KAAS Kentucky Area Meeting 2026

KEYNOTE ADDRESS:

Stellar Feedback and Outflows from Nearby Galaxies 

Professor Laura Lopez 

Stellar feedback is one of the largest uncertainties in galaxy formation models today, stemming in part from the need for experimental constraints on the impact of different feedback modes and their dependence on physical parameters. In this talk, I will review studies to measure stellar feedback in star-forming regions in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies. I will show new results from the Physics at High Angular Resolution of Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) survey, revealing the multi-phase interstellar medium (ISM) at sub-kpc resolution observed across the electromagnetic spectrum. I will also discuss recent investigations of the hot outflows and cool clouds from starburst-driven galactic winds to explore wind geometry, mass loading, and metal content. I will compare results to predictions from high-resolution simulations to identify missing physics in the models and will discuss the outstanding open questions in the field.

Laura Lopez is a professor of astronomy at The Ohio State University (OSU). Previously, she was a NASA Hubble Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and a NASA Einstein Fellow and Pappalardo Fellow in Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She completed her PhD in astronomy & astrophysics at University of California Santa Cruz and her bachelors degree in physics from MIT. She is originally from Barrington, Illinois.