The colloquia are currently held via WebEx on Wednesday afternoons, 3:30 - 4:30 pm (any exceptions are noted in the event description). Join the WebEx meeting using this link. It is also possible to call through your computer or by phone at the number listed on your WebEx session (WebEx help).

The list of talks from 2009 onward may be found by clicking on the year in the sidebar on the Events page and then sorting by Colloquia.


SOFIA COLLOQUIA 2022

Fall 2022 Colloquia Details
Event Event date Speaker Affiliation
Astronomical Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow - Louis Allamandola NASA Ames
The Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer - WISE - Ned Wright UCLA
Molecular astrophysics with the Spitzer Space Telescope - David Neufeld JHU
The Galactic Plane Infrared Polarization Survey (GPIPS) - Dan Clemens Boston University
The Formation of Massive Stars - Mark Krumholz UC Santa Cruz
Getting to Know Stars at Very High Angular Resolution - Jason Aufdenberg Embry-Riddle
A Large-Scale HST Survey of Paschen-alpha Emission in the Galactic Center - Mark Morris UCLA
The Evolutionary History of the R_Coronae Borealis Stars - Geoff Clayton LSU
Quantitative Theory of Grain Alignment and its Implications - Alex Lazarian U. Wisconsin - Madison
Young Stars and Proto-stellar Cores near NGC 2023 - Göran Sandell SOFIA/USRA
Dust in Cataclysmic Binaries - Steve Howell NOAO
Dust Formation in Supernovae Interacting with Dense Circumstellar Material - Nathan Smith UC Berkeley
Large Scale Structure of the Taurus Molecular Cloud Probed with High Spatial Dynamic Range Spectral Line Mapping - Paul Goldsmith JPL
Direct Detection of Exoplanets - James Graham UC Berkeley
So You Thought the Diffuse Interstellar Medium is All Old-Hat? - Carl Heiles UC Berkeley
How Luminous was the Galactic Supermassive Black Hole in the Past? - Frederick Baganoff MIT
Ultracool Atmospheres: From Brown Dwarfs to Exoplanets - Michael Cushing University of Hawaii
Observations of Magnetic Fields in Molecular Clouds: Testing Star Formation Theory - Richard Crutcher U. Illinois
Interpreting the Hot Gas in the Milky Way’s Halo - Robin Shelton U. Georgia
Spitzer reveals what’s behind Orion’s Bar - Robert Rubin NASA Ames
The Herschel Space Observatory - Alexander Tielens Leiden
Exploring the Rivers of China from Space: Tales from the Edge of Tibet - Martin Ruzek SOFIA/USRA
Dust and Ices in the Interstellar Medium: What we already know and what more we can we learn with SOFIA - Jean Chiar SETI Institute
Luminous Blue Compacts: Galaxy Assembly in the Local Universe - Michael Fanelli NASA Ames
Exoplanet Spectroscopy: a bright present, a brilliant future - Mark Swain JPL
Dust in Comets - Imaging Polarimetry - Terry Jones University of Minnesota
Spectroscopy of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; The Near-, the Mid- and the Far- IR - Andrew Mattioda NASA Ames
Galactic Observations of the Terahertz CII Line (GOT C+): A Herschel Key Project - William Langer JPL
Evidence for rocks and rocky planets from the zero-age main sequence to white dwarfs - Ben Zuckerman UCLA
Infrared Spectra of mid-L to mid-T Dwarfs: Probing the Physics of the L-T Transition - Denise Stephens BYU
A Unified Representation of Gas-Phase Element Depletions in the Interstellar Medium - Edward Jenkins Princeton
IR spectra of low mass protostars: Stars, Disks, Fields, and Winds, Oh My! - Tom Greene NASA Ames
Here be dragons - molecular imaging of planet forming regions - Klaus Pontoppidan Caltech
Infrared Spectroscopy of Preplanetary Matter: Current Status and Prospects for SOFIA - Douglas Whittet RPI
Towards Imaging Other Earths: coronagraph development at NASA Ames - Ruslan Belikov NASA Ames
The SPLASH Survey and the Progressive Stages of Hierarchical Galaxy Formation - Puragra Guhathakurta UC Santa Cruz
Observing Cosmic Explosions with the Long Wavelength Array - Gregory Taylor Univ. of New Mexico
