My research interests involve many topics in galactic and interstellar astrophysics.
See the links below for the three main pillars that underpin my research.
Student projects
I have acted as primary research supervisor to a number of students throughout my career, both at the undergrad, MSc, and PhD level. Currently at CSUS I supervise the following students in independent research:
- T. Nguyen worked with me both as a SURE award student and has taken multiple PHYS199's. She is simulating how different gravitational potentials impact galactic spiral growth.
- L. Huynh is taking a PHYS191 with me. He is studying how interstellar clouds form molecular hydrogen, and what kinds of clouds do this most efficiently.
- J. Alejandro is funded for summer 2023 by my RCA award. Justin is working on making synethic radio images of my BESPOKE galaxy simulations using the TORUS radiative transfer code.
- T. Zheng is funded for summer research through a SURE scholarship. His work focusses on identifying spurs of spiral arms in the synethic Galactic plane surveys.
As seen above, students who work with me generally do so by ether taking a senior project (PHYS191), independent research (PHYS199 or ASTR199), or are funded for research over summer (e.g. via a grant or a SURE scholarship). Drop me a message if you'd like to learn more about any of these!
Past students
Previous graduate students I supervised when in Hokkaido Unversity include Elizabeth Iles (who is now a post-doc at Sydney) and
Veronica Zhang (who has since left academcia). Elizabeth's thesis studied the impact on galactic interactions on inner bars, and Veronica's was on the impact of dark matter halos on galactic spiral structure.
Mock-optical image of barred-spiral NGC 4303
[E. Iles]
Weak spirals in a triaxial dark matter halo
[V. Zhang]
