My name is Ryan Walker. I am an astrophotographer, astronomer, and life-long student.
I am currently a PhD student in the Physics department at the University of Cincinnati. Prior to joining the physics program in Cincinnati, I worked with Dr. Lindsey Bleem on detecting brightest cluster galaxies in galaxy clusters using machine learning. I graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor with a Bachelor of Science in Astronomy and Astrophysics and Interdisciplinary Physics. I have been an amateur astrophotographer since early 2020 when I bought my first DSLR camera and started taking my own pictures of the Universe. I am also a musician, having played guitar since 2013 and picked up a few other instruments since then. In my freetime, I enjoy reading, coding, astrophotography (weather permitting), hiking, producing music, and spending time with friends.
I have done research in a variety of areas including high energy astrophysics, strong gravitational lensing, asteroid orbital stability,
solar imaging, photometric redshifts, galaxy clusters, and machine learning. Previously, I am worked on using machine learning to detect
brightest cluster galaxies in galaxy clusters
as the number of known galaxy clusters is increasing rapidly with new detector technology. My previous project was conducted as part of the
Department of Energy's Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists' Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships program at Argonne
National Laboratory.
Currently, I am not actively researching during my first year of graduate school, but I will be returning to research starting my second year.
Click here for more details about my research.
All of the astronomy pictures on this site are taken by me (unless otherwise specified)! Below is a gallery of some of my best images. Feel free to ask questions!
Feel free to contact me with any inquires you may have and
I will do my best to respond in a timely manner.
Click here to send me an email.
In case the link doesn't work, my email is astrorya (at) umich (dot) edu.