Characterizing the Magnetized Turbulent Power Spectrum through the Dispersion of Magnetic Fields - Martin Houde U. Western Ontario
Blowing up stars in one's office - Robert Rosner U. Chicago
he Diffuse Interstellar Bands -- What can we learn with SOFIA? - Farid Salama NASA Ames
Dust Processing in Galaxies due to Massive Star Formation - Karl Gordon STScI
Not Your Grandmother's HII Regions: An X-ray Tour of Massive Star-forming Regions - Leisa Townsley Penn. State
Infrared Spectroscopy of Uranus, Neptune, and Triton - Martin Burgdorf DSI
Diffuse Ionized Gas in the Milky Way: Continuing Investigations with WHAM - Matt Haffner U. Wisconsin - Madison
Early Results From Herschel (and A Project Impossible For Herschel) - Paul Harvey U. Texas, Austin
Characteristics of Kepler planetary candidates based on the first data set: The majority are found to be Neptune-size and smaller - William Borucki NASA Ames
Advances in Galactic Cartography - Robert Benjamin U. Wisconsin, Whitewater
The Hydrogen Photodissociation - Reformation Cycle and the Large Scale Distributions of HI and H2 in Galaxies - Ronald Allen STScI
Recent results from the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on HST: HD 209458b a sizzling exoplanet with a cometlike tail and molecular hydrogen pumping and fluorescence in premain sequence stars - Jeffrey Linsky U. Colorado - Boulder
Stellar Archeology: Probing Stellar Mass Loss with Interacting Supernovae - Jennifer Hoffman Univ. of Denver
Galactic Observations of Terahertz C+ (GOT C+): The State of the Diffuse ISM - William Langer JPL
Classical Novae in the Infrared: Hot Flashes on Degenerate Dwarfs - Sumner Starrfield Arizona State Univ.
Impacts on Jupiter Galore - Imke De Pater UC Berkeley
Through The Looking Glass: A Re-analysis of Silicate Dust Spectral Features - Angela Speck U. Missouri, Columbia
Star formation in Elliptical and S0 Galaxies - Leo Blitz UC Berkeley
Investigating Astrochemistry at Sub-millimeter Wavelengths: Into the Future with SOFIA - Lucy Ziurys U. Arizona, Tucson
Prebiotic Astrochemistry in the 'THz Gap - Susanna Widicus Weaver Emory Univ.
Spitzer Spectroscopy of Massive Young Stellar Objects - Janet Simpson SETI Institute
On the Star Formation Rates in Molecular Clouds and Galaxies - Charles Lada SAO
Stars Outside Galaxies - Duilia De Mello CUA/GSFC
Studies of Massive Star Formation and Cluster Birth in the SOFIA Era - John Bally U. Colorado
On Beyond Iron: Abundances of Heavy Metals in Planetary Nebulae - Harriet Dinerstein U. Texas
The IR Milky Way: What have we learned? - Ed Churchwell U. Wisconsin
Gas Emission Lines from Circumstellar Disks - Uma Gorti NASA Ames
Radiation Transfer Models of Young Stellar Objects - Barbara Whitney SSI
UV tracers of the Hidden Side of Galaxy Evolution - Chris Martin Caltech
Interstellar Molecules: What we know we do not know - Paule Sonnentrucker STScI
Line Emission from Interstellar Shocks: An Update - Michael Kaufman San Jose State University
What are the intra-cluster filaments in large clusters of galaxies? - Gary Ferland University of Kentucky
Oxygen Chemistry and Cosmic Ray Ionization Rates in Interstellar Clouds - David Hollenbach SETI Institute
The GBT HII Region Discovery Survey - Thomas Bania Boston University
Outstanding Questions in Dwarf Galaxy Research - Evan Skillman University of Minnesota
Spitzer/IRS investigation of MIPSGAL 24µm compact bubbles - Nicolas Flagey JPL
Time Dependent Photoionization of Gas Outflows in AGN - Manuel Bautista Western Michigan
Asteroid Ice - David Jewitt UCLA
The New Cool: The Discovery of Y Dwarfs - Adam Burgasser UCSD
Dust and Other Recent Discoveries in SN 1987A - George Sonneborn NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
The Structure and Composition of Protoplanetary Disks and the Dust they Contain - Dan Watson Rochester
Massive Galaxies in the Early Universe - Tommy Wiklind Catholic U.
