I am in my final days as a graduate student at the university of kentucky (UK), as I will defend my thesis on September 22nd. For the past couple of years, I have worked for Gary Ferland. My primary interests include combining observational data with theoretical modeling to determine physical conditions in regions of star formation. I have worked extensively with the spectral synthesis code Cloudy. I have added to Cloudy's capabilities by including a heavy-element molecular network to the code. With this work, Cloudy can now calculate H II regions, PDRs, and molecular environments. In addition to Cloudy, I have also studied the translucent cloud that lies between the Trapezium cluster of the Orion Nebula and Earth. This region is known as Orion's Veil. The Veil is interesting because we have maps of both visual extinction and magnetic fields across the Veil, because of the lack of H2 given the visual extinction, and because of its association with the Orion Nebula. When we combine these observations with an absorption line study of this line of sight, we can deduce temperature, density, and the distance of the Veil from the Trapezium. Such an analysis then tells us about the energy balance between magnetic, turbulent, and thermal energies in the interstellar medium.
I also have an interest in the origin of our solar system and of planetary systems in general. This interest stems from my days at Miami of Ohio, where I wrote my master's thesis on the rotational evolution of the solar system. Under Dr. Stephen Alexander I collaborated on expanding the N-body code used in studying planetary formation at Miami so that it included rotational motion, allowing for the study of how the obliquity and precession angles evolve over time.
As my dad would say, I only have 47 more states to go.
You may email me at this address