News | Rahul Ethirajulu

Rahul Ethirajulu speaking beside the title slide for Uncovering Hidden Dwarf Novae in TESS.

Presentation slide showing the white dwarf, accretion disk, hot spot, and donor star in a cataclysmic variable.

Rahul Ethirajulu at the podium during the AAVSO Annual Meeting.

November 2026

Presented at the 115th AAVSO Annual Meeting

I gave a talk titled Uncovering Hidden Dwarf Novae in TESS at the 115th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), held November 7–8, 2026, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I shared how our team identifies dwarf novae in TESS data and characterizes their outburst timings and orbital periods.

One of the highlights was meeting amateur astronomers. Thank you to Bailey and Bill Dillon for offering to help observe our candidate sources. Connections I made through the presentation helped me obtain additional observational data for sources our team is studying.

Rahul Ethirajulu receiving the Bucy Graduate Scholarship at the Texas Tech Physics and Astronomy annual banquet.

Rahul Ethirajulu shaking hands with Dr. Sanati during the Bucy Scholarship presentation.

Attendees gathered around a table at the Texas Tech Physics and Astronomy banquet.

April 2026

Received the Bucy Graduate Scholarship

I was honored to receive the Bucy Graduate Scholarship during the Texas Tech University Physics and Astronomy Department Annual Banquet and 100th anniversary celebration.

This recognition, along with support from the department and my research advisor Michael Fausnaugh, is a meaningful encouragement as I continue my doctoral research.

September 2025

Presented at the First Texas Quantum Summit 2025

I was honored to present at the First Texas Quantum Summit 2025 at Texas A&M University, where our team showcased a poster on quantum machine learning, retrieval-augmented generation, and continual learning in dynamic systems.

This work was developed in collaboration with Gaurav Karwa and Muhammad Haseeb, with guidance from Dr. Paul Bjerk, and explored a hybrid QNN-RAG framework using ICU patient data as a proof of concept.

Rahul Ethirajulu and collaborators presenting their poster at the First Texas Quantum Summit 2025.

Rahul Ethirajulu and collaborators discussing their poster with attendees at the Texas Quantum Summit 2025.

Rahul Ethirajulu with collaborators and attendees at the Texas Quantum Summit 2025.

Three attendees posing together at the Texas Quantum Summit 2025.

Rahul Ethirajulu receiving the Peter Seibt Memorial Scholarship certificate during the 2025 Physics Banquet.

Five attendees posing together at the 2025 Texas Tech Physics Banquet.

April 2025

Received the Peter Seibt Memorial Scholarship

I was honored to receive the Peter Seibt Memorial Scholarship during the 2025 Physics Banquet at the Frazier Pavilion Plaza at Texas Tech University.

This award recognizes outstanding graduate students in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and I am grateful for the support and encouragement of the department and faculty as I continue my academic journey.