Portrait
Zachary Stone
Graduate Research Assistant
UIUC | Dept. of Astronomy
About Me

Hi! I'm a Ph.D. candidate in astronomy at the University of Illinois. My work focuses on supermassive black holes in active galaxies known as active galactic nuclei, especially their variability over time, using large ground-based and space-based observatories across the globe.

When I'm not coding into the earky hours of the morning, I'm usually enjoying a cup of joe with a (carefully curated) vinyl record playing. I'm a fan of pickleball and watching the NY Mets (at least when they're doing well). Always happy to road trip for a good concert!

Curriculum Vitae
Education
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    Dept. of Astronomy
    Ph.D. Candidate
    Aug. 2021 - present
  • Stony Brook University
    Stony Brook University
    B.S. in Astronomy
    B.S. in Physics
    Minor in Mathematics
    Aug. 2017 - May 2021
Honors & Awards
  • Award Name 2
    2024
  • NOIRLab Travel Award
    2023
  • Center for AstroPhysical Surveys Graduate Fellowship
    2022
Memberships
  • Dark Energy Survey
    Dark Energy Survey
  • Sloan Digital Sky Survey
    Sloan Digital Sky Survey
  • Legacy Survey of Space and Time
    Legacy Survey of Space and Time
  • National Center for Supercomputing Applications
    National Center for Supercomputing Applications
News
2026
Went to the AAS Meeting in Phoenix, AZ
Jan 05
2025
Went to the 2025 SDSS-V Collaboration Meeting at MPIA
Jun 19
2024
Went to the 2024 SDSS-V Collaboration Meeting at NMSU
Jun 19
2023
Visited AURA and DECam in Chile
Sep 09
Passed the preliminary exam for my Ph.D.
Jul 04
Went to the Restless Nature of AGN - 10 Years Later conference in Naples, Italy
Jun 14
2021
Moving to Illinois!
Aug 09
Selected Publications (view all )
NEXUS: A Search for Nuclear Variability with the First Two JWST NIRCam Epochs
NEXUS: A Search for Nuclear Variability with the First Two JWST NIRCam Epochs

Zachary Stone, Yue Shen, et al.

submitted (2025)

We perform difference image photometry between thw first two NIRCam epochs of the NEXUS JWST survey on high-redshift nuclear transients.

[ADS]

NEXUS: A Search for Nuclear Variability with the First Two JWST NIRCam Epochs

Zachary Stone, Yue Shen, et al.

submitted (2025)

We perform difference image photometry between thw first two NIRCam epochs of the NEXUS JWST survey on high-redshift nuclear transients.

[ADS]

The SDSS-V Black Hole Mapper Reverberation Mapping Project: Multi-Line Dynamical Modeling of a Highly Variable Active Galactic Nucleus with Decade-long Light Curves
The SDSS-V Black Hole Mapper Reverberation Mapping Project: Multi-Line Dynamical Modeling of a Highly Variable Active Galactic Nucleus with Decade-long Light Curves

Zachary Stone, Yue Shen, et al.

ApJ, 991, 218 (2025)

We model the geometric and kinematics of gas within the broad-line region of a particularly variable quasar with simultaneous photometry and spectroscopy from the SDSS Black Hole Mapper.

[ADS]

The SDSS-V Black Hole Mapper Reverberation Mapping Project: Multi-Line Dynamical Modeling of a Highly Variable Active Galactic Nucleus with Decade-long Light Curves

Zachary Stone, Yue Shen, et al.

ApJ, 991, 218 (2025)

We model the geometric and kinematics of gas within the broad-line region of a particularly variable quasar with simultaneous photometry and spectroscopy from the SDSS Black Hole Mapper.

[ADS]

Temperature Fluctuations in Quasar Accretion Discs from Spectroscopic Monitoring Data
Temperature Fluctuations in Quasar Accretion Discs from Spectroscopic Monitoring Data

Zachary Stone, Yue Shen

MNRAS, 524, 4521 (2023)

We use mutli-epoch spectroscopy of ~1000 SDSS quasars to measure temperature fluctuations within the accretion disk, finding evidence for slow-moving waves generated within the disk.

[ADS] [Code]

Temperature Fluctuations in Quasar Accretion Discs from Spectroscopic Monitoring Data

Zachary Stone, Yue Shen

MNRAS, 524, 4521 (2023)

We use mutli-epoch spectroscopy of ~1000 SDSS quasars to measure temperature fluctuations within the accretion disk, finding evidence for slow-moving waves generated within the disk.

[ADS] [Code]

Optical Variability of Quasars with 20-Yr Photometric Light Curves
Optical Variability of Quasars with 20-Yr Photometric Light Curves

Zachary Stone, Yue Shen, et al.

MNRAS, 514, 164 (2022)

We measure the optical photometric variability of nearly 200 quasars in the Stripe-82 legacy field with 20 year long light curves across multiple surveys.

[ADS]

Optical Variability of Quasars with 20-Yr Photometric Light Curves

Zachary Stone, Yue Shen, et al.

MNRAS, 514, 164 (2022)

We measure the optical photometric variability of nearly 200 quasars in the Stripe-82 legacy field with 20 year long light curves across multiple surveys.

[ADS]

All publications