Jeff

Rich

As Outreach Coordinator, Jeff Rich organizes the Carnegie Science Observatories' annual Open House, school visits, star parties, and community astronomy nights. He also co-initiated the Mt. Wilson STEM program and collaborates on the annual Astronomy Lecture Series at the Huntington. 

In addition to his educational efforts, Rich is an astronomer who researches the processes that shape galaxy evolution and formation, primarily through detailed observational studies of galaxies in the nearby universe. As a member of the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey (GOALS) team, Rich uses multiwavelength data and integral field spectroscopy to trace the impact of merger-driven gas flow on star formation and supermassive black hole growth. He has also helped construct large maps of the interstellar gas and its physical properties in very nearby galaxies using data from the du Pont telescope as part of the Typhoon project. He is also interested in developing and calibrating techniques used to measure the physical properties of the interstellar medium in distant galaxies.