Research Interests
Observational galaxy formation and evolution: quenching of star formation, galaxy morphology, star formation rate – stellar mass relation, spatially-resolved stellar populations, spectroscopic ages, dust content, star formation efficiency.
Education
- Ph.D. in Astronomy, Yale University (Awarded Dec 2012, Advisor: Prof. Pieter van Dokkum)
- M.Phil. in Astronomy, Yale University (May 2008)
- M.Sc. in Astronomy, Yale University (May 2007)
- B.Sc. in Physics and Astronomy, UMass Amherst (May 2005)
Positions
- Professor of Astronomy, UMass Amherst (2026–)
- Associate Faculty, Cosmic Dawn Center, Copenhagen Denmark (2017–)
- Associate Professor of Astronomy, UMass Amherst (2023–2026)
- Assistant Professor of Astronomy, UMass Amherst (2019–2023)
- Assistant Professor of Physics, UConn (2017–2019)
- Hubble Fellow, UMass Amherst (2015–2017)
- NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, Goddard Space Flight Center (2012–2015)
- Graduate Research Assistant, Prof. Pieter van Dokkum, Yale (2006–2012)
- Graduate Research Assistant, Prof. Theodore Fritz, BU (2005–2006)
- Research Assistant, UMass Amherst, Prof. Daniel Wang (Summer 2005)
- REU Internship, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA (Summer 2003/2004)
Honors & Awards
- 1% Highest-Cited Scientist, Clarivate Analytics (2021, 2025)
- 2023 Kavli Fellow, nominated by National Academy of Sciences to participate in the Frontiers of Science Symposium
- 2021 Lilly Fellow for Teaching Excellence
- 2019 Alfred P. Sloan Fellow
- Dirk Brouwer Memorial Prize (2015), Yale University
- NASA CT Space Grant Graduate Fellowship (2010–2011) — Awarded to one graduate student within the Space Grant Consortium per year to fund thesis research
- Mary Dailey Irvine Prize (2005) — Awarded to a graduating senior from one of the Five College institutions for an outstanding senior thesis.
- Outstanding Undergraduate Award (2005, Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts Amherst) — Awarded once a year to an undergraduate student for academic excellence.
- William F. Field Alumni Scholar (2004, University of Massachusetts Amherst)
- Hasbrouck Scholarship Award (Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts Amherst)
- Commonwealth College Honors Research Grant (2004, University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Professional Activities
Service to the Scientific Community
Standing Committees:
- Member of the Hubble Space Telescope User Committee (STUC; 2025–)
- Member of the JWST Financial Review Committee (2022–2024)
- Member of NASA Keck Observatory Time Allocation Committee (2019, 2020, 2022)
NASA Mission Concept Studies:
- CETUS Probe Class Mission Concept Design (2018–2020)
- LUVOIR Cosmic Origins Science Working Group (2016–2018)
- LUVOIR High Definition Imager Working Group (2016–2018)
- Participant in WFIRST study group, NASA/GSFC (2014–2015)
Science Organizing Committees:
- Towards the Full Bloom of First Star, Galaxy, and Black Hole Formation Exploration, Tokyo, Japan (March 2026)
- Lurking Lions: Hidden Challenges to Solving Galaxy Formation, Kruger Park, South Africa (August 2024)
- Extreme Galaxies and their Extreme Environments at Extreme Early Epochs, Reykjavik, Iceland (April 2024)
- EAS2023 Special Session, “The importance of relations in galaxy evolution: linking observations and theory in the Big Data era”, Kraków, Poland (July 2023)
- Subaru 20th Anniversary, Hawaii (November 2019)
- CANDELS @ UMass (October 2018)
- Massive Beasts of the Cosmos, South Africa (August 2016)
Panel Reviews:
- NASA Roman Space Telescope Research & Support Program (2025)
- NASA Astrophysical Data Analysis Program (Panel Chair, 2023)
- Large Millimeter Telescope (Panel Chair, 2021–2022)
- James Webb Space Telescope (2021, Panel Chair 2025)
- Hubble Space Telescope (2016, 2018)
- National Science Foundation (2014, 2015)
External Reviews: ALMA (2021–2024), Canada Time Allocation Committee, Chinese Telescope Access Program, NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship, Sapling Learning, NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship Review Panelist (2014–present)
External Referee: ApJ, ApJ Letters, MNRAS, Nature, Nature Astronomy, A&A, and PASA (2009–present)
Service to the UMass Community (2019–)
Committee Service:
- Graduate Admissions Committee (2019, 2021, 2022)
- Graduate Recruitment Committee (2019–2023)
- Department Personnel Committee (2019, 2021, 2023, 2025)
- Graduate Exam Committee (2020, 2022, 2025)
- Class of 2024 Astronomy Majors Co-Advisor (17 advisees; 2020–2024)
- Director of Five College Astronomy Department Summer Internship Program (2022–2024)
- Organized Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium (2020, 2022, 2023, 2024)
Service to the UConn Community (2016–2019)
- Development of Astrophysics Minor and new astrophysics curriculum.
