Astronomy

"The Importance of Including Career Development into STEM Initiatives Geared Towards Undergraduate Students" Abstract: The STEM crisis still exists in the US and Counselor Educators have the opportunity to form partnerships with STEM departments and help address the many issues faced by STEM students. Career development programs continue to aid students in learning more about themselves, and supporting them through their undergraduate experience. Offering career planning courses and other supports can significantly impact career decision making, career readiness, and vocational…

David Rupke, Rhodes College Thursday, April 13, 2023 @ 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM EST 217 Bryant Space Science Center

"Bursty star formation: physical drivers and implications for JWST observations of high-redshift galaxies" Abstract: A complete theory of galaxy formation requires understanding the details of how gas is converted into stars over cosmic time, which is affected by gas supply, star formation, and feedback-driven outflows. Based on the results of state-of-the-art cosmological zoom simulations, I will argue that galaxy formation is a violent process: at high redshift, stellar feedback causes all star-forming galaxies to undergo rapid fluctuations in their star…

"Understanding galaxy formation through the physics of the interstellar medium" Abstract: Computational galaxy formation has been remarkably successful in the last decade in reproducing realistic galaxies using "cosmological simulations," where a smooth mixture of gas and dark matter in the early Universe gradually evolves into thousands of galaxies due to gravity and hydrodynamics. The key to this success is the "feedback" processes that drive the cycling of gas and heavy elements in and around galaxies. However, all existing cosmological simulations…

"Mining the kinematics of discs to hunt for planets in formation" Abstract: Detecting planets during their formation stages is crucial for understanding the history and diversity of fully developed planetary systems like our own. However, observing these objects directly is challenging because they are often deeply embedded within their host protoplanetary discs, rich in gas and dust. To overcome this limitation, the study of disc kinematics through molecular line analysis has recently opened up as a promising alternative for planet…