Dr. L. Clifton Johnson’s research focuses on understanding star formation behavior at spatial scales ranging from that of galaxies down to individual star-forming complexes. Dr. Johnson combines optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope and sub-mm data from Atacama Large Millimeter Array to study stellar populations and the interstellar medium. Specifically, he investigates the formation and evolution of star cluster populations and young pre-main sequence star populations in nearby galaxies, including the Andromeda Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds. Cliff studies how star and cluster formation processes depend on galactic environment, and tracks the earliest phases of low-mass star formation. Cliff uses citizen science and crowdsourcing in his research in collaboration with the Zooniverse organization, which is based out of Adler Planetarium and Oxford University.
