The elements that make up everything that we see around us were made by nuclear
reactions and decays. These processes also produce the energy that makes the stars shine,
including the nearest star, our sun. We depend on this energy for our very existence.
The abundances of the elements and isotopes provide important information about the
astrophysical environments where they were created. In the laboratory, we can measure
the nuclear reactions responsible for producing a particular atomic nucleus within a certain
stellar environment. This information, combined with astronomical observations, allows us to
describe the first epoch of nucleosynthesis during the big bang, the major burning stages in
the life of a star, the evolution of stellar populations, and the evolution of the Galaxy as a
whole.
Our group is part of the Physics & Astronomy Department at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill. Our research is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.
We are always looking for good graduate students to work in our group. If you are a prospective graduate student with interest in our research area and you would like to join our group, you need to be admitted first to the Graduate School at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. For more information regarding this process, please contact one of
the group faculty members (A.E. Champagne; C. Iliadis; J. Engel).
