For the past two decades, astronomers have made great strides in identifying where currently in our and in other galaxies new stars are being formed. Our understanding of the physical processes of this formation process is, however, far from complete. The Principal Investigator (PI) proposes fundamental and extensive studies in this field, dealing with virtually all of the major problems of star formation that are currently identified. The most significant topics the PI will be focusing on are the relationship between young stellar objects (YSOs) and the giant molecular clouds in which they form, the evolution of YSOs and their associated disks and winds, factors affecting the efficiency of star formation, and the mass distribution among YSOs.
