Multi-wavelength surveys are an ideal way to study star formation mechanisms
in nearby galaxies. Specifically, I am addressing the role of spiral density
waves (SDW) in the star formation process. Do SDW simply gather gas into the
spiral arms allowing star formation to take place, or do they play an active
role in the triggering of star formation? I am currently concentrating on
high resolution, high sensitivity HI, H
, CO and far-UV images of the
nearby spiral galaxy NGC 628. A previous project involved analysis of
multi-field VLA HI data of M81 which confirmed the existence of density waves
in the disk and revealed hundreds of HI holes in the arm and interarm regions.
Work is also being carried out on a multi-field VLA HI mosaic of M33.