Assistant Professor

Email: sophias@nmsu.edu

Education

• BS, Yale University, 2019
• MA, Harvard University, 2022
• Ph.D., Harvard University, 2025

Sophia Sánchez-Maes is an astrophysicist whose work bridges observational, computational, and instrumental approaches to study plasma processes in extreme astrophysical environments. She developed high-cadence soft X-ray instrumentation for solar flare imaging, ran 3D general relativistic particle-in-cell (GRPIC) simulations of black hole accretion and flares, and analyzed magnetic reconnection as a driver of high-energy variability.