I use direct nuclear reactions to extract information about the structure of the atomic nucleus, which can aid in understanding nucleosynthetic processes that occur in the cosmos. Many of these studies have been performed on short-lived nuclei around doubly-magic 132Sn. This region is important as the nuclear shell structure influences the path of the rapid neutron capture (r-) process, which is responsible for the production of roughly half of the elements heavier than iron. Other projects I’m working on include studying resonant reactions in light neutron-deficient nuclei, important in nova nucleosynthesis and X-ray bursts. I am leading efforts to develop proton-transfer reactions to be used with radioactive ion beams and developing an advanced scintillator array for gamma-ray measurements, HAGRiD.