I am the lead data scientist for the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) program in the fourth-generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey. MaNGA is observing a large sample of > 10,000 galaxies with optical integral field spectroscopy to learn about the spatially resolved properties of galaxies in the modern-day universe.
At STScI I lead the team working on the Medium Resolution IFU Spectrometer (MRS) on JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). MRS will enable resolved spectroscopy of the dusty and distant universe.
STScI is a full member institution of the fifth-generation SDSS-V collaboration, which will (among other things) reveal the origins of gas-phase turbulence by obtaining integral-field spectroscopy over 2,500 square degrees of the Milky Way. As the lead scientist for STScI I also represent the Institute on the SDSS Collaboration Council.
Using the statistical power of MaNGA, we recently analyzed the ionized gas velocity dispersion in ~7000 nearby galaxies with integral-field spectroscopy. The results show the incredibly strong correlation between gas dynamics and ionization mechanism, with star-forming gas in a dynamically thin layer with velocity dispersion around 25 km/s.
Spectrographs are limited in the science that they can do by their resolving power- the narrowest spectral features that they can discern. By characterising the MaNGA instrumental profile to sub-percent accuracy, we can open up new scientific avenues in studying cold disks that were previously the domain of higher resolution spectrographs.
We recently combined the power of multiple integral-field units spectrographs (OSIRIS and KCWI) with the ground-breaking MOSFIRE multislit spectrograph to learn more about the ionizing radiation emitted by active galactic nuclei when the Universe was just 3 Gyr old.
In a project led by former Harvard graduate student Meng Gu (now a Russell Fellow at Princeton), we pushed the MaNGA IFUs to the limit by obtaining absorption-line spectra of the intracluster light in the Coma cluster.
Advanced numerical methods are critical to making the most of astrophysical observations; NYU graduate student Dou Liu led an effort in which we explored a novel new algorithm for constructing three-dimensional data cubes from integral-field spectroscopy whilst minimizing undesirable spatial covariance.
The Gaia data has opened the floodgates on studies of Galactic stellar structures. Among other things it allowed UVA graduate student Chris Hayes to lead a project in which we measured the rotation speed of the Milky Way from how fast we see the Sgr stellar tidal stream passing by, realizing a long-held prediction that Steve Majewski and I made in 2006!
Steve Majewski, Kathryn Johnston, and I developed our first numerical model of the gravitational interaction of the Sagittarius dward spheroidal galaxy with the Milky Way in 2005; our 2010 update is still one of the most comprehensive models of the tidal debris stream to date. See our web resource for details of the numerical models.
In the last 10-15 years we have learned that galaxies in the young universe were much dynamically 'hotter' than their modern-day counterparts, but galaxy BX442 is the first clear time that a z=2 galaxy has nonetheless been able to form grand design spiral structure!