معرفی
Gordon T. Richards is a Professor of Physics at Drexel University where he serves as Chair of the Faculty Senate Budget, Process, and Development (BP&D) Committee. His office is located in Disque Hall 812, and he maintains active research leadership within the Astrophysics Group.
His educational background includes a PhD in Astronomy & Astrophysics from the University of Chicago (2000), an SM in Astronomy & Astrophysics from the University of Chicago (1995), and an AB in Astrophysical Sciences from Princeton University (1994).
Professor Richards specializes in identifying quasars and active galactic nuclei through modern statistical methods using imaging data from large astronomical sky surveys. His research focuses on understanding accretion disks feeding supermassive black holes, how mass and energy ejected from these black holes influence galaxy evolution, and how quasar samples serve as statistical probes of the universe's structure. He frequently utilizes space-based observatories including the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ray Observatory, along with ground-based optical and radio observatories like the Very Large Array.
His recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on quasar classification methods, radio properties of quasars, high-redshift quasar clustering, and statistical approaches to identifying AGNs in large datasets. The work spans multiple wavelengths including optical, infrared, X-ray, and radio observations.
- Alfred P. Sloan research fellowship (2007) - one of only 23 physicists selected that year, with only three in astrophysics
- Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship (2013) supporting sabbatical work at the Max Planck Institut für Astronomie in Heidelberg, Germany
As primary investigator, Richards has secured multiple significant grants including 'Calibrating Quasars for Cosmology' (NSF $102,226, 2019), 'CDS&E: AGNs Amidst the Data Deluge' (NSF $179,482, 2014), and 'Radio-Loud Quasars: What, When, Where, Why and How' (NSF $168,310, 2011). He serves as co-chair of the AGN science collaboration for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) project at the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile, where Drexel University participates. He is also a frequent visitor to the University of Cambridge and has co-authored more than 250 articles in refereed journals.
