Research at MIfA

The breadth of expertise at the Institute is exceptional for a department of moderate size, covering optical, infrared, and radio observations along with instrument development and theoretical and computational astrophysics. Students may find themselves exploring such diverse fields as star formation and stellar evolution, the structure and makeup of the interstellar medium in the Milky Way and other galaxies, the structure and evolution of galaxies, gravitational lensing, the cosmic distance scale, the nature of active galaxies and quasars, and computational gas dynamics as a tool to explore cosmic problems. Other faculty interests extend our expertise into space physics, cosmic rays, early universe cosmology, and gravitational waves.

For observational work, students and faculty use national observatories at Kitt Peak, Cerro Tololo, Mauna Kea, the Very Large Array, as well as our Mt. Lemmon (1.5–meter) and O'Brien (0.75–meter) telescopes. Further, we lead projects with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes. Finally, we have guaranteed time access to the Steward Observatory Telescopes (including the Large Binocular Telescope). Follow the links below to find out more about our research groups.

For students interested in research at the cross section between data science and astrophysics, please see the Data Science in Multi-Messenger Astrophysics webpage.