Katherine Whitaker

Research Interests: 

Surveys of the universe only a few billion years after the Big Bang are critical for understanding galaxy formation. During this epoch, encompassing both “cosmic dawn” and “cosmic noon”, the majority of stars in the universe were formed. We are at an exciting time, as upcoming world-class facilities sensitive to longer wavelength radiation promise to revolutionize our understanding of early galaxy formation and evolution.  Central to my research goals in the next 5-10 years are leveraging the capabilities of four state-of-the-art observing facilities:  Hubble Space Telescope (HST), James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), and the Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) on the Subaru Telescope.  With these facilities, my research team is studying the regulation of star formation and quenching in massive galaxies in the early universe.

I am also an associate faculty at the newly anointed Cosmic Dawn Center of Excellence (DAWN, officially established April 2018), located at the University of Copenhagen/DTU-Space in Denmark.  DAWN brings together emerging leaders in every aspect of cosmic dawn with a unique combination worldwide of privileged access to each of the telescopes central to my research plan.  With generous funding to travel to DAWN with my students for the next decade, our international collaboration crosses boundaries between observers and theorists, as well as various areas of astrophysics (star formation, dust physics, the epoch of reionization).  I am also leading the National Science Foundation funded International Research Experience for Students (NSF-IRES), sending cohorts of 7 students as DAWN Scholars for an 11-week summer research experience.  More information can be found at www.dawnires.com.