{"id":5096,"date":"2026-05-13T15:09:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/?post_type=profiles&#038;p=5096"},"modified":"2026-08-10T12:07:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:07:45","slug":"mark-gaskins","status":"publish","type":"profiles","link":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/profiles\/mark-gaskins\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Gaskins"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"599\" src=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Gaskins-Mark.jpg\" alt=\"by Corban Swain\" class=\"wp-image-5597\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1;object-fit:cover;width:200px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Gaskins-Mark.jpg 400w, https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Gaskins-Mark-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>North Carolina A&amp;T State University<\/strong><br>Faculty Advisor: Prof. Lina Necib<br>Research Supervisors: Elliot Davies, Zeineb Mezghanni<br>Department: Physics<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:0px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Biography<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mark Anthony Gaskins is an Applied Physics student at North Carolina A&amp;T State<br>University with interests in computational physics, astrophysics, dark matter, and data-driven<br>research. He is participating in the MIT Summer Research Program, where he is conducting<br>theoretical astrophysics research on dark matter and the evolution of stellar structures in the<br>Milky Way. Mark Anthony has also gained research experience at Duke University\u2019s HIGS<br>facility, where he participated in a nuclear physics experiment in a particle accelerator-based<br>research environment. Outside of physics, he has worked as a software developer and educator,<br>teaching programming and leadership through The Hidden Genius Project and developing<br>AI-powered educational software with ScholarPrep Nation. Mark Anthony hopes to pursue<br>graduate study and continue developing as a researcher. He is passionate about combining<br>scientific research, technical problem-solving, and mentorship to advance discovery and<br>support the next generation of STEM students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><br><strong>Constraining Dark Matter with the Gaia Snail<br>Mark Anthony Gaskins II1, Zeineb Mezghanni2,3, Elliot Davies3 and Lina Necib2,3<\/strong><br>1Department of Physics, North Carolina Agricultural &amp; Technical State University<br>2Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br>3Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><br>Dark matter (DM) provides the gravitational scaffolding for galaxy formation. Because<br>it only interacts with baryonic matter through gravity, its properties must be inferred from<br>its dynamical influence on stars. Data from the Gaia space mission revealed a spiral-shaped<br>overdensity in the (z, vz) space of solar neighborhood disk stars in the Milky Way (MW),<br>dubbed the Gaia Snail. This discovery is a signature of phase mixing following a gravitational<br>disturbance caused by the passage of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy (Sgr). The open question of<br>whether the type of DM affects Snail\u2019s properties may help provide insight into the particle<br>nature of DM. To connect DM physics to observable stellar motions, we create MW-like<br>galaxies with a DM halo, a stellar disk, and a bulge using the GalIC code. We simulate the<br>impact of a Sgr-like merger using GIZMO N-body simulations, reproducing the Snail in the<br>stellar disk and comparing its evolution across DM self-interaction cross sections. Preliminary<br>results show similar evolution across SIDM cross sections of 0.5-5.0 cm2\/g, with typical action<br>differences below 3% and vertical-period differences below 0.4%. This work can guide future<br>modeling efforts to constrain dark matter physics using the Gaia Snail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5457,"template":"","profile_category":[25],"class_list":["post-5096","profiles","type-profiles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","profile_category-2026-interns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profiles"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5703,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5096\/revisions\/5703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"profile_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_category?post=5096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}