Faculty

Thomas Burbine is a Visiting Lecturer who holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Daniela Calzetti, Distinguished Professor, usually bases their research around Star Formation in Galaxies but has recently been researching on: Recent and near-future multi-wavelength observations with the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope to use them to characterize populations of star clusters in nearby galaxies.

M. Darby Dyar

Suzan Edwards's research centers on elucidating the evolution of young stellar objects through the use of high-resolution spectroscopy, especially the relation between disk accretion and mass outflow.

Neal Erickson

Kate Follette uses large ground-based telescopes equipped with a technology called adaptive optics that “de-twinkles” stars so that they can search their environs for young exoplanets (planets around other stars) and circumstellar disks (the disks of gas and dust that form planets).

Daniella Bardalez Gagliuffi focuses on understanding the formation, evolution, and atmospheres of brown dwarfs and brown dwarf systems, and especially how they serve a link between giant planets and low mass stars at both the system and population levels.

Mauro Giavalisco is an observational astronomer, whose research focuses on the formation and evolution of galaxies. Thier experience includes deep imaging and spectroscopic surveys, both from space (HST) and the ground, mostly at UV/Optical/Near-IR wavelengths.

Robert Gutermuth is an Associate Research Professor whose research seeks to better understand the process of converting molecular gas into stars, and whether that process creates an environment that itself affects stellar mass assembly and planet formation.

His primary research interest focuses on understanding the reception of science in the Muslim world and how Muslims view the relationship between science and religion. Professor Hameed recently led a 4-year National Science Foundation funded study on the reception of biological evolution in diverse Muslim societies.

Mark Heyer's research focuses upon the physics of the cold, neutral interstellar medium with an emphasis on the molecular component to address the following questions. How do clouds of molecular gas condense from the atomic gas substrate? Which cloud properties and physical processes regulate the production of stars in galaxies? What are the key properties of MHD turbulence in molecular clouds?

Irvine is the author of more than 200 published papers, having worked in theoretical cosmology and in theoretical and observational studies of planetary atmospheres, and more recently using radio astronomy as a probe of interstellar and cometary chemistry. His accomplishments include formulating the Layzer-Irvine (cosmic energy) equation, the Hapke-Irvine description of light scattering from rough surfaces, and participation in the identification of some 13 new interstellar molecules and 2 new molecular species in comets.

Neal Katz's primary research focus is galaxy formation and evolution, which they study using high performance computer simulations with and without hydrodynamics and have led to many key insights.

John Kwan

Katie Lester

Yuan Li works in the general field of galaxy evolution. Her research is mainly computational/theoretical, but she occasionally works on observational data as well. More information can be found on her website: https://people.umass.edu/yuanli

James Lowenthal's research interests include high redshift galaxies, Lyman break galaxies, starburst galaxies, millimeter and submillimeter galaxies, galaxy formation and evolution, QSO absorption line systems, QSO host galaxies and ultra-faint radio sources.

Houjun Mo's research has been focused on galaxy formation, large-scale structure of the universe, and cosmology. They construct models for the formation of disk galaxies, the formation and structure of dark matter halos, the connection between galaxies and dark matter halos, the structure of gaseous halos, and physical processes related to galaxy formation and evolution.

One of Gopal Narayanan's abiding scientific interests is in the area of star formation and molecular cloud studies. Some of this work has been done with Prof. Ron Snell. They are interested in the various physical processes and phenomenology of star formation and have had many students work with me on these science topics.

Alan Peel

Alexandra Pope aims to employ active-learning teaching methods and open educational material proven to support and enhance the education of all students. They continue to experiment with these interactive techniques in my classes and make modifications as necessary.

Mia De Los Reyes

F. Peter Schloerb

Stephen Schneider

Ronald Snell

Todd Tripp

Daniel Wang has taught mainly graduate courses (e.g., extragalactic astronomy, stellar astrophysics and population, and high-energy astrophysics). More information can be found on their personal website https://people.umass.edu/wqd.

Kimberly Ward-Duong is an observational astronomer who uses a wide range of ground and space-based telescopes and techniques to study the characteristics and environments of nearby stars, brown dwarfs, and exoplanets.

Martin Weinberg

Katherine Whitaker

Grant Wilson is the Department Head of Astronomy. Grant's research interests span much of the observable universe - from the energetics of clusters of galaxies to high redshift galaxy evolution, to star formation in nearby galaxies and in the Milky Way.

Min Yun

Jorge Zavala is an astronomer specializing in galaxy formation and evolution, with a focus on high-redshift galaxies and the early universe. His research combines observations from radio, submillimeter, and optical telescopes to study the physical properties of distant galaxies.