Degree: Ph.D.
Position: Post-Doc
Division: Astrophysics II (Warsaw)Office: 103
Phone: +48 223296103
Personal website: https://nikkimiller.space
E-mail: nmiller@camk.edu.pl
Nikki Miller is a postdoctoral researcher at the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center (CAMK) in Warsaw, where she is a member of the international Araucaria team working on the cosmic distance scale. Her research focuses on measuring the fundamental properties of eclipsing binary stars, building a sample of very accurately-measured benchmark stars that will be useful for testing and calibrating stellar models and results from large-scale spectroscopic surveys.
Dr. Miller studied Physics at the University of Warwick, graduating with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Physics degree in 2018. Her Masters' research looked at the interactions between exoplanets and their stars, particularly the X-ray and EUV irradiation and evaporation of the planetary atmospheres. During her PhD studies, Nikki worked with Dr. Pierre Maxted to develop a new method for measuring the fundamental effective temperatures of stars in detached eclipsing binary systems. The first paper in the series describes the method and its application to the well-characterised binary AI Phoenicis. During this time, Dr. Miller began contributing to the PLATO Benchmark Stars group, along with supporting the EBLM and BEBOP projects with observations and scientific input. She also designed and implemented the observation scheduler on the Xamidimura telescopes, which are located at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO).
A full list of her publications are available from the NASA ADS database.