Please RSVP to this event by emailing astro-office@astro.wisc.edu.
Speakers:
Professor Michael Maseda
Michael Maseda is an Assistant Professor of Astronomy at UW-Madison. His research focuses on the growth and evolution of galaxies, particularly at early cosmic times. He uses observational data from large telescopes to characterize the physical conditions inside galaxies, which will be pushed further with the advent of JWST. He received a BS degree in English and Astrophysics from Caltech in 2011 and a PhD from the University of Heidelberg/Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in 2015. Before coming to Madison, he was a NOVA Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Leiden.
Presentation Title: Looking back in time with the James Webb Space Telescope
Description: How did it all start? Already in the first 18 months with the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered some of the most distant galaxies we have ever seen before: the more distant an object is, the further back in time we are seeing. As we are now able to observe galaxies that formed shortly after the Universe began, we are beginning to piece together the picture of how galaxies like our Milky Way came to be.
Professor Susanna Widicus Weaver
Susanna Widicus Weaver is the Vozza Professor of Chemistry and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin and is an expert in prebiotic astrochemistry. Her research, combining laboratory spectroscopy, observational astronomy, and chemical modeling, is aimed at understanding the mechanisms driving interstellar chemistry and the pathways for the formation of life. She received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Illinois Wesleyan University (2000) and her Ph.D. in chemistry at Caltech (2005). She was a postdoctoral fellow in Chemistry and Astronomy at the University of Illinois from 2005-2008. Before moving to Wisconsin in 2020, she was a Professor of Chemistry at Emory University.
Presentation Title: The Origins of Life in the Universe
Description: Are we alone in the Universe? This is one of the most fundamental questions faced by humanity. It is now within the realm of science, rather than science fiction, to answer this question. We are launching the Wisconsin Center for Origins Research, WiCOR, as a collaborative research center that explores how life formed on Earth and whether other habitable worlds are present outside of our own solar system.