Dr. Marshall Perrin is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at the University of California-Los Angeles. Dr. Perrin will combine the observational study of circumstellar disks using present instrumentation with the development of a powerful new instrument for future, higher contrast disk observations. His research program will include: (1) measurement of disk structure and grain growth around several newly discovered circumstellar disks through the combination of high-contrast disk imaging and numerical modeling; (2) integral field spectroscopy of bipolar outflows near their origin in circumstellar disks to quantify physical conditions in the jets and constrain theories of jet acceleration; and (3) participation in the development of the next generation of high-contrast disk imagers--the sensitive polarimetry mode of the Gemini Planet Imager. This combined observational and instrumental approach to high-contrast imaging will advance both our present understanding of circumstellar disks and our technological capacity for further studies.
Dr. Perrin will also develop and teach an introductory astrophysics course for astronomy majors that incorporates best practices from recent educational research and will volunteer with Project ASTRO to bring astronomy into elementary-school classrooms. Dr. Perrin's program of education and outreach is designed to increase the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in the scientific community.
