I am an associate professor in the Dept. of Astronomy at the University of Florida. My research is focused on the origin of stellar systems, ranging from the first stars and galaxies to local star clusters, such as in the Orion Nebula. I have a general interest in the physics of the interstellar medium, accretion disks, supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and active galactic nuclei.

Funding:
NSF CAREER

Seminars:
Florida Theoretical Astrophysics seminar
High Energy Astrophysics Discussion Group
Astronomy Dept. Colloquium

Conference organization:
UF-UCF Star and Planet Formation Days (Every few months in Gainesville, Orlando, Daytona Beach)
Spitzer Science Conference 2008: New Light on Young Stars: Spitzer's View of Circumstellar Disks, Pasadena, California, USA, Oct. 2008
Transformational Science with ALMA: The Birth and Feedback of Massive Stars, Within and Beyond the Galaxy, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, Sept 2008
Gas Accretion and Star Formation in Galaxies, Munich, Sept. 2007
Massive Star Formation, Heidelberg, Sept. 2007
Celebrating 15 years of precision astronomy in the Galactic Center - Hot topics and observational challenges, Ringberg, Bavaria, June 2007
From Stars to Planets, Gainesville, April 2007

Science teams:
Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT): IRIS

Research Highlights:

Star Formation at Zero and Very Low Metallicities (Review)

The Formation of the First Stars II. Radiative Feedback Processes and Implications for the Initial Mass Function

The Initial Cluster Mass Function of Super Star Clusters in Irregular and Spiral Galaxies

Evidence for Molecular Gas in the Nucleus of M87 and Implications for Supermassive Black Hole Accretion

Slow Star Formation in Dense Gas: Evidence and Implications

Astrochemical confirmation of the rapid evolution of massive YSOs and explanation for the inferred ages of hot cores

Equilibrium Star Cluster Formation

The Formation of Massive Stars, Protostars & Planets V Review

Star-Forming Accretion Flows and the Low-Luminosity Nuclei of Giant Elliptical Galaxies

The Variability of Gamma Ray Bursts

Dynamical Ejection of a B star from Orion

Testing Massive Star Formation Theory in Orion

X-ray Halos from the Galactic Center Black Hole

Outflow-Confined HII Regions

Supermassive Star Formation in Quasar Disks

Primordial Star Formation

The Formation of Massive Stars

Gamma-Ray Bursts from Supernovae

The Star Formation Rates of Disk Galaxies and Circumnuclear Starbursts

The Evolution of the Cosmic Star Formation Rate