Mapping the Connections between Molecular Clouds, Star Formation and Stellar Feedback - John Bieging University of Arizona
Recent Spectroscopy Highlights from Herschel/HIFI - Darek Lis Caltech
How Star Formation Modes and Thresholds Manifest in Molecular Cloud Structure - Jens Kauffmann JPL/Caltech
Young Stars Near Earth: a Close Look at Irradiated Protoplanetary Disks - Joel Kastner RIT
Radiation Pressure Feedback in Massive Star Formation - Breaking through the radiation pressure barrier and launching stable radiation-pressure-dominated outflow cavities - Rolf Kuiper JPL
Mapping Magnetic Fields near Low-Mass Class 0 Protostars - Giles Novak Northwestern University
Where Did Half the Starlight in the Universe Go? - Mark Devlin University of Pennsylvania
Far-IR Fine-structure Line Emission at High Redshift: Current Work and Prospects for SOFIA - Gordon Stacey Cornell University
Probing the Cosmic History of Star Formation in Galaxies with Herschel and CCAT - Jason Glenn U. Colorado - Boulder
Dust vs. Goliath: The Impact of Dust Grains in Pc-Scale Wind-Blown Bubbles - John Everett U. Wisconsin - Madison
Deciphering the Tidal Imprints of Satellites on HI disks - Sukanya Chakrabarti Florida Atlantic University
The Structure of Class 0 Protostars: Morphology and Evolution - Leslie Looney U. Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Polarization in Forming Stars: Probing Small Scales with CARMA - Chat Hull UC Berkeley
First Results from the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph: Massive Galactic Winds, Cold Accretion, and a New Discovery Space - Todd Trip University of Massachusetts
Herschel surveys of debris disks: incidences, outcomes and surprises - Brenda Matthews Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics
Do Methanol Maser “Rings” Trace Accretion Disks Around Young High-Mass Stars? - Jim deBuizer SOFIA/USRA
Spitzer's Greatest Hits - Mike Werner JPL
Multi-Wavelength Observations of Supernova Remnants - Brian Williams ORAU, NASA/Goddard
The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE): T-minus One Year and Counting - Richard Elphic NASA Ames
Imaging at the Millarcsecond Horizon: Interferometric Observations of Rapidly Rotating Stars - Gerard van Belle Lowell Observatory
Evolved HII regions: a window on dust physics. - From dust evolution to spinning dust grains - Roberta Paladini IPAC/Caltech
How do protostars get their masses? - Philip Myers Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
Direct Detection of Exoplanets with Polarimetry - Sloane Wiktorowicz UC Santa Cruz
The new SOFIA polarimeter - Johannes Staguhn Johns Hopkins University
Discovery and the Search for the Design of the Universe - Martin Harwit Cornell University
YSOVAR: Mid-Infrared Variations in Young Stars - Luisa Rebull Spitzer Science Center
The Role of Magnetic Fields in Star Formation - Christopher McKee UC Berkeley
21st Century PAH IR Analyses - Christian Boersma NASA Ames
The Circumstellar Environment of Young Stars Studied with Polarimetry - Pierre Bastien U. of Montreal
The Heliosphere: Blowing in the Interstellar Wind - Priscilla Frisch University of Chicago
Breakthroughs in our understanding of supernovae: from the standard to the superluminous - Andy Howell Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network
What is the role of magnetic fields in molecular clouds and star formation? - Tom Troland University of Kentucky
Orion Source I and its mysterious ionized disk - Ricard Plambeck UC Berkeley
Planet formation and stellar multiplicity: (how) do they coexist? - Gaspard Duchêne UC Berkeley
Star Formation and Jet Interactions near Sgr A* - Farhad Yusef-Zadeh Northwestern University
Probing Inflation and the Neutrino Masses with Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization - Shaul Hanany University of Minnesota
An Astronomical Time Machine: Light Echoes from Historic Supernovae and Stellar Eruptions - Armin Rest Space Telescope Science Institute
Cosmic Ray and X-ray Interactions with Interstellar and Circumstellar Matter - Al Glassgold UC Berkeley
The Lyman Continuum Escape Fraction and Other Curiosities in HST Deep UV Surveys - Harry Teplitz IPAC/Caltech
The Dynamical Evolution of Newborn Triple Systems - Bo Reipurth University of Hawaii
The Intersection of Binary and Planet Formation - Kaitlan Kratter U. Colorado - Boulder
IR Instrumentation as Probes of AGN & Their Host Galaxies - Chris Packham U. Texas, San Antonio
