Welcome!

I'm currently a Brinson Prize Fellow in Observational Astrophysics at the University of Chicago/Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics.

I am broadly interested in the formation of the first stars and galaxies, the formation of the first heavy elements, and the formation of the early Milky Way. I observe and characterize nearby stars and galaxies that formed in the first ~1 billion years of the universe to understand these processes, in an approach is known as "Near-field cosmology" or "Galactic archaeology".

For my recent projects, I have been interested in mapping the ancient stellar populations of the Milky Way, testing the prevalence of the earliest galactic mergers, and understanding to what extent the evolution of the earliest chemical elements is universal. You can read more about my specific projects in the projects tab above, or in these recent press releases (1, 2, 3). If you have any questions or want to get in touch, feel free to contact me at achiti@uchicago.edu!