2024 Great Lecture in Astronomy

Stars form in a gaseous environment in deep space with explosions of warm and cool colors

STARFORGE Project

Event starts on this day

Feb

24

2024

Event starts at this time 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Hybrid (view details)
Cost: Free
Stella Offner, associate professor of astronomy, will deliver her talk “Advancing New Frontiers in Astronomy Data Analysis, Modeling, and Discovery with Artificial Intelligence.”

Description

Stella Offner smiles in a headshot

About the Speaker

Stella Offner joined the Astronomy Department at The University of Texas at Austin in 2017. Prof. Offner’s research focuses on understanding how stars like the Sun form by combining computer models, telescope observations and observational models (“synthetic observations”).   

In 2019, she co-founded the STARFORGE (STAR FORmation in Gaseous Environments) Project, which is a multi-institution initiative to develop cutting-edge computer simulations of star formation and to use them to tackle some of the biggest questions in star formation, including:  

  • What sets the masses of stars?   
  • How do forming stars shape their birth environment through radiation, winds, jets and supernovae?   
  • Why do some star systems, such as Alpha Centauri, contain more than one star?

As Prof. Offner’s research spans astrophysics, computer science, statistics, and chemistry, it comes as no surprise that her work brings her into contact with many centers for interdisciplinary learning across campus. Stella is a core faculty member at the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Science. She is also a member of the Center for Scientific Machine Learning, the Center for Planetary Systems Habitability, and the Machine Learning Laboratory.  

Aside from the many prestigious awards (such as the National Science Foundation Early Career Award) Stella’s research has earned her, she has also been recognized for her merit as an educator, winning the College of Natural Science Teaching Excellence award in 2019. Stella was the Department of Astronomy’s graduate student adviser for four years up until Fall 2023, mentoring many young scientists here at UT.  

Location

AT&T Hotel and Conference Center (Amphitheater 204) 

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