Dr. Fred Ciesla

Biography

Fred Ciesla is a Professor and Department Chair in the Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago. His research primarily focuses on planetary science, particularly the evolution of protoplanetary disks and cosmochemistry. His work involves developing theoretical models to study the thermal, chemical, and dynamical evolution of materials in protoplanetary disks to understand the makeup of planetesimals and planets. Ciesla compares predictions from his models with measurements of meteoritic and planetary materials to constrain the processes that operated in our own protoplanetary disk, the solar nebula. He also applies his models to investigate extrasolar planets and the properties of protoplanetary disks. His specific research topics include evaluating how chondrules are formed by shock waves in the solar nebula and understanding how dust grains grow into sub-micron-sized particles that evolve into planets. Ciesla has begun collaborations to investigate the role of planetesimal impacts on the thermal and chemical evolution of planetary building blocks.

Research Interests

Experience