Research

My research interests primarily revolve around the evolution of galaxy morphology and structure over time, particularly through processes like disk growth. I also seek to understand how properties like galaxy mass and environment affect such processes.

Galaxy Surveys

I am a team member of the current RESOLVE, GAMA, and MaNGA surveys plus the WAVES survey in planning.

As a PhD student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), I was a founding member and primary observer for the RESOLVE survey. I also created the Environmental COntext (ECO) catalog, which is a large volume catalog that encompasses RESOLVE and provides galaxy environment information (for more information and data access see the ECO page or the recent ECO catalog paper). ECO allows the study of galaxy demographics in a large, mass-/volume-limited sample.

As a postdoctoral researcher at ICRAR UWA, I served as a lead observer and data wrangler for the GAMA survey. I worked to quantify the total stellar mass density found in local galaxy bulges and disks. I was also involved with the creation of a new code for Bayesian fitting of two-dimensional galaxy models to images (ProFit).

As a Stevenson fellow at Vanderbilt University, I worked on a variety of projects combining photometric measures of galaxy structure with kinematic information derived from IFU surveys, and I now continue these lines of research at the University of North Georgia! 

Communicating Research

While at UNC, I led a project to create a multi-touch-capable display (pictured at right and installed at the UNC remote observing center), which is focused on multi-wavelength astronomy. This display allows users to interact with astronomical images from across the electromagnetic spectrum and to visualize how the appearances of astronomical objects change with the observed wavelength of light. In collaboration with the local Morehead Planetarium, we also produced two educational videos accessible through the interface, one on multi-wavelength astronomy and another on our research with galaxy disk regrowth.

Subsequently, I have been involved with a variety of outreach activities including mentorship programs in partnership with local schools and a work experience program for visiting high school students.