About me

I am an astrophysicist starting my PhD at University of Waterloo in Fall 2026. My research focuses on the study of rocky exoplanets orbiting M-dwarf stars. My master's thesis project at the University of Montreal involved creating a new data analysis pipeline (Erebus) for interpreting JWST MIRI photometry data in order to investigate the secondary eclipses of these rocky worlds, allowing us to place constraints on possible atmospheric and surface compositions. At Waterloo I plan to continue the study of rocky worlds, while also investigating the possible atmospheres of high temperature lava worlds. Beyond JWST, I will analyze data from the Roman Space Telescope when it is launched in order to study the overall prevelence of rocky worlds outside of our solar system.

Publications

First author

• N. J. Connors et al. (2026) "GJ 3929 b as the First Complete Rocky Worlds DDT Data Set" Accepted to ApJL; arXiv:2606.07511
• N. J. Connors et al. (2025) "Uniform Reanalysis of JWST MIRI 15 μm Exoplanet Eclipse Observations Using Frame-normalized Principal Component Analysis" ApJL, Volume 989, Issue 1, id.L11, 11 pp.; arXiv:2507.02052

Nth author

• C. Monaghan, ..., N. J. Connors, ... (2026) "Uniform Reinterpretation of Rocky Exoplanet Secondary Eclipse Observations and the Impact of Stellar and Orbital Uncertainties" The Astronomical Journal, Volume 171, Issue 5, id.319, 20 pp.; arXiv:2604.15421
• E. J. Lee, N. J. Connors (2020) "Primordial Radius Gap and Potentially Broad Core Mass Distributions of Super-Earths and Sub-Neptunes" ApJ 908 32; arXiv:2008.01105

Education

PhD in Physics (University of Waterloo) - Accepted Fall 2026.
MSc in Physics (University of Montreal) - 2024-2026 (expected)
BSc Joint Major Physics and Computer Science (McGill University) - 2018-2022