Dr. Dahm is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at the California Institute of Technology. He will conduct a research program that will seek to establish the timescale for the dissipation of circumstellar disks around low-mass stars analogous to the Sun. By constraining this parameter, insight will be gained into the formation mechanism of Jovian-like planets and the early history of the Sun and solar system. Dr. Dahm will combine millimeter observations with thermal infrared spectroscopy to provide a complete picture of disk structure and evolution from the co-rotation radius to the outermost disk regions.
Dr. Dahm will also design and teach a seminar course for undergraduate and graduate students at Caltech to instruct students on the usage of telescopes and instrumentation at the Palomar and Mauna Kea Observatories. Dr. Dahm will additionally initiate an outreach program at Palomar Observatory to ensure public awareness of the significance of current astronomical research.
