Carter Flayhart

Carter Flayhart

Graduate Student • Rochester Institute of Technology

I am an astrophysics graduate student working on high redshift galaxy evolution, focusing on quiescent galaxies, utilizing the COSMOS-Web dataset.

GitHub

About Me

Hi, I’m Carter.

I’m a graduate student at Rochester Institute of Technology. My research focuses on high redshift galaxy evolution, particularly quiescent galaxies, using the COSMOS-Web dataset.

I’m pursuing my Ph.D. in Astrophysical Sciences & Technology at RIT, where I earned my M.S. in 2025. Before coming to Rochester, I completed my B.S. in Physics & Astronomy at Case Western Reserve University in 2023.

I work with Dr. Jeyhan Kartaltepe in the Lab for Multiwavelength Astrophysics. Alongside research, I’ve taught and mentored students through physics courses and RIT’s summer Multimessenger Astrophysics REU.

Away from research, I enjoy climbing, hiking and walking, travel, and watching sports. My interest in sports also feeds into my personal analysis projects.

Education

  • Ph.D., Astrophysical Sciences & Technology — Rochester Institute of Technology, 2023–present
  • M.S., Astrophysical Sciences & Technology — Rochester Institute of Technology, 2023–2025
  • B.S., Physics & Astronomy — Case Western Reserve University, 2019–2023

Read my CV (PDF, opens in a new tab)

Research

High redshift galaxy evolution

I use COSMOS-Web and ancillary photometry in the COSMOS field to identify high redshift quiescent galaxy candidates, investigate their properties with SED fitting, and pursue spectroscopic follow-up.

Quiescent galaxies in COSMOS-Web

For my master’s thesis, advised by Dr. Jeyhan Kartaltepe, I selected quiescent galaxy candidates at z > 2 and measured their number densities. COSMOS-Web’s large area helps reduce uncertainty in these measurements and extends them to higher redshifts. The most distant photometric candidates still need spectroscopic confirmation.

Collaborative survey work

I contribute to the CLUTCH HST program’s data reduction and cataloging teams, and to spectrophotometric modelling for CAPERS, a JWST legacy spectroscopic program. My work includes photometric and spectroscopic analysis, data reduction, and SED fitting with CIGALE.

Earlier research

My undergraduate capstone with Dr. Chris Mihos used spatially resolved MaNGA spectroscopy to study elliptical galaxies and test ideas about galaxy formation. At CWRU, I also developed Python tools and astronomical dataset documentation for teaching, and worked on early-stage benchmarking of quantum processors.

Selected proposals & awards

  • Constraining the Population of High-z Quiescent Galaxies — one night on Keck I/MOSFIRE, Cycle 2025B ($16,300).
  • AAS International Travel Grant — Spring 2025 ($1,500), supporting presentation of my research at the COSMOS Conference in Marseille.
  • CWRU Richard F. Sigal Physics Scholarship — Spring 2022 ($7,500).
  • CWRU Albert A. Michelson Prize — Spring 2022.
Thousands of galaxies in the COSMOS-Web field, with a group of bright, gold-coloured galaxies near the centre.
A view into the COSMOS-Web field. Image details and credit below.

Publications

Source: SciX / NASA ADS · Checked · 14 papers

  1. COSMOS2025: The COSMOS-Web galaxy catalog of photometry, morphology, redshifts, and physical parameters from JWST, HST, and ground-based imaging

    Shuntov, Marko; Akins, Hollis B.; Paquereau, Louise; Flayhart, Carter; et al.

    Astronomy and Astrophysics · 2025-12

    SciX Paper arXiv135 citations

  2. COSMOS-Web: Comprehensive Data Reduction for Wide-area JWST NIRCam Imaging

    Franco, Maximilien; Casey, Caitlin M.; Koekemoer, Anton M.; Flayhart, Carter; et al.

    The Astrophysical Journal · 2026-03

    SciX Paper arXiv62 citations

  3. Expanding the High-z Supernova Frontier: "Wide-area" JWST Discoveries from the First 2 yr of COSMOS-Web

    Fox, Ori D.; Rest, Armin; Pierel, Justin D. R.; Flayhart, Carter; et al.

    The Astrophysical Journal · 2026-05

    SciX Paper arXiv12 citations

  4. COSMOS-Web galaxy groups: Evolution of red sequence and quiescent galaxy fraction

    Toni, Greta; Maturi, Matteo; Castignani, Gianluca; Flayhart, Carter; et al.

    Astronomy and Astrophysics · 2026-02

    SciX Paper arXiv12 citations

  5. Brightest group galaxies in COSMOS-Web: Evolution of the size-mass relation since z = 3.7

    Gozaliasl, Ghassem; Yang, Lilan; Kartaltepe, Jeyhan S.; Flayhart, Carter; et al.

