Current Projects

Stellar optical variability of magnetically-active late-type stars using the Kepler satellite; our science goals are to study rotational modulation due to dark starspots on these active stars, to determine the surface activity patterns, the timescales of starspot evolution, and the differential rotation rate, and to search for activity cycles. This Guest Observer project is obtaining multi-year near-continuous time series for a sample of ~250 stars. We are conducting extensive supporting ground-based echelle spectroscopy to determine the fundamental stellar properties for the stars in our sample using the APO 3.5m, MMT 6.5m, and HET 9.2m telescopes.

UV spectroscopy and imaging of young stars to study warm circumstellar molecular hydrogen gas fliuorescently excited by stellar H Lyman alpha and the hot emission regions produced by accretion and magnetic activity on T Tauri and Herbig Ae/Fe stars. This research uses COS and STIS spectra and ACS/SBC images from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Stellar activity during later stages of pre-main-sequence evolution after active accretion ends. UV and X-ray observations of young (7 - 200 Myr) stars are used to study the hot magnetically-heated emission regions on these stars and investigate how the high energy (FUV/EUV/X-ray) radiation field affects protoplanetary system evolution. This research uses data from a range of UV (HST, FUSE, GALEX) and X-ray (Chandra, XMM-Newton, Swift) instruments.

Multiwavelength investigations of flares in the coronae and transition regions of active stars. This research employs contemporaneous observations with a variety of space observatories, including Chandra, Suzaku, EUVE, ASCA, XTE, and HST, and ground-based radio arrays, such as the Very Large Array, MERLIN, and Australia Telescope Compact Array.

Studies of evolved cool star atmospheres and winds using high resolution spectroscopy and radio/mm continuum observations. This work uses the STIS and GHRS spectrographs on HST, the mid-IR TEXES spectrograph, the McDonald Observatory coude echelle, and radio/mmm data from the VLA, ATCA, and CARMA.

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