{"id":5249,"date":"2026-05-13T15:02:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/?post_type=profiles&#038;p=5249"},"modified":"2026-08-12T08:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T12:01:12","slug":"mariangel-albornoz-2","status":"publish","type":"profiles","link":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/profiles\/mariangel-albornoz-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Mariangel Albornoz"},"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\/Albornoz-Mariangel.jpg\" alt=\"by Corban Swain\" class=\"wp-image-5569\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1;object-fit:cover;width:200px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Albornoz-Mariangel.jpg 400w, https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Albornoz-Mariangel-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>University of Florida<\/strong><br>Faculty Advisor: Prof. Gaia Stucky de Quay<br>Department: Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences<\/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\">Growing up in Venezuela, Mariangel developed a love of the Universe. Her journey<br>began as a young girl who found her uncle\u2019s astronomy book, raising questions and curiosities<br>about the mysteries of the cosmos. She is currently studying astrophysics at the University of<br>Florida, with a particular interest in exoplanets and habitable worlds. Her research involves<br>detecting planetary candidates through TESS light curves for follow-up observations with<br>ground-based telescopes. Currently, she is working on calculating the volume of rock erosion<br>of watersheds on Mars. Her goals are to become a research scientist, contribute to space<br>missions, and work in academia, inspiring the next generation of scientists. Mariangel is<br>determined to expand student access to education. She coaches underrepresented students<br>in their college applications and advocates for federal student aid in Congress. Ultimately,<br>Mariangel aims to utilize her experiences to help create a world where anyone curious enough<br>can thrive in science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><br><strong>Rivers Gone but Not Forgotten: Rock Erosion on Mars Surface Reveals Past<br>Precipitation Events<br>Mariangel Albornoz1,2, Gaia Stucky de Quay1<\/strong><br>1Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br>2Department of Astronomy, University of Florida<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><br>The distinct fluvio-lacustrine features on Mars provide a snapshot of an earlier climate that was<br>wetter and warmer. To understand early Mars\u2019s habitability, we require improved constraints<br>on the total amount and frequency of precipitation. By analyzing both open-basin lakes (OBLs)<br>and closed-basin lakes (CBLs) we estimate the ratio of infilling water to the basin volume. To<br>achieve this, we first determine the volume of rock eroded fluvially from the watershed, using<br>an elevation interpolation method from mapped drainage divides. This method provides an<br>upper range of rock erosion, which is supplemented by a progressive black top hat (PBTH)<br>transformation algorithm that offers a lower range of erosion. By obtaining a constraint on the<br>precipitation events on Mars (using the ratio of infilling water and basin volume), we can shed<br>light on the recurrence of hydrological cycles and compare our results to climate model outputs.<br>By understanding the conditions on early Mars, we gain a better understanding of whether life<br>could have developed in this now barren world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5569,"template":"","profile_category":[25],"class_list":["post-5249","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\/5249","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\/5249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5786,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5249\/revisions\/5786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"profile_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_category?post=5249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}