Merritt, David 96-17088 Dr. Merritt will conduct research with two goals. The first is to understand the distribution of dark matter in disk and elliptical galaxies through its observed effects on the luminous components. The second is to determine the importance of massive black holes for the structure and evolution of galaxies, both through theoretical studies and through a survey for massive black holes in nearly galaxies using HST. Studies of the formation and evolution of ealactic disks are planned in addition to the two main projects.