- PI of initiative adopting an open educational resource textbook (Fall 2017)
- PI of course redesign of Introductory Astronomy through Provost’s Large Course Redesign Grant Initiative (Fall 2017)
Publications Summary
As of August 2026 – h-index: 84. 244 refereed publications (19 first author, 19 student/postdoc led), with 24 additional manuscripts under review. >27,000 citations total, with >3,600 citations of first author papers (source: ADS).
Complete Publication List (ADS) · See also the full Publications page on this site.
Conferences and Research Talks
Colloquia and Invited Presentations
- Invited Talk, “The Growth of Galaxies in the Early Universe XI”, Sesto, Italy (1/2026)
- Invited Talk, Galaxy Workshop, Santa Cruz, CA (8/2025)
- Invited Review Talk, IAU Symposium #369 “Massive Galaxies across the Universe”, Naples, Italy (6/2025)
- Invited Talk, “Big Galaxies, Big Problems”, Leiden, Netherlands (4/2025)
- Colloquium, University of Chicago, Chicago IL (3/2025)
- Invited Talk, “Picture an Astronomer”, Chicago, IL (3/2025)
- Invited Talk, “The Growth of Galaxies in the Early Universe X”, Sesto, Italy (1/2025)
- Beus Seminar, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona (12/2024)
- Invited Review Talk, “DEEP24: Beyond the Edge of the Universe”, Sintra, Portugal (10/2024)
- Invited Review Talk, “AGN Feedback and Star Formation Across Cosmic Scales and Time”, Sirolo, Italy (9/2024)
- Colloquium, University of Geneva, Switzerland (7/2024)
- Colloquium, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (4/2024)
- Invited Talk, “The Growth of Galaxies in the Early Universe IX”, Sesto, Italy (1/2024)
- Invited Talk, 4th Japanese-American-German Frontiers of Science Symposium, Dresden, Germany (10/2023)
- Invited Talk, Science with Habitable Worlds and Beyond Conference, STScI, Baltimore, MD (7/2023)
- Invited Talk, DAWN Summit, Copenhagen Denmark (6/2023)
- Invited Talk, SIMBA Collaboration Meeting, CCA/Flatiron, New York City, NY (5/2023)
- Invited Talk, “The Growth of Galaxies in the Early Universe VIII”, Sesto, Italy (3/2023)
- Colloquium, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ (3/2023)
- Colloquium, Texas A&M, College Station TX (1/2023)
- Invited Talk, JWST ISSI Workshop, Bern, Switzerland (1/2023)
- Colloquium, University of Toledo, Toledo OH (10/2022)
- Colloquium, University of Florida, Gainesville FL (10/2022)
- Invited Talk, DAWN Research Conference, Copenhagen Denmark (6/2022)
- Colloquium, MIT, Cambridge MA (Virtual; 2/2022)
- Invited Review Talk, “The Main Sequence of Star-forming Galaxies”, European Astronomical Society Meeting, Leiden, Netherlands (Virtual; 7/2021)
- Colloquium, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore MD (Virtual; 5/2021)
- Colloquium, Queens University, Kingston Canada (Virtual; 9/2020)
- Invited Talk, Subaru 20th Anniversary Symposium, Waikaloa Beach, HI (11/2019)
- Invited Talk, ITC Battlestar Galactica Edition, Cambridge MA (4/2019)
- Colloquium, University of Massachusetts, Amherst MA (3/2019)
- Invited Talk, “Extremely Big Eyes on the Early Universe”, UCLA, CA (1/2019)
- Invited Talk, “Massively Parallel Large Area Spectroscopy from Space”, ATLAS Probe Community Workshop, Pasadena, CA (10/2018)
- Invited Talk, WFIRST Deep Fields Workshop, Princeton NJ (8/2018)
- Colloquium, Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, NO (7/2018)
- Invited Talk, LUVOIR Seminar, Goddard Space Flight Center (5/2018)
- Invited Talk, Galaxy & Cosmology Seminar, Harvard CfA, Cambridge MA (2/2018)
- Invited Talk, WFIRST Splinter Session, AAS, 231st Meeting, Washington DC (1/2018)
- Invited Talk, LUVOIR Splinter Session, AAS, 231st Meeting, Washington DC (1/2018)
- Colloquium, Boston University, Boston MA (10/2017)
- Colloquium, Yale University, New Haven CT (9/2017)
- Invited review talk, “A Decade of the Star-Forming Main Sequence” Lorentz Center Workshop, Leiden NL (9/2017)
- Invited Talk, Hubble Fellows Symposium, Baltimore MD (3/2017)
- Invited Talk, BASS Seminar, Brown University, Providence RI (3/2017)
- Colloquium, University of Kansas, Lawrence KS (3/2017)
- Colloquium, University of Connecticut, Storrs CT (3/2017)
