Jillian Rastinejad NASA Einstein Fellow

Welcome!

I am a NASA Einstein Fellow working in time domain and multi-messenger astronomy. I am based at the University of Maryland, College Park. I am an active member of the Searches After Gravitational Waves Using ARizona Observatories (SAGUARO) Collaboration. I earned my PhD in Astronomy from Northwestern University in September 2025, where I was a Northwestern Presidential Fellow.

Research

I leverage rapid-response observations from premier telescopes (like Gemini-North Observatory, pictured here!) to study the astrophysical origins of the heavy elements, including silver and gold. My research aims to answer questions such as:

  • What are the explosions that create heavy r-process elements?
  • What can the explosions of massive stars and compact object mergers teach us about black holes and neutron stars?
  • How do these explosions' properties, like mass and composition, connect to their high-energy or gravitational wave features?
  • What physics drives the emerging population of Fast X-ray Transients?

Home
In front of Gemini-North Observatory
Mauna Kea landscape
Telescopes on the summit of Mauna Kea, viewed from Gemini Observatory.

Publications

First-Author:

250108a/SN 2025kg: Observations of the most nearby Broad-Line Type Ic Supernova following an Einstein Probe Fast X-ray Transient.
J. C. Rastinejad, A. J. Levan, P. G. Jonker et al.
2025, ApJL, 988, L13

Uniform Modeling of Observed Kilonovae: Implications for Diversity and the Progenitors of Merger-Driven Long Gamma-Ray Bursts.
J. C. Rastinejad, W. Fong, C. D. Kilpatrick et al.
2025, ApJ, 979, 190

A Hubble Space Telescope Search for r-Process Nucleosynthesis in Gamma-ray Burst Supernovae.
J. C. Rastinejad, W. Fong, A. J. Levan et al.
2024, ApJ, 968, 14.

A Kilonova Following a Long-Duration Gamma-ray Burst at 350 Mpc.
J. C. Rastinejad, B. P. Gompertz, A. J. Levan et al.
2022, Nature, 612, 7939.

A Systematic Exploration of Kilonova Candidates from Neutron Star Mergers During the Third Gravitational Wave Observing Run.
J. C. Rastinejad, K. Paterson, W. Fong et al.
2022, ApJ, 927, 50.

Probing Kilonova Ejecta Properties Using a Catalog of Short Gamma-Ray Burst Observations.
J. C. Rastinejad, W. Fong, C. D. Kilpatrick et al.
2021, ApJ, 916, 89.