I am a computational astrophysicist with a broad range of interests related to dark matter structure, galaxy formation, and hydrodynamics. Together with my group and many collaborators, we address these questions with numerical simulations of both individual galaxies and cosmological volumes, and through a mixture of code development, supercomputing, and data analysis. Below is an incomplete list of some of our previous and current research projects.
| Dark matter halos | |
 | Splashback radius We propose the splashback radius as a halo boundary that is more physically meaningful than conventional definitions such as the virial radius. |
 | Concentration-mass relation We propose a new way of modeling the concentration-mass relation of halos, based only on their peak height and the slope of the power spectrum. |
 | Halo density profiles We show that, contrary to common belief, halo density profiles depend on the mass accretion rate and that they exhibit a characteristic steepening at the splashback radius. |
 | Pseudo-evolution We point out that a significant fraction of the evolution of spherical overdensity halo masses can be due to the changing boundary definition rather than physical accretion. |
| Galaxy formation | |
 | HI and H2 in simulated and observed galaxies We post-process the Illustris simulations to identify the contributions from the different species of hydrogen, and to compare simulated galaxies to observations. |
 | Log-normal star formation histories We find that star formation histories in the Illustris simulation are surprisingly well described by the simple log-normal form, and that they are tightly related to the history of halos. |
| Past projects (inactive) | |
 | Type Ia Supernova light curves We use data-driven models to compare the light curves of simulated supernovae to observations. |