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: http://www.stsci.edu/stsci/meetings/jamb98/node12.html
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My current scientific interests lie in the following areas: Massive star evolution: My work in this area is focussed on the properties of Luminous Blue Variables and trying to constrain how they become LBVs and what they become after the LBV phase. The main project my collaborators and I are currently undertaking is a determination of the “hidden” mass of neutral material so that a more detailed estimate of the total mass lost in these systems can be determined. The total mass is required to constrain evolutionary models which describe the transition from O star to Wolf-Rayet. Formation of planetary systems: One of the key problems in studying circumstellar disks around Main-Sequence stars is absence of optical counterparts to IR excesses discovered by IRAS. Although IRAS discovered more than 100 MS stars with IR excesses only one star, Beta Pic Pic, appears to have an optically detectable, disk-like nebulosity. I have just started a survey of IR excess stars to search for circumstellar disks using the NICMOS Coronograph. The goal is to detect new disk candidates, to address the statistics of disk detection, and correlate MS disk properties with spectral type, age and fractional far-IR luminosity. Astronomical Instrumentation: I am currently working on detectors for the Advanced Camera for Surveys. Previous instrumentation projects include a Stellar Coronograph for the NTT 3.5 meter telescope and a coronograph employing adaptive optics.