Dr Caroline Foster
PhD in Astrophysics 2007-2011,聽Swinburne University of Technology Victoria, Australia;聽Thesis title : The Assembly and Chemical Evolution of Nearby Early-type Galaxies
MSc with Physics Concentration 2005-2007,聽Bishops University Quebec, Canada;聽Thesis title : The Size and Distribution of Cosmological Voids in the SDSS聽
BSc with double major in Physics and Mathematics 2002-2005;聽Bishops University Quebec, Canada
My name is Dr Caroline Foster (most people just call me Caro) and I am an astronomer within the School of Physics. I am originally from Quebec (la belle province), Canada. I did my聽BSc in physics and mathematics and an MSc in astrophysics at聽聽(Quebec, Canada). I completed my PhD at聽聽(Melbourne, Australia) in 2011. I am currently an ARC Future Fellow and Scientia聽Senior Lecturer at 国产精品.
My research interests have broadly focused on the formation and chemical enrichment of various structures in the universe. My research has led to the development of innovative techniques to exploit 3D spectroscopy data from the largest scales, cosmological voids, down to much smaller structures, globular clusters.
I am also a fierce diversity advocate and a keen outreach/public speaker/author.
You will find more about me and my research聽. You may also follow me on .听
Brief summary of my Future Fellowship project :
The spin of galaxies is slowing down and nobody really knows why. This dynamical transformation is predicted by聽theoretical simulations, but different simulations disagree on its exact causes and their relative importance. Until聽recently, the data required to map the gas and stars in galaxies during the transition and identify its root causes in聽galaxies around 3-4 billion years ago were critically lacking. My Future Fellowship project leverages on the Middle Age Galaxy Properties with Integral field spectroscopy () survey, a large programme on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope.听This dataset is designed to聽directly detect and address this important unknown.听By comparing MAGPI with local surveys (e.g. and ) and using redshift surveys such as and , I am identifying the key physical drivers for the morphological and dynamical transformation of galaxies across cosmic time.
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
ARC Future Fellowship 2021, 2021-2025, "Time takes its toll: understanding why galaxies slow down as they get older"; C. Foster, Australian Research Council; $727,000AUD
ARC Discovery Project 2021, 2021-2024,聽鈥淏eacons in the night:鈥 unveiling how galaxies light up dark matter; C. Lagos, A. Robotham, A.听Ludlow, C. Foster, T. Yuan, T. Mendel, A. Tiley, J. Schaye, R. Bower; Australian Research Council; $645,000AUD
ARC Discovery Project 2019, 2019-2021,聽Ultra-faint signatures of galaxy growth seen through the cosmic haze; L. Spitler, J. Dawson, C.听Foster, D. Zucker;聽Australian Research Council; $330,000AUD
NSERC Graduate Scholarship, 2006-2007,聽Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, $17,300CA
European Southern Observatory Large Program 2019-present;聽The Middle Age Galaxy Properties with Integral field spectroscopy (MAGPI) survey;聽Cash equivalent ~$3.4M AUD (https://magpisurvey.org)
Best Thesis University Award 2011,聽Swinburne University
An up-to-date publications list is available through ORCID:
My Research Supervision
I am the primary supervisor for PhD candidates R. Bagge and Z. Aliakbarzadeh, and honours student F. Pal.听
I have supervised 11 undergraduate and acted as co-supervisor for 3 PhD students.