Campus Directory

Division Baskin School of Engineering

Department/College/Unit Applied Mathematics

Title Postdoctoral Scholar

Affiliation Staff

Staff Type Postdoctoral Scholar

Primary Office Location Jack Baskin Engineering Building
XXX

Mail Stop SOE2

Biography, Education and Training

I graduated cum laude in physics and mathematics from Cornell University in 2015 and received my Ph.D. in Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences in 2022 from the University of Colorado Boulder, advised by Prof. Juri Toomre. Since Fall 2022, I have been studying Astronomy and Astrophysics in Applied Mathematics with Prof. Nicholas Brummell, as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow. I am studying the behavior of stellar dynamos (partially convective G-type solar-like stars and fully convective M dwarfs) as they spin down.

Summary of Expertise

Stellar dynamo theory, astrophysical fluid dynamics, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), MHD simulations. 

Research Interests

stellar magnetic fields; stellar convection; stellar differential rotation; instabilities, waves, and turbulence

Teaching Interests

I was a teaching assistant for Accelerated Intro to Astronomy II at the University of Colorado for two semesters and hope to continue teaching udnergraduate astrophysics at some point in the future. Under the NSF, I am funded to establish a multi-disciplinary peer mentoring program among grad students and postdocs, joint between Applied Mathematics and Astrophysics. 

Awards, Honors and Grants

2022–Present   National Science Foundation Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship

2019–2022   Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science Technology

2021   Richard N. Thomas Award, for outstanding research by a JILA Graduate Student    

2017–2019   George Ellery Hale Graduate Fellowship (National Solar Observatory)      

2015–2017   CU Boulder Chancellor Fellowship                       

2017   Carl Hansen Graduate Fellowship, for outstanding research in stellar astrophysics                              

2015–Present   Phi Beta Kappa, Cornell University            

2014   NASA/New York Space Grant Consortium Award 

Selected Publications

Refereed Publications

2022 Matilsky, L.I., Hindman, B.W., Featherstone, N.A., Blume, C., & Toomre, J., Astrophys. J. Lett., in press, arXiv:2206.12920 (12pp)

Confinement of the Solar Tachocline by Dynamo Action in the Radiative Interior

2022 Stejko, A.M., Kosovichev, A.G., Featherstone, N.A., Guerrero, G. Hindman, B.W., Matilsky, L.I., and Warnecke, J., Astrophys. J., 934, 161 (11pp)

Constraining Global Solar Models through Helioseismic Analysis

2020 Matilsky, L.I., Hindman, B.W., and Toomre, J., Astrophys. J., 898, 111 (13pp)

Revisiting the Sun’s Strong Differential Rotation along Radial Lines

2020 Matilsky, L.I. and Toomre, J., Astrophys. J., 892, 106 (19pp)

Exploring Bistability in the Cycles of the Solar Dynamo through Global Simulations

2019 Matilsky, L.I., Hindman, B.W., and Toomre, J., Astrophys. J., 871, 217 (14pp)

The Role of Downflows in Establishing Solar Near-Surface Shear

2018 Matilsky, L.I.  Dyda, S., Lovelace, R.V.E., & Lii, P.S., Mon. Not. R. Astr. Soc., 480, 3671 (9pp)

Rossby Vortices in Thin Magnetized Accretion Discs

Proceedings Papers

2021 Matilsky, L.I. and Toomre, J., in Proc. The 20.5th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun (CS20.5), edited by S. J. Wolk (6pp)

Building and Maintaining a Solar Tachocline through Convective Dynamo Action

2020 Matilsky, L.I. and Toomre, J., in Proc. The Dynamics of the Sun & Stars: Honoring the Life & Work of Michael Thompson, edited by M. J. P. F. G. Monteiro (3pp)

Dynamo States with Strikingly Different Symmetries Coexisting in Global Solar Simulations

2018 Matilsky, L.I., Hindman, B.W., and Toomre, J., in Proc. The 20th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun (CS20), edited by S. J. Wolk (5pp)

Exploring the Influence of Density Contrast on Solar Near-Surface Shear