CAREER: Bridging the gaps- connecting theory and observations of planet-forming disks and addressing underrepresented populations in STEM

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This project will use the latest observational and theoretical techniques to determine the basic properties for disks of gas and dust around young stars and extend existing circumstellar disk models to include a more physically realistic disk structure. Planets form out of flattened disks of gas and dust that surround young stars. It is thought that the dust in these disks grows and eventually forms rocky planets, or cores which accrete gas to become gas giant planets. The PI and her team will test existing models by measuring important properties of the dust and gas in over 100 circumstellar disks around young stars. She will use new and archival data from several ground- and space-based telescopes and then use the data to improve the planet formation models. This project also has an educational component focused on the lack of women in permanent STEM positions, particularly minority women. The project will create a mentoring program for women postdoctoral research scientists to help increase the number of women that go on to attain permanent positions in STEM. The program will be based on mentoring circles that meet on a regular basis to help members set development goals and teach skills to meet the goals. The project has three main research goals, which are to 1) determine the basic properties (ie, dust sizes and settling, mass accretion rates) for disks around young stars, 2) extend the circumstellar disk model to include more physically realistic disk structure, and 3) create models of circumplanetary disks embedded within circumstellar disks. The work will be carried out by modeling Spitzer infrared and Herschel submillimeter spectra of 100 disks, obtaining new U-band photometry of 400 young stars, modifying a circumstellar disk model to incorporate spatially variable disk structure and using it to do detailed fits of seven disks with SMA/ALMA archival data. The group?s circumstellar disk model will be adapted for use with circumplanetary disks and then compared with observations obtained from the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) and ALMA.