Dr Katharine G. Johnston
- Position: Research Fellow
- Areas of expertise: massive star formation; radio astronomy; discs and jets associated with young stars; molecular clouds; star formation near the centre of the Milky Way; radiative transfer.
- Email: K.G.Johnston@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 8279
- Location: Bragg
- Website: Twitter | LinkedIn
Profile
|
Aug 2017 - present
|
Research Fellow, University of Leeds, UK
|
|
2014 - 2017
|
Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Radio/Millimetre Studies of Star Formation, University of Leeds, UK
|
|
2010 - 2014
|
MPIA Postdoctoral Fellowship in (Sub)millimetre Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany
|
|
Apr 2011 - Aug 2011
|
ALMA Commisioning and Science Verification Team Member, ALMA site and JAO, Chile
|
|
2006 - 2010
|
PhD in Astronomy, University of St Andrews, UK
Title: Observational Signatures of Massive Star Formation: an investigation of the environments in which they form, and the applicability of the paradigm of low-mass star formation Supervisors: Dr K. Wood (St Andrews), Dr D. Shepherd (NRAO) and Dr E. Keto (CfA) Link to on-line thesis |
|
Jan 2010 - Oct 2010
|
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Predoctoral Fellowship
Advisor: Dr E. Keto |
|
2007 - 2008
|
NRAO Graduate Internship
3 months during 2007/08 studying at NRAO |
|
2002 - 2006
|
MPhys Astrophysics, University of St Andrews, UK
Honours Project: Searching for Triggered Star Formation in the GLIMPSE Survey |
|
Summer 2005
|
Six week undergraduate research project, University of St Andrews, UK
Topic: A search for reflected starlight from tau Bootis b Cormack Scholarship Vacation Award and Undergraduate Research Prize from the Royal Society of Edinburgh |
Research interests
I am a Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Radio/Millimetre Studies of Star Formation at the University of Leeds. I study the formation of high-mass stars using observations at infrared through radio wavelengths. At the University of Leeds I am one of the lead members on the e-MERLIN Legacy Programme "Feedback Processes in Massive Star Formation", to observe the ionized gas from forming massive stars at high resolution. I have a particular interest in high-resolution observations at mm wavelengths to resolve discs around massive stars, and have led a team that found and resolved spiral arms in the first Keplerian-like disc around a forming O-type star. I am also interested in how star formation may be different near the centre of our Galaxy, and have studied the massive but apparently quiescent infrared dark cloud G0.253+0.016.
<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>Qualifications
- PhD in Astrophysics
- MPhys in Astrophysics
Student education
Since 2014 I have jointly supervised masters students in their final year projects, as well as supervised student summer projects. I also currently lead and demonstrate advanced labs for masters students.