Diego Miura

Diego Miura

Yale astrophysics student working on machine learning for astronomical surveys, deepfake detection, and data-intensive research software.

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  • Yale University, Class of 2027
  • B.S. Astrophysics, Data Science and Energy Studies Certificates
  • Incoming Deep Media ML Research Intern, Summer 2026
  • DiRAC Institute and Meg Urry Group
  • Published ApJ paper on variability-selected AGN
Portrait of Diego Miura

Experience

Incoming

May 31 - August 1, 2026 | Remote

Deep Media, ML Research Intern

Joining Deep Media's R&D team to advance deepfake detection capabilities through dataset engineering, model benchmarking, and failure analysis across diverse media formats and synthetic generation methods.

  • Build Python, PyTorch, and FFmpeg pipelines for video and audio ingestion, normalization, augmentation, and traceable metadata.
  • Train and compare CNN and Vision Transformer detection models against diffusion- and GAN-generated synthetic media.
  • Audit datasets for bias, environmental variance, label consistency, and corrupted or low-utility samples.
  • Deepfake Detection
  • PyTorch
  • FFmpeg
  • Computer Vision
  • Dataset QA

Research & Publications

Published

Astrophysical Journal

DAVOS: variability-selected AGN in DES deep fields

Co-authored a peer-reviewed study characterizing 706 variability-selected AGN at z < 1.5 and finding that their black holes are systematically overmassive relative to local AGN scaling relations.

  • Paper: Dwarf Active Galactic Nuclei from Variability for the Origins of Seeds
  • Links: PDF Journal

Current

DiRAC Institute, University of Washington

Rare-object discovery with Hyrax

Lead research applying Hyrax, an open-source astronomy ML framework, to identify galaxy mergers in HSC-realistic IllustrisTNG simulations, training and benchmarking CNN and self-supervised models on 15,000+ images.

  • Methods: CNNs, self-supervised learning, dimensionality reduction, clustering, model evaluation
  • Compute: large-scale training on the NCSA Delta supercomputer
  • Co-authored Hyrax paper currently in peer review
  • Links: Hyrax Project Hyrax Paper

Current

Meg Urry Group, Yale

High-redshift Fermi blazars in the near infrared

Using H-beta and Mg II 2800 line measurements to study high-redshift Fermi blazars and extend the spectroscopic picture of these sources.

  • Methods: NIR spectroscopy and line-based inference

Selected Projects

TNG Tools

A Python CLI for fetching HSC FITS image URLs from IllustrisTNG, downloading and splitting images by filter, and rebuilding enriched catalogs for downstream analysis.

GitHub

OGLE Microlensing Automation

A course project with Abheek Dhawan applying UMAP and HDBSCAN to 1,496 OGLE 2025 microlensing events in order to group light-curve morphologies and flag potentially exotic events without a large labeled training set.

GitHub Slides

Leadership

Elmseed Consulting

Head of Consulting

Oversee 3 concurrent client engagements from problem structuring through final delivery while maintaining 100% on-time delivery across active projects.

  • Standardized slide deck and workplan review processes, reducing project turnaround by 10 days compared to last year.
  • Co-developed onboarding workshops on structured problem-solving and slide writing, training 20+ analysts across two semesters.
  • Launched and run Elmseed's High School Consulting Fellowship for 30 students from 12 schools, including 15 international participants.

Yale Astronomical and Space Student Society

Founder & Project Chair

Founded and help lead YASSS, growing organization reach from 50 to 500+ students through first-year outreach and New Haven community programming.

  • Delivered 40+ astronomy events over two years, including faculty-student dinners, meteor-shower nights, northern-lights observing, and local school outreach.
  • Launched and manage an underclassmen-upperclassmen mentorship program, doubling participation from 5 to 10 mentees.
  • Maintained 100% year-over-year mentorship retention while broadening access for students new to astronomy.

Coursework

Astronomy & Space Science

ASTR 4000: Orbital Mechanics

Introduction to spacecraft orbit mechanics, astrodynamics, and the design and implementation of spaceflight maneuvers for Earth-orbiting satellites and inter-planetary probes.

Final Project Video

ASTR 320: Physical Processes in Astronomy

Fluid dynamics, collisionless dynamics, and radiative processes in astrophysics.

Class Notes

Physics, AI & Quantitative Methods

S&DS 241: Probability Theory

Probabilistic modeling, distributions, central limit theorem, and Markov chains.

PHYS 301: Mathematical Methods of Physics

Differential equations, linear algebra, and complex analysis for physical modeling.

Humanities & Society

HIST 1568: Political Violence, Citizenship, and Democracy in Latin America

This course examines how political violence has shaped citizenship, democracy, exclusion, and collective action in Latin America from the nineteenth century to the present.

Final Paper