Star Clusters, Galactic Nuclei, Stellar Collisions & Mergers, Interacting Binaries
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Research at CIERA
The centers of galaxies are complex environments whose properties are a result of the interactions between the massive black holes that reside there, vast clouds of gas, and dense populations of stars and stellar remnants.
Professor Rasio’s group studies numerical models of dense stellar environments such as nuclear star clusters.
Professor Larson’s group studies the interactions of single stars with massive black holes, a prospective LISA gravitational wave source class known as an EMRI (“extreme mass ratio inspiral”).
Professor Zadeh is an observer who studies stellar populations and physical processes in the Milky Way nucleus using observations across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Opportunities
Deadline: 11:59pm, December 31, 2025
CIERA supports a wide range of interdisciplinary projects focused on research, education, and public outreach in Astrophysics. Our faculty and postdocs work on projects that couple astronomy and astrophysics analysis with many other disciplines: computer science, applied math, planetary sciences, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, data science, science education, and more. Many have hired/mentored undergraduate researchers
News
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/DSC_0014-1200x675-1-550x310.jpg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/IMG_6769-1-550x310.jpg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/IMG_7895-550x310.jpg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CoDEx-Featured-Image-550x310.png)
Gallery
![Aurora in Chicago](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_6231-2-480x350.png)
Aurora in Chicago
![Aurora in Chicago](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_6231-3-1024x768.png)
Aurora in Chicago
Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo was taken by CIERA Postdoctoral Fellow Sharan Banagiri. Banagiri captured this photo between 9 and 10PM on May 10 at Hollywood Beach in Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois, featuring
Sharan Banagiri/CIERA/Northwestern
- Science
![Aurora in Chicago](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_6236-480x350.png)
Aurora in Chicago
![Aurora in Chicago](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_6236-1-768x1024.png)
Aurora in Chicago
Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo was taken by CIERA Postdoctoral Fellow Sharan Banagiri. Banagiri captured this photo between 9 and 10PM on May 10 at Hollywood Beach in Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois. When
Sharan Banagiri/CIERA/Northwestern
- Science
![Aurora in Chicago](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_6230-2-480x350.png)
Aurora in Chicago
![Aurora in Chicago](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_6230-3-1024x768.png)
Aurora in Chicago
Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo was taken by CIERA Postdoctoral Fellow Sharan Banagiri. Banagiri captured this photo between 9 and 10PM on May 10 at Hollywood Beach in Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois. When
Sharan Banagiri/CIERA/Northwestern
- Science
![Aurora in Chicago](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_6229-480x350.png)
Aurora in Chicago
![Aurora in Chicago](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_6229-1-1024x768.png)
Aurora in Chicago
Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo was taken by CIERA Postdoctoral Fellow Sharan Banagiri. Banagiri captured this photo between 9 and 10PM on May 10 at Hollywood Beach in Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois. When
Sharan Banagiri/CIERA/Northwestern
- Science
![Solar Active Region 3664](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Sun-spot-480x350.png)
Solar Active Region 3664
![Solar Active Region 3664](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Sun-spot-1-1024x1024.png)
Solar Active Region 3664
Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo was taken by CIERA graduate student Imran Sultan, amateur astrophotographer and member of Professor Claude-André Faucher-Giguère‘s research group. Sultan took this photo on May 10 in Evanston.
- Science
![Aurora in Wisconsin](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_8751-480x350.jpg)
Aurora in Wisconsin
![Aurora in Wisconsin](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_8751-1-1024x683.jpg)
Aurora in Wisconsin
Between May 10 – 14, 2024 a series of powerful solar storms led to the production of visible aurorae far further towards the equator than normal. This photo was taken by CIERA graduate student Imran Sultan, amateur astrophotographer and member of Professor Claude-André Faucher-Giguère‘s research group. Sultan took this photo from dark skies in Wisconsin
Imran Sultan/Northwestern/CIERA
- Science
People
Core Faculty
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/geller-aaron-170x170.png)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Cliff-Johnson-170x170.jpg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Vicky-Kalogera-Square-170x170.jpg)
Vicky Kalogera
Daniel I. Linzer Distinguished University Professor, Director of CIERA
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/rasio-151x170.jpg)
![Tjitske Starkenburg](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/2023-Tjitske-Starkenburg-170x170.jpg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/taam-168x210-168x170.jpg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Farhad-Yusef-Zadeh-170x170.jpg)
External Faculty
![Christopher Berry](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Christopher-Berry-170x170.png)
![Diego Munoz](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Diego-Munoz-170x170.jpg)
Diego Muñoz
Visiting Scholar, Professor at University of Arizona
Postdocs
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/anna-childs-Anna-Childs-170x170.jpg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Seth-Gossage-170x170.jpg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Chi-Chun-Hsu_zoom-Chih-chun-Hsu-170x170.jpg)
Graduate Students
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Dany-Atallah-170x170.jpg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Elena-González-170x170.jpg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/IMG_1144-JHarry-170x170.jpeg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/headshot_beryl-Beryl-Hovis-Afflerbach-170x170.jpg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/s24-grad-headshots-engelhart-29-copy-170x170.jpg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/287225470_542889743969266_4354125213400488019_n-Miguel-Martinez-1-170x170.jpg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Nugent_Portrait-Anya-Nugent-170x170.jpeg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Neel-Nilesh-Panchal_Profile-Neel-Panchal-170x170.jpg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/headshot-Caroline-von-Raesfeld-170x170.jpg)
![Kyle Rocha](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Rocha-Kyle-170x170.jpg)
![Kierstin Sorenson](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/KierstinSorenson-170x170.jpeg)
![Newlin Weatherford](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Weatherford-Newlin-170x170.jpg)
![](https://ciera.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Rachel-Zhang2-170x170.png)