Prof. Desika Narayanan’s research focuses on theoretical models primarily related to cosmological galaxy evolution, star formation, and the interstellar medium (ISM). He principally develops and utilizes large scale numerical simulations to simulate the interplay between small scale star formation, ISM physics, and global galaxy evolution. This involves studying galaxies from the stand point of their star formation/ISM properties ranging from the Milky Way through galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization
He is currently an Assistant Professor in Astronomy at the University of Florida. He began his career as an undergraduate at UF, with a B.S. in Astronomy (highest honors), and B.S. in Physics (high honors) in 2003. He did his PhD at the University of Arizona (2007), working with Prof. Chris Walker. He did a CfA fellowship at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (postdoc; 2007-2010), and was the Bok Fellow at the University of Arizona (postdoc; 2010-2013). He was then an Assistant Professor at Haverford College (2014-2017) prior to arriving at UF.