Faculty/Scientists

Publications

Volker Bromm

Associate Professor

Research Interests

Formation of the first stars and quasars; high-redshift supernovae and metal enrichment; supermassive black hole formation; gamma-ray bursts; reionization of the intergalactic medium; present-day star formation; computational astrophysics.

Group Areas

First Stars & Galaxies, ISM and Star Formation, Structure Formation, Theoretical & Computational Astrophysics

Sally Dodson-Robinson

Assistant Professor

Research Interests

Planet formation, planet host composition, protostellar disk chemistry, Galactic chemical evolution, debris disks and brown dwarfs.

Group Areas

Planet Formation, Star Formation & Protoplanetary Disks, Extrasolar Planetary Systems

Rob Duncan

Senior Research Scientist

Research Interests

Magnetars (ultra-magnetized neutron stars) and their possible observable consequences for soft gamma repeaters, anomalous X-ray pulsars, gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, cosmic rays, and old galactic neutron stars.

Group Areas

Neutron Stars & Magnetars

Eiichiro Komatsu

Professor

Research Interests

Cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropy and polarization; inflationary scenarios of the early universe; alternative theories of gravity; radio band observational cosmology.

Group Areas

Early Universe, Structure Formation, HETDEX: Dark Energy Experiment

Pawan Kumar

Professor

Research Interests

Gamma-ray bursts; helioseismology; binary stars; tidal interaction; accretion disks; cosmology.

Group Areas

Gamma-ray Bursts, Asteroseismology

Milos Milosavljevic

Associate Professor

Research Interests

Massive black holes; the Galactic center; galaxy formation; galaxy clusters; plasma astrophysics.

Group Areas

Clusters of Galaxies, Gamma-ray Bursts, Theoretical & Computational Astrophysics, Black Holes & AGN

Mike Montgomery

Research Scientist

Research Interests

Pulsation and seismology of white dwarf stars, nonlinear light curve modeling, numerical and theoretical studies of convection, evolution of white dwarf stars, constitutive physics of white dwarfs (crystallization, diffusion), Science Director of Whole Earth Telescope.

Group Areas

White Dwarfs, Whole Earth Telescope, Stellar Pulsation, Asteroseismology

John Scalo

Professor

Research Interests

Star formation; interstellar medium; turbulence; galaxy evolution; complex systems; astrobiology.

Group Areas

Astrobiology, Milky Way Evolution, ISM and Star Formation, Planet Formation, Atmospheres & Life, Star Formation & Protoplanetary Disks

Paul Shapiro

Professor

Research Interests

Theoretical astrophysics: cosmology, galaxy formation, the interstellar medium, the intergalactic medium, interstellar dust grains, astrophysical hydrodynamics.

Group Areas

Structure Formation, Milky Way Evolution, ISM and Star Formation, Early Universe, First Stars & Galaxies, Cosmic Reionization, Clusters of Galaxies

Gregory Shields

Professor

Research Interests

Active galactic nuclei; supermassive black holes; chemical evolution of galaxies.

Group Areas

Active Galactic Nuclei, Black Holes & AGN

Steven Weinberg

Professor

Research Interests

Theoretical astrophysics and cosmology.

Group Areas

Fundamental Physics

J. Craig Wheeler

Professor

Research Interests

Stellar evolution; supernovae; accretion discs; gamma-ray bursts, astrobiology.

Group Areas

Supernovae, Astrobiology, Milky Way Evolution

Don Winget

Professor

Research Interests

Theory and observation: cosmochronology; evolution of the Milky Way; late stages of stellar evolution; stellar pulsations; white dwarf stars as dark matter detectors; the Whole Earth Telescope.

Group Areas

White Dwarfs, Asteroseismology, Whole Earth Telescope, Stellar Pulsation

Postdocs

Publications

Yi Mao

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests

Theoretical cosmology, including cosmic reionization simulation and observational applications (e.g., 21cm tomography), structure formation.

Group Areas

Structure Formation

Andreas Pawlik

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests

Cosmology, galaxy formation, reionization, SPH/AMR simulations, radiative transfer.

Group Areas

First Stars & Galaxies, Theoretical & Computational Astrophysics

Tanja Rindler-Daller

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests

Quantum field theory of many-body systems applied to cosmology, structure formation, the nature of dark matter.

Group Areas

Structure Formation

Jun Zhang

Texas Cosmology Center Fellow

Research Interests

Theoretical Cosmology, including weak lensing, large scale structure, and cosmic reionization.

Graduate Students

Publications

Meghann Agarwal

Graduate Student - Physics

Group Areas

Theoretical & Computational Astrophysics

Erik Brugamyer

Graduate Student

Group Areas

Planet Formation, Extrasolar Planetary Systems

Emmanouil Chatzopoulos

Graduate Student

Group Areas

Supernovae

Chi-Ting Chiang

Graduate Student

Research Interests

Cosmic microwave background anisotropy and polarization.

Group Areas

Early Universe

Patrick Crumley

Graduate Student

Group Areas

Gamma-ray Bursts

Ross Falcon

Graduate Student

Group Areas

White Dwarfs

Jonathan Ganc

Graduate Student

Research Interests

Primordial non-Gaussianity, inflation, high-energy theory.

Group Areas

Early Universe

James Hermes

Graduate Student

Group Areas

White Dwarfs

Jacob Hummel

Graduate Student

Group Areas

First Stars & Galaxies

Myoungwon Jeon

Graduate Student

Group Areas

First Stars & Galaxies

Daniel Kagan

Graduate Student

Group Areas

Supernovae, Theoretical & Computational Astrophysics

Bohua Li

Graduate Student

Research Interests

Theoretical cosmology: structure formation, reionization, early universe.

Chris Lindner

Graduate Student

Group Areas

Theoretical & Computational Astrophysics, Gamma-ray Bursts, Supernovae

Joel Meyers

Graduate Student

Research Interests

Early universe cosmology, inflation, and non-Gaussianities.

Group Areas

Fundamental Physics

Hyunbae Park

Graduate Student

Research Interests

Kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect on the cosmic microwave background.

Chalence Safranek-Shrader

Graduate Student

Group Areas

First Stars & Galaxies, Theoretical & Computational Astrophysics, ISM and Star Formation

Rodolfo Santana

Graduate Student

Group Areas

Gamma-ray Bursts

Masatoshi Shoji

Graduate Student

Research Interests

Large-Scale Structure of the universe, Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations.

Group Areas

Early Universe

Alan Sluder

Graduate Student

Group Areas

Astrobiology, Atmospheres & Life

Undergraduate Students

Publications

Jeremy Ritter

Undergraduate Student

Research Interests

Computational Cosmology

Group Areas

First Stars & Galaxies, Theoretical & Computational Astrophysics