i am a theoretical cosmologist and astrophysicist. i am primarily interested in galaxy formation, the development of structure in the universe, and the connection between the dark side of the universe and the observable side.
some of the big questions that drive me:
- what is accelerating our Universe?
- what is dark matter made of?
- how do galaxies form?
a few current questions that interest me:
- is the milky way a typical galaxy? [watch the movies to find out!]
- how are mass and light connected in the Universe?
- what drives the star formation history of galaxies?
- what do we need to know about galaxy clusters to use them to measure the acceleration of the Universe?
see my research page for more details, my outreach page for public talks, or my publications page for my recent work.
kipac research highlights on our work:
- Galaxies Reveal Surprises Statistically
- A Tool To Find Merging Needles In Cosmic Data Haystacks
- Missing Dark Matter Satellites Still Missing
- Life In the Dark Matter Fast Lane
- The Milky Way's Unusual Companions
some news and press tidbits:
- synthetic universes: how simulations will help the search for dark energy computation institute news, October 1, 2012
- kipac video
- our galaxy's big ears: milky way's large companion galaxies stand out Scientific American, December 2011
- just four percent of galaxies have neighbors like the milky way National Science Foundation
- a dark matter for astrophysics research HPCWire, May 2011
- a strange menage a trois Nature News and Views, December 2010
- risa wechsler, shedding light on the dark side Kavli Foundation Newsletter, July 2, 2010
- team surveys first third of cosmic time SLAC Today, March 16, 2010
- exposing the nature of cosmic liasons SLAC Today, Oct 15 2007
- dark matter's role in galaxy formation Univ of Chicago Chronicle, July 13 2006
- galaxy evolution in cyber universe matches astronomical observations Univ of Chicago Chronicle, June 6 2006
- a simpler cosmic relation Astronomy Magazine, March 1 2006
- my compton lectures Univ of Chicago Chronicle, April 14 2005
- the dark energy survey, Univ of Chicago Chronicle, March 17 2005
- the future of the universe, Science News, August 31 2002