Headshot of Courtney Carreira

Courtney Carreira

(she/her)


PhD Student
University of California, Santa Cruz
ccarreir@ucsc.edu



About Me

I am an observational astronomer, with a particular interest in the structural evolution of galaxies across cosmic time.

I am a third-year PhD student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Currently, I’m working with Professor Brant Robertson in the UCSC Computational Astrophysics group, using data from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) to study galaxy morphology and evolution. In particular, I analyze the surface brightness profiles of galaxies across a wide range of redshifts, using GPU-enabled Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to maximize on statistical robustness while maintaining computational efficiency.

I earned my Master of Science in Astronomy & Astrophysics from UCSC in June 2025, and my Bachelor of Science in Physics, with a minor in Applied Mathematics & Statistics, from Johns Hopkins University in May 2023.

In my free time, I enjoy cooking and baking - along the way, I’m digitizing all of my family’s old recipes from Cuba!

Publications

  1. Earliest Galaxies in the JADES Origins Field: Luminosity Function and Cosmic Star Formation Rate Density 300 Myr after the Big Bang
    Brant Robertson, Benjamin D. Johnson, Sandro Tacchella et al., including Courtney Carreira
    The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 970, July 2024.
    PDF Source Press Release BibTex

Presentations

  1. The Effect of Spiral Arms on Molecular Cloud Formation in M33
    Courtney Carreira, Eric Koch, Sarah Jeffreson
    American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, January 2023.
    Source BibTex
  2. Lunar Crater Maturity Analysis in Python: Developing a Toolkit for Ejecta Analysis
    K. A. C. Carr, O. A. Azubuike, A. T. Tran, C. C. Carreira, C. A. Alfaro et al.
    5th Planetary Data Workshop \& Planetary Science Informatics \& Analytics, June 2021.
    PDF BibTex
  3. The Effect of Isotopic Composition and Surface Residence Times on Lunar Volatile Transport
    C. Alfaro, A. Tran, K. A. Carr, O. Azubuike, C. Carreira et al.
    52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, March 2021.
    PDF BibTex
  4. Lunar Crater Maturity Analysis in Python: Developing a Toolkit for Ejecta Analysis
    K. A. C. Carr, O. A. Azubuike, A. T. Tran, C. C. Carreira, C. A. Alfaro et al.
    52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, March 2021.
    PDF BibTex

Courtney Carreira during her iPoster presentation at the AAS Winter Meeting in January 2023. She is wearing a white and black striped sweater, and gesturing at the screen behind her which displays her iPoster. Courtney gesturing wildly at presenting her iPoster at the AAS Winter Meeting in January 2023, in Seattle, WA. (Photo by © CorporateEventImages/Todd Buchanan 2023.)

In the Press

I was featured in “Catching Ancient Stars Beyond Space and Time” by Chiara Villanueva, a graduate of the Science Communication Master’s Program at UC Santa Cruz. This project included a podcast interview, “Conducting Science with the James Webb Space Telescope as an Early-Career Researcher”.

You can hear me, and many other astronomers, describe the impact of the James Webb Space Telescope on studies of the universe in this video, “The James Webb Space Telescope Reveals the Early Universe”, put together by the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Contact

Email: ccarreir@ucsc.edu

Office: Interdisciplinary Sciences Building, Office 291

Mailing Address:
    Courtney Carreira
    MS: UCO / Lick Observatory
    1156 High Street
    Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Looking for a fun galaxies-related activity? I’m a huge fan of http://mygalaxies.co.uk/, which lets you write any text message in real SDSS galaxy images!

SDSS galaxis spelling out 'hello world'.