- Colloquium, MIT, Cambridge MA (2/2017)
- Colloquium, Wesleyan University, Middletown CT (11/2016)
- Invited Talk, Hubble Fellows Symposium, Baltimore MD (3/2016)
- Colloquium, Penn State, State College PA (2/2016)
- Invited Talk, University of Connecticut, Storrs CT (2/2016)
- Invited Talk, Amherst College, Amherst MA (1/2016)
- Invited Talk, LUVOIR Splinter Session, AAS, 227th Meeting, Seattle WA (1/2016)
- Colloquium, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI (10/2015)
- Colloquium, University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX (9/2015)
- Invited Talk, Hubble 25th Symposium, Baltimore MD (4/2015)
- Invited Talk, University of Massachusetts, Lowell MA (3/2015)
- Invited Talk, Brown University, Providence RI (2/2015)
- Invited Talk, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie NY (2/2015)
- Invited Talk, 3D-HST Session, AAS, 225th Meeting, Seattle WA (1/2015)
- Invited Talk, NASA/GSFC SED Director’s Seminar, Greenbelt MD (6/2014)
- Invited Talk, CTC Seminar, University of Maryland, College Park MD (3/2014)
- Colloquium, University of Massachusetts, Amherst MA (9/2013)
- Invited Talk, Watching Galaxies Grow Up, Ringberg, Germany (12/2011)
Other Seminars, Contributed Talks, and Poster Presentations
- Contributed Talk, Aspen Center for Physics, Aspen CO (3/2026)
- Contributed Talk, ChOIR Conference, Acadia, ME (7/2025)
- Contributed Talk, AAS, 245th Meeting, Washington DC (1/2025)
- Contributed Talk, Kruger National Park, South Africa (8/2024)
- Poster, IAU Symposium, South Africa (8/2024)
- Seminar, University of Zurich, Switzerland (7/2024)
- Poster, MIT First Light Conference, Cambridge MA (6/2023)
- Galread, Princeton University (Virtual; 2/2022)
- Contributed Talk, Aspen Center for Physics, Aspen CO (2/2020)
- Contributed Talk, AAS, 235th Meeting, Honolulu HI (1/2020)
- Seminar, Cosmic Dawn Center, Copenhagen DK (7/2018)
- Contributed Talk, AAS, 231st Meeting, Washington DC (1/2018)
- Contributed Talk, Massive Beasts of the Cosmos, Kruger Park SA (7/2016)
- Contributed Talk, The Most Massive Galaxies and their Precursors, Sydney AU (2/2015)
- Contributed Talk, AAS, 225th Meeting, Seattle WA (1/2015)
- Seminar, MIT, Cambridge MA (11/2014)
- Contributed Talk, Z-FOURGE Annual Meeting, Montgomery TX (10/2014)
- Contributed Talk, Aspen Center for Physics, Aspen CO (2/2014)
- Dissertation Talk, AAS 223rd Meeting, Washington DC (1/2014)
- Seminar, Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge MA (11/2013)
- Contributed Talk, 3D-HST Annual Meeting, San Juan, Puerto Rico (10/2013)
- Invited Talk, Z-FOURGE Annual Meeting, Montgomery TX (10/2013)
- Seminar, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore MD (10/2013)
- Seminar, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt MD (1/2013, 9/2013)
- Invited Talk, Lorentz Center, Leiden NL (1/2008, 2/2009, 11/2009, 5/2013)
- Seminar, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore MD (10/2012)
- Contributed Talk, 3D-HST Annual Meeting, New Haven CT (10/2012)
- Seminar, University of California, Santa Cruz CA (12/2011)
- Seminar, University of California, Los Angeles CA (12/2011)
- Seminar, University of California, Riverside CA (11/2011)
- Seminar, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena CA (11/2011)
- Seminar, Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge MA (11/2011)
- Seminar, University of Massachusetts, Amherst MA (10/2011)
- Contributed Talk, 3D-HST Annual Meeting, Leiden NL (10/2011)
- Poster, Galaxy Formation Conference, Durham UK (7/2011)
- Contributed Talk, AAS 211th Meeting, Austin TX (1/2008)
- Poster, AAS 206th Meeting, Minneapolis MN (5/2005)
- Poster, AAS 205th Meeting, San Diego CA (1/2005)
- Poster, AAS 203th Meeting, Atlanta GA (1/2004)
Telescope Experience
- James Webb Space Telescope (NIRCam, NIRSpec, MIRI)
- Kitt Peak 4m (26 nights; NEWFIRM)
- Cerro-Tololo Blanco 4m (5 nights; NEWFIRM)
- MMT Observatory 6.5m (2 nights; MMIRS)
- Hubble Space Telescope (WFC3, ACS, WFPC2)
- Spitzer Space Telescope (IRAC, MIPS)
- Atacama Large Millimeter Array
- XMM-NEWTON Observatory
- Chandra X-ray Observatory