Contact Information
1002 W. Green St.
Urbana, IL
M/C 221
Research Areas
Biography
Professor French received her SB degrees in Physics and Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences in 2011 from MIT, and her PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Arizona in 2017. She was a Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow at the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, CA. Professor French joined the faculty at UIUC in 2020.
Research Interests
Galaxy evolution
Transient astronomy
Optical and radio observations
Research Description
Professor French uses multi-wavelength observations to study how galaxies evolve over time and co-evolve with their supermassive black holes.
Additional Campus Affiliations
Assistant Professor, Astronomy
Assistant Professor, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
External Links
Recent Publications
Earl, N., French, K. D., Ramirez-Ruiz, E., Auchettl, K., Raimundo, S. I., Davis, K. W., Masterson, M., Arcavi, I., Lu, W., Baldassare, V. F., Coulter, D. A., de Boer, T., Drout, M. R., Dykaar, H., Foley, R. J., Gall, C., Gao, H., Huber, M. E., Jones, D. O., ... Verrico, M. E. (2025). AT 2020nov: Evidence for Disk Reprocessing in a Rare Tidal Disruption Event. Astrophysical Journal, 983(1), Article 28. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adb974
Fodor, A., Tomko, T., Braun, M., Medling, A. M., Johnson, T. M., Thompson, A., Johnston, V. D., Newhouse, M., Luo, Y., French, K. D., Otter, J. A., Tripathi, A., Verrico, M. E., Alatalo, K., Rowlands, K., & Heckman, T. (2025). Shocked POststarburst Galaxy Survey. IV. Outflows in Shocked Poststarburst Galaxies Are Not Responsible for Quenching. Astrophysical Journal, 979(1), Article 94. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad900f
Faris, S., Arcavi, I., Makrygianni, L., Hiramatsu, D., Terreran, G., Farah, J., Howell, D. A., McCully, C., Newsome, M., Padilla Gonzalez, E., Pellegrino, C., Bostroem, K. A., Abojanb, W., Lam, M. C., Tomasella, L., Brink, T. G., Filippenko, A. V., French, K. D., Clark, P., ... Johansson, J. (2024). Light-curve Structure and Hα Line Formation in the Tidal Disruption Event AT 2019azh. Astrophysical Journal, 969(2), Article 104. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad4a72
Lin, L., Pan, H. A., Ellison, S. L., Harada, N., Jiménez-Donaire, M. J., French, K. D., Baker, W. M., Hsieh, B. C., Koyama, Y., López-Cobá, C., Michiyama, T., Rowlands, K., Sánchez, S. F., & Thorp, M. D. (2024). The ALMaQUEST Survey. XII. Dense Molecular Gas as Traced by HCN and HCO+ in Green Valley Galaxies. Astrophysical Journal, 963(2), Article 115. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad18b9
Otter, J. A., Alatalo, K., Rowlands, K., McDermid, R. M., Davis, T. A., Federrath, C., French, K. D., Heckman, T., Ogle, P., Kakkad, D., Luo, Y., Nyland, K., Tripathi, A., Patil, P., Petric, A., Smercina, A., Skarbinski, M., Lanz, L., Larson, K., ... Smith, J. D. T. (2024). Pulling Back the Curtain on Shocks and Star Formation in NGC 1266 with Gemini-NIFS. Astrophysical Journal, 975(1), Article 142. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad793a