, So You Wanna Be an Astronomer... documentary, in progress.
Observing Assistant, Star Party, Las Cruces, NM, Oct 2022.
Panelist, Research Experience for Undergraduates Q&A Panel, Amherst, MA, Sep 2021.
Outreach Coordinator, Explore the Solar System: Amazing Facts & History of the Solar System, Northampton, MA, Jul 2021.
Observing Night Assistant, Modern Astronomy Summer Pre-Course, Amherst, MA, Jul 2021.

Technical & Observational Skills

Programming: Python; MATLAB; JavaScript; Bash; Zsh; Git/GitHub; LaTeX; HTML.
Scientific Computing: Solar and stellar data analysis; scientific visualization; reproducible research workflows; documentation and version control.
AI Workflows: Applied LLMs for research workflow automation, code generation and debugging, scientific data visualization, documentation, and version-controlled development.
Software Development: Developer of AstroStack, a research workflow platform for scientific project organization and automation.
Certified Observer: Tortugas Mountain Observatory; Apache Point Observatory.
Observing Experience: Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope, Cerro Pachón, Chile; Amherst College Observatory, Amherst, MA.

Awards & Honors

New Mexico State University Diversity Award Scholarship.May 2023
AAS Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Award Competition Medalist.2022
Webber Voyager Graduate Fellowship, $7,500/yr.2022
SACNAS Travel Scholarship.2022
UMass Amherst Dean's List Honors.2021 - 2022
John and Abigail Adams Scholarship, $1,400/yr.2017

Languages

English, native fluency | Spanish, native proficiency | Arabic, beginner

Get in touch

Contact

For research, teaching, scientific collaboration, and professional correspondence.

jmmorales@nmsu.edu

New Mexico State University · Las Cruces, New Mexico

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