Brief Vita

• Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (2026 – present)
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Canadian Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of Toronto (2022-2026)
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara (2019-2022)
• PhD, Physics, University of California, Berkeley (2019)
• BS, Physics and Applied Mathematics, North Carolina State University (2013)

Selected Honors

• Mary Elizabeth Uhl Prize, UC Berkeley (2019)
• NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (2015-2018)

Selected Publications

• S. M. Ressler, L. Combi, B. Ripperda,  X. Li, 2025, “Black Hole Collisions With Thin Accretion Disks: OJ 287 and Small-Mass-Ratio Supermassive Black Hole Binary Candidates”, ApJL, 993, L22
• S. M. Ressler, L. Combi, B. Ripperda, E. Most, 2025, “Dual Jet Interaction, Magnetically Arrested Flows, and Flares in Accreting Binary Black Holes”, ApJL, 979, L24
• S. M. Ressler, C. J. White, E. Quataert, \& J. M. Stone, 2020, “Ab Initio Horizon-Scale Simulations of Magnetically Arrested Accretion in Sagittarius A* Fed by Stellar Winds”, ApJL, 896, L6 
• S. M. Ressler, E. Quataert, \& J. M. Stone, 2018, “Hydrodynamic Simulations of the Inner Accretion Flow of Sagittarius A* Fueled By Stellar Winds”, MNRAS, 478, 3544
• S. M. Ressler, A. Tchekhovskoy, E. Quataert, M. Chandra, \& C. F. Gammie, 2015, “Electron Thermodynamics in GRMHD Simulations of Low-Luminosity Black Hole Accretion”, MNRAS, 454, 1848

Google Scholar Link

Research Areas

Sean’s group seeks to understand how black holes feed on surrounding gas and generate light, outflows, and relativistic jets. To do this, they develop novel techniques in high-performance general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations. Specifically, the group is interested in the multimessenger supermassive black hole binaries formed from galaxy collisions, Event Horizon Telescope targets Sagittarius A* and M87*, and in the future, black holes across the mass spectrum in a variety of different environments.

Understanding how such black holes produce observable signatures is essential for understanding how gravity, plasma, and electromagnetic fields behave in the most extreme environments in the universe. Furthermore, black holes play a significant role in the evolution of the universe as they regulate how rapidly galaxies can grow through feedback on their surroundings.