Greetings
I'm a post doc with Rico Ignace at East Tennessee State University, working on polarization and the Hanle Effect in various astrophysical contexts, particularly massive stars and supernovae.
My PhD thesis research was with Ken Norsdieck at U. Wisconsin -- Madison, and in collboration with Dan Kasen modeling polarized radiative transfer in supernova ejecta to explore spectropolarimetric signatures of chemical inhomogeneities ("clumps") in line profiles. (Ahem. Translation: looking at possible explanations for asymmetries seen in supernova observations.) This can hopefully tell us about the underlying explosion mechanisms for different types of supernovae, though my approach is probably most applicable to SNe Ia.
Some other work I've done:
- With Bob Mathieu, I used radial velocities to determine membership and binarity for an open cluster, NGC 6819.
- With Bob and Ellen Zweibel, I investigating magnetic disk locking as a mechanism for angular momentum loss in pre-main sequence stars.
- With Jay Gallagher, I studied time variation in the Lyman-β profile of the young, solar-type star ε Eridani.
If you are interested in more about my research, you can take a look at my publications. I also have a (not-completely-up-to-date CV and teaching philosophy, you know, in case I ever need them. There's also a page for some of my philosophical musings on the nature of science.