Museum astrophysicist Jacqueline Faherty, who recently completed her doctorate under the supervision of Curator Michael Shara, was one of five students at Stony Brook University who received the 2011 President’s Award for Distinguished Doctoral Students.
Faherty’s dissertation looked at the kinematics of brown dwarfs—objects intermediate between planets and stars because they aren’t massive enough for nuclear fusion. The award citation is:
“For creating the largest extant catalog of uniform astrometric data on brown dwarfs, and for making significant contributions to our understanding of the nature and physics of brown dwarfs based upon this astrometric data.”
Faherty is currently continuing her research at the Museum under the supervision of Sebastien Lepine. She recently blogged about her work from an observing trip to Kitt Peak National Observatory.
Click on the video below, shot last fall after Faherty’s Ph.D. defense at Stony Brook, to hear Faherty discuss her work with Shara and advisor Dr. Adam J. Burgasser.