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
Associate Professor, Astronomy
Associate Professor, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
External Links
Recent Publications
French, K. D., Mockler, B., Earl, N., & Murphey, T. (2026). Prospects for Measuring Black Hole Masses using TDEs with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 138(1), Article 014101. https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/ae2cca
Mondal, S., French, K. D., & Hinkle, J. T. (2026). Comparison of X-Ray Emission Properties of TDEs and Soft Flares from AGNs. Astrophysical Journal, 1006(1), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae7dec
Otter, J. A., Alatalo, K., Rowlands, K., Patil, P., Skarbinski, M., Dysarz, L., Lacy, M., Jiménez-Donaire, M. J., Aalto, S., Davis, T. A., Fodor, A., French, K. D., Harada, N., Heckman, T., Kishikawa, R., Lopez, S., Luo, Y., Martin, S., Medling, A. M., ... Tripathi, A. (2026). Clumpy, Dense Gas in the Outflow of NGC 1266. Astrophysical Journal, 997(2), Article 361. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae2c5a
Patil, P., Rowlands, K., Alatalo, K., Almaini, O., Wild, V., Maltby, D., Ivison, R. J., Arumugam, V., French, K. D., Heckman, T., Lacy, M., Luo, Y., Nyland, K., Otter, J. A., Petric, A., Roy, N., & Skarbinski, M. (2026). Tracing Quenching by Radio Active Galactic Nuclei in Post-starburst Galaxies at Cosmic Noon. Astrophysical Journal, 1005(1), Article 60. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae70ef
Shepherd, M., French, K. D., Stone, N. C., Earl, N., Melchor, D., Smith, T. R., Somalwar, J., Teboul, O., & Verrico, M. E. (2026). The Delay Time Distribution of Tidal Disruption Events. Astrophysical Journal, 1005(1), Article 63. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae6b6f