Origins of Stars, Planets, and Life

Our group is active in a number of areas at the forefront of star and planet formation research. Topics of specific focus include: 1) formation and evolution of planetary systems; 2) search for and characterization of exoplanets; 3) physics of star formation; 4) the origin of the IMF and the companion mass ratio distribution; 5) formation and evolution of star clusters; and 6) ground- and space-based astronomical instrumentation (with a focus on the infrared) to enable progress in these areas. Colleagues in our group also study Solar Physics, Stellar Astrophysics, Radio Astronomy, Plasma Physics, and Astrochemistry. To further our goals, we are involved in a number of international (as well as interdisciplinary) collaborations. To learn more, please visit individual project pages or consult the individual pages of specific researchers.