A327 Zaffarano
Ames, IA 50010, USA
+1 (515) 294-2219
jbsimon.astro 'at' gmail.com
Welcome to my website!
What's New?
I am an Assistant Professor at Iowa State University in Ames, IA. I recently moved from Boulder, CO where I was Senior Research Associate at the University of Colorado and a visiting scientist at the Southwest Research Institute. Before that, I was a NASA Sagan Fellow at the Southwest Research Institute.
My primary research focus is on planet formation. I am using sophisticated computer simulations run on some of the nation's largest supercomputers to understand the basic physical processes at play in how planets are born. I then test my theoretical models against observational data, and as such, I enjoy working very closely with observers.
Currently, my main two research areas are the formation of planetesimals (bodies that range in size from 1 km to 100 km or so, e.g., asteroids, comets, Kuiper Belt Objects), and the structure and evolution of protoplanetary disks (disks of gas and dust around young, forming stars).
I also have a strong interest in how hot gas around nature's most mysterious objects (black holes) spirals in to these objects and in the process generate a tremendous amount of radiation.
-- New paper led by collaborator David Nesvorny on binary planestimal formation in our streaming instability calculations: ADS Link
-- My new postdoc Sayantan Auddy has joined my group!
-- Paper led by postdoc Daniel Carrera has been published: ADS Link
-- I welcome new graduate student Jeonghoon Lim to my group!