Molecular gas, AGNs, star formation and galaxy evolution: a local look at galaxies undergoing the transition - Katherine Alatalo IPAC/Caltech
Entrepreneurial space astrophysics enabled by new technologies; nurturing the space-adept in a sounding rocket crucible - Stephan McCandliss Johns Hopkins University
Exoplanet detection and characterization using combined coronagraphy and sub-microarcsecond astrometry from space - Eduardo Bendek NASA Ames
[CII] measurements of z=2 galaxies from the Herschel Extreme Lensing Line Observations (HELLO) survey - Sangeeta Malhotra Arizona State University, Tempe
Circumstellar Disk Composition and Evolution - Alycia Weinberger Carnegie Institution of Washington
Probing the role of shock heating in turbulent extragalactic environments; From "Taffy" and the Stephan's Quintet, to high-z quasars - Phil Appleton IPAC/Caltech
Quasars Probing Quasars - Jason Prochaska UC Santa Cruz
Dust and Extinction from an Ultraviolet Point of View - UJ Sofia American University
Towards 3D Spectra of Galaxies - Ching-Wa Yip Johns Hopkins University
Close Encounters with the Largest Particles in Comets - Michael Kelley University of Maryland
Dispelling the Myths and Legends of the Habitable Zone - Stephen Kane San Francisco State University
Gas and Dust in Debris Disks: Clues to the Late Stages of Planet Formation - Aki Roberge NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
The Formation of Young Stellar Binaries - David Ardila IPAC/Caltech
Cosmic Fullerenes - Jan Cami The University of Western Ontario
The Spectral Characteristics of the PAH Emission Features - Els Peeters The University of Western Ontario
Probing the Secrets of Massive Stars with the Cygnus OB2 Radial Velocity Survey - Chip Kobulnicky University of Wyoming
Tales from the Galactic Center: The "Ring" and the "Twins" - Ryan Lau Cornell University
Evolution of Molecular Gas and Star Formation in Galaxies - Jin Koda Stony Brook University
Hot and Cold Star Formation: An X-ray and Infrared Study of the Infrared Dark Cloud M17 SWex - Matthew Povich Cal Poly Pomona
NIR Spectroscopy of Gas in Transition Disks around HAeBe Stars: Evidence of a Forming Companion? - Sean Brittain Clemson University
The Origins and Importance of Dusty Star-Forming Galaxies at High Redshift - Caitlin Casey UC Irvine
Formation of the First Stars in the Universe - Harold Yorke JPL
Direct Imaging of Extrasolar Planets and the Gemini Planet Imager - Bruce Macintosh Stanford University
Variability of SgrA* Using Keck AO and Spitzer: The Effect and Nature of the G2 Gas Cloud - Eric Becklin SOFIA/USRA
Orion as a Laboratory of Protostellar Evolution: Results from the Herschel Orion Protostar Survey - Tom Megeath University of Toledo
The Interstellar Medium in M31 - Small-Scale Processes in an Extragalactic Context - Karin Sandstrom University of Arizona
The Origin of Terrestrial Water - Karen Meech University of Hawaii
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope - Steven Kahn Stanford University
The Universe According to Planck - Charles Lawrence JPL
The First Steps to Make a Habitable Planet - Edwin (Ted) Bergin University of Michigan
Spring Colloquia Details
Event Event date Speaker Affiliation
Inflationary Cosmology with BICEP2 Sarah Stokes Kernasovskiy Stanford
Infrared Studies of Supernovae (and the E-ELT) Jason Spyromilio ESO
The Quest for Large Carbonaceous Molecules in Space Olivier Berne IRAP, Toulouse
High-resolution Spectroscopy With Immersion Gratings Naoto Kobayashi University of Tokyo
Nearby Supernovae and the James Webb Space Telescope George Sonneborn NASA/GSFC
The Large Scale Structure of Galaxies in the Galaxy And Mass Assembly Survey Mehmet Alpaslan NASA Ames
Big Bursts of Star Formation from LITTLE THINGS1: Starburst Triggers of Six Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies Trisha Ashley NASA Ames
A New Probe of the Distribution of Dark Matter in Galaxies Sukanya Chakrabarti Rochester Institute of Technology
An Integrated Photonic Spectrometer with Ultrasensitive Cryogenic Detectors for Far-Infrared/THz Space Spectroscopy Harvey Moseley NASA Goddard
A Panchromatic Study of Galaxies Near and Far, Caught in the Dusty Midst of Transformation Laurie Riguccini Valongo Observatory, Rio de Janeiro
Formation and Evolution of Dust and Molecules in the Inhomogeneous Ejecta of Cassiopeia A Chiara Biscaro University of Copenhagen
The Curious Chemistry of Hot Core G35.20-0.74N Veronica Allen University of Groningen
Magnetic Field Strengths and Grain Alignment Variations in the Local Bubble Wall Ilija Medan St. Clara University