    Astronomy and Astrophysics · 2025-11

    SciX Paper arXiv8 citations

  6. COSMOS-Web: A Multi-wavelength Morphological Catalog of ~780,000 Galaxies

    Yang, Lilan; Kartaltepe, Jeyhan S.; Drakos, Nicole E.; Flayhart, Carter; et al.

    arXiv preprint · not peer reviewed · 2026-06

    SciX arXiv5 citations

  7. COSMOS-Web: estimating physical parameters of galaxies using Self-Organizing Maps

    Abedini, Fatemeh; Gozaliasl, Ghassem; Zonoozi, Akram Hasani; Flayhart, Carter; et al.

    Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · 2026-05

    SciX Paper arXiv4 citations

  8. EMBER: A Little Red Dot Candidate at z spec=10.36 in the Seed Black Hole Era

    Tanaka, Takumi S.; Akins, Hollis B.; Silverman, John D.; Flayhart, Carter; et al.

    arXiv preprint · not peer reviewed · 2026-10

    SciX arXiv0 citations

  9. JWST CAPERS: Spectroscopic evaluation of very high redshift galaxy candidates

    Donnan, Callum T.; Dickinson, Mark; Napolitano, Lorenzo; Flayhart, Carter; et al.

    arXiv preprint · not peer reviewed · 2026-10

    SciX arXiv0 citations

  10. X-ray Characterization of Galaxy Groups and Hickson Groups in COSMOS-Web to z~3.8 I. X-ray Luminosity Function Evolution

    Gozaliasl, Ghassem; Hasinger, Günther; Leroy, Gavin; Flayhart, Carter; et al.

    arXiv preprint · not peer reviewed · 2026-10

    SciX arXiv0 citations

  11. CHAMPS: Data Reduction and Detection of ~3300 Dusty Galaxies at 1.2 mm

    Martinez, Felix, III; Karaltepe, Jeyhan S.; Faisst, Andreas L.; Flayhart, Carter; et al.

    arXiv preprint · not peer reviewed · 2026-09

    SciX arXiv0 citations

  12. CHAMPS: The COSMOS High-Redshift ALMA-MIRI Population Survey - A New Census of the Dusty Early Universe

    Faisst, Andreas L.; Martinez, Felix, III; Kartaltepe, Jeyhan S.; Flayhart, Carter; et al.

    arXiv preprint · not peer reviewed · 2026-09

    SciX arXiv0 citations

  13. Rest-Frame UV and Optical Structural Evolution of Narrowband-Selected Lyman-alpha Emitters at z = 2-7 with JWST/NIRCam

    Laishram, Ronaldo; Kusakabe, Haruka; Kikuta, Satoshi; Flayhart, Carter; et al.

    arXiv preprint · not peer reviewed · 2026-09

    SciX arXiv0 citations

  14. Quiescent Galaxies at z > 2 from CAPERS spectroscopy and their Number densities

    Shen, Lu; Hu, Weida; Papovich, Casey; Flayhart, Carter; et al.

    arXiv preprint · not peer reviewed · 2026-09

    SciX arXiv0 citations

Talks & Conferences

  1. End of Star Formation Conference at UIUC

    Presented preliminary COSMOS-Web results on high redshift quiescent galaxy candidates, their photometric number densities, and candidates at the most extreme redshifts.

  2. IPAC 2025 Infrared Spectroscopy from Space Symposium

    Presented the COSMOS-Web quiescent galaxy candidate population, photometric number density results, and preliminary CAPERS spectroscopic results.

  3. COSMOS Conference in Marseille

    Presented preliminary work on the selection and evolution of quiescent galaxy candidates in COSMOS-Web and their photometric number densities.

  4. RIT Astrophysical Sciences & Technology Research Jamboree

    Introduced my intended master’s thesis, early progress on sample selection, and planned analysis methods.

Hobbies

Hiking / Walking

Growing up in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, myself, my dad, and our dogs would frequently hike chunks of the famed trail as well as taking advantage of the plentiful local hikes and overlooks in mid-Maryland.

Climbing

Given the long Great Lakes winters, I started climbing in January 2026, joining our local Central Rock Gym as a way to stay active and social.

Travel

I enjoyed travelling up and down the East Coast with my family growing up, as well as the occasional special vacation including cruises to the Bahamas and Bermuda. My career has allowed me to travel to places I never expected for collaboration and conferences, including Marseille, France, and Florence Italy, even on a tight graduate student's budget. As of yet, I've visited 4 countries - Italy, France, Bermuda, & Canada - and want to continue to visit as many new places as possible.

Watching Sports

I've been an avid sports fan my entire life, growing up watching my local MLB and NFL teams as well as the major tennis tournaments and following my mom's alma mater for college basketball. As I've gotten older, I've started following all of these sports more closely, following the full leagues and minor tournaments, as well as getting into less mainstream American sports like F1 and MMA.

Combining this passion with my data analysis background has led me to build a sports analysis hub on this website, including Court Current, Prop Hunt, and Upset Alert.

Contact

RIT email
cbf2388@rit.edu
Personal email
carter.flayhart@gmail.com
GitHub
github.com/01cflayhart

COSMOS-Web background: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, G. Gozaliasl, A. Koekemoer, M. Franco, and the COSMOS-Web team · CC BY 4.0 · Cropped and darkened for readability.