Observational Astronomy
Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Exploration in AstrophysicsWen-fai Fong
Professor Fong utilizes observations across the electromagnetic spectrum to study explosive transients and their host galaxy environments. These transients include gamma-ray bursts, electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave sources, compact object binaries, supernovae, and anything that collides or explodes.
Giles Novak
Professor Novak observes the polarization of infrared and sub-millimeter thermal emission from magnetically aligned interstellar dust grains. The resulting magnetic field maps are being used to determine the role of magnetic fields in diverse environments such as the Galactic center, giant molecular clouds, and star-forming regions. Email Giles Novak
Allison Strom
Professor Strom uses some of the largest telescopes on the ground and in space to study how galaxies form and evolve. Specifically, she is interested in understanding the baryonic processes that determine galaxies’ varied formation histories within dark matter halos, including accretion from the cosmic web, winds and feedback from massive stars, and large-scale outflows.
Mel Ulmer
Professor Mel Ulmer's research concentrates on the formation and evolution of clusters of galaxies using X-ray, optical, and infrared observations. Of particular interest are the physical characteristics of the intracluster gas, the possible existence of cooling flows and the X-ray and gamma-ray observations of pulsars.
Jason Wang
Professor Wang takes images of faint exoplanets by removing the glare of their host stars using techniques such as coronagraphy, spectroscopy, and interferometry. He develops techniques to pull out the signal of the faint exoplanet and measure its properties. He monitors exoplanets over time to trace out their orbits and infer their dynamical histories.
Farhad Zadeh
Professor Zadeh uses radio, infrared and X-ray telescopes to study a variety of topics related to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. In particular, he uses the VLA and ALMA to monitor flaring activity of the supermassive black hole, known as Sgr A*, and the consequences of cosmic rays interacting with the gas in the nucleus of our galaxy. In addition, he studies how star formation occurs near Sgr A* where it is generally presumed to be suppressed by strong tidal forces in the vicinity of the supermassive black holes.
Radio Astronomy Seminar Website
David Meyer, Professor Emeritus [Meyer personal page]
Professor Meyer's research specialty is the study of interstellar and extragalactic gas clouds through ultraviolet and optical absorption-line spectroscopy. Over the past several years, he has focused on problems involving the small-scale structure of the interstellar medium (ISM) and the elemental abundance patterns of the Galactic ISM and quasar absorption-line systems.