Contact Information
1002 W. Green St.
Urbana, IL 61801
Research Interests
Interstellar and circumstellar medium, star formation and feedback, Magellanic Clouds, dust disks around white dwarfs
Research Description
I study interactions between stars and the interstellar medium, including HII regions, planetary nebulae, supernova remnants, superbubbles, and supergiant shells. Multi-wavelength observations from radio to gamma ray are used to study the formation of massive stars, energy feedback, and physics of interfaces and shocks.
I also use X-ray and infrared observations of white dwarfs to diagnose unusual phenomena that could be associated with binary interactions or planetary systems.
Education
PhD, Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, 1981
Awards and Honors
Lindheimer Fellow, Northwestern University, 1984
Associate, Center for Advanced Study, U of Illinois, 2003
Courses Taught
Fall 2013 - ASTR 401
Fall 2013 - ASTR 404
Additional Campus Affiliations
Professor Emerita, Astronomy
Recent Publications
Estrada-Dorado, S., Guerrero, M. A., Toalá, J. A., Maldonado, R. F., Lora, V., Vasquez-Torres, D. A., & Chu, Y. H. (2025). Accretion onto WD 2226-210, the central star of the Helix Nebula. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 536(3), 2477-2484. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae2733
Fesen, R. A., Patnaude, D., Wang, W. H., Chu, Y. H., Sun, J., Peitsch, M. C., Pugh, M., Garrod, S., Selby, M., & Woronow, A. (2025). Deep Optical Images of the Ejecta Nebula around the Wolf-Rayet Star WR 8 (HD 62910). Astronomical Journal, 169(4), Article 231. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/adbd41
Li, G. H., Li, C. J., Chu, Y. H., Ou, P. S., Chen, C. H. R., Grishunin, K., & Lee, H. T. (2025). Stellar Population and Energy Feedback in the Supergiant Shell LMC 1. Astronomical Journal, 169(5), Article 283. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/adc90f
Estrada-Dorado, S., Lora, V., Toalá, J. A., Esquivel, A., Guerrero, M. A., Maldonado, R. F., & Chu, Y. H. (2024). Synthetic X-ray emission from white dwarf accreting planetary material. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 527(3), 6158-6172. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad3608
Huang, Y. C., Koch, P. M., Hwang, Y. J., Chiong, C. C., Yen, H. W., Ho, P., Chu, Y. H., Pen, U. L., Ho, C. T., Chien, C., & Wang, C. C. (2024). Lessons Learned: ALMA Band-1 Receiver Project Management. In S. E. Egner, & S. Roberts (Eds.), Modeling, Systems Engineering, and Project Management for Astronomy XI Article 130991Y (Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering; Vol. 13099). SPIE. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3018608