Research

My main research interest is the structure and dynamics of the interstellar medium, and the key question I am trying to answer is: How do gas flows within the interstellar medium influence star and planet formation?

To understand the star formation process we must first understand the assembly and structure of the dense, star-forming gas in galaxies. The density structure of the interstellar medium is both seeded and amplified by gas motion, but the exact nature of these motions and the physical mechanisms driving them are difficult to determine because it requires: 1) quantifying gas motion over many orders of magnitude in spatial scale; 2) linking these motions to the dense gas structures found at different scales in the hierarchically structured interstellar medium.

My research is aimed at addressing these challenges using a multi-scale and multi-environmental approach to understanding gas dynamics, as well as through the development of software for the analysis of spectroscopic data. A short summary of some of my most recent work can be found under each of the subcategories below.