CV

Cailin Plunkett

View PDF (November 2026)

Research Interests

Probing black hole properties and binary star evolution using gravitational-wave data. Emphasis on both data-driven and simulation-based methods.

Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Cambridge, MA
Ph.D. candidate in Physics (advisor: Salvatore Vitale)
Aug. 2023 – May 2028 (exp.)

Amherst College — Amherst, MA
B.A. in Physics and Mathematics
Summa cum laude with distinction (GPA: 4.0/4.0) Sept. 2019 – May 2023

Awards, Fellowships, and Honors

National

Graduate Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation (2025–28)
LeRoy Apker Award, American Physical Society (2023)
Phi Beta Kappa Membership (2023)
Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship (2022)

Institutional

Kellogg Fellowship ($130,000 over three years), Amherst College (2025–28)
Three Minute Thesis, People’s Choice Award, Amherst College (2023)
Bancroft Prize in Public Speaking, Amherst College (2023)
William Warren Stifler Prize in Physics, Amherst College (2023)
Mary Dailey Irvine Outstanding Thesis, Five College Astronomy Dept. (2023)
Summer Research Fellowship, University of Michigan (2022)
LIGO Summer Research Fellowship, Caltech (2021)
Porter Prize in Astronomy, Amherst College (2020)

Publications

First-author papers

C. Plunkett, M. Zevin, S. Vitale.
“Surprisingly normal? GW241011 and GW241110 in the context of hierarchical merger classification”.
Submitted to Physical Review D (2026).
C. Plunkett, J. Heinzel, N. Wolfe, D. Gerosa, S. Vitale.
“Spinformation: do gravitational-wave events carry information beyond effective spins?”
Submitted to Physical Review D (2026).
C. Plunkett, T. Callister, M. Zevin, S. Vitale.
“Signatures of a subpopulation of hierarchical mergers in the GWTC-4 gravitational-wave dataset”.
Physical Review Letters 137, 021404 (2026).
Highlighted as a Phys. Rev. Lett. Editors’ Suggestion, described in a Physics Viewpoint, written up in Astrobites, and covered in Scientific American.
C. Plunkett, M. Mould, S. Vitale.
“Constraining Population III stellar populations with next-generation gravitational-wave observatories”.
Physical Review D 112, 023039 (2025).
C. Plunkett, K. Follette, G.-D. Marleau, E. Nielsen.
“Accreting companion occurrence rates using a new method to compute emission-line survey sensitivity”.
Astronomical Journal 169, 262 (2025).
C. Plunkett, S. Hourihane, K. Chatziioannou.
“Concurrent estimation of noise and compact-binary signal parameters in gravitational-wave data”.
Physical Review D 106, 104021 (2022).

Co-authored papers

S. Agrawal et al., including C. Plunkett.
“Red vs. Blue: How metallicity shapes black hole dynamics and mergers in dense star clusters”.
Submitted to The Astrophysical Journal (2026).
M. Mould, J. Heinzel, S. Álvarez-López, C. Plunkett, N. Wolfe, S. Vitale.
“Measurement prospects for the pair-instability mass cutoff with gravitational waves”.
Physical Review D 113, 103021 (2026).
S. Betti et al., including C. Plunkett.
“The Comprehensive Archive of Substellar and Planetary Accretion Rates”.
Astronomical Journal 166, 262 (2023).

Presentations

Scientific

Kavli Astrophysics Symposium (contributed talk) — Cambridge, UK
Toward asynchronous multi-messenger black-hole astrophysics
Sept. 2026

AAS 248 Summer Meeting (invited talk, special session) — Pasadena, CA
Next-generation gravitational-wave observatories: astrophysics with compact binaries across cosmic time
June 2026

Caltech LIGO Seminar — Pasadena, CA
Black hole formation histories with gravitational waves across cosmic time
June 2026

APS Global Physics Summit (contributed talk) — Denver, CO
What we talk about when we talk about hierarchical mergers
Mar. 2026

University of Tokyo RESCEU Seminar — Tokyo, JP
Black hole populations with gravitational waves: then, now, and the future
Jan. 2026

APS Global Physics Summit (contributed talk) — Anaheim, CA
Unveiling the stellar origins of high-redshift black hole mergers with next-generation gravitational-wave observatories
Mar. 2025

APS April Meeting (invited talk) — Sacramento, CA
Protoplanet population properties: a new method to compute survey sensitivity
Apr. 2024

APS April Meeting (contributed talk) — New York, NY
Marginalizing over noise uncertainty in gravitational-wave parameter estimation
Apr. 2022

Outreach and Engagement

Amherst College — Amherst, MA
Physics and Astronomy graduate school panel
Oct. 2026

Mount Holyoke College — Mount Holyoke, MA
Astronomy and Planetary Science graduate school panel
Mar. 2026

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Physics — Worcester, MA
Women and Gender Minorities in Physics panel
Feb. 2026

Leadership, Outreach, and Engagement

MIT Physics Graduate Admissions Advisory Council
Jan. 2024 – present

Co-chair (since Aug. 2025) of an advisory council aiming to improve equity in admissions and ensure all talented students receive due consideration.
Organize webinars on the graduate application process, reaching 200+ students yearly.
Coordinate and mentor for MIT’s graduate application assistance program, through which I have individually supported 10+ students.

MIT Summer Research Program
Jan. 2024 – present

Serve on admissions committee for a summer program targeting students with limited access to research.
Improve access to career preparation and networking resources.

Climate and Community Committee
Oct. 2020 – May 2023

Co-chair of Physics and Astronomy Dept. committee charged with addressing systemic access issues and institutional barriers to success in physics and astronomy, both in and beyond the Department.

Spectra Physics & Astronomy Club
Sept. 2021 – May 2023

Ran a student support club in physics.
Designed and led a mentorship program and research internship symposium for two years.
Developed an application peer-review workshop.

Amherst Observatory
Sept. 2022 – May 2023

Student manager of the observatory, which hosts five telescopes for teaching and recreation.
Led training sessions and programmed middle school outreach events.