Introduction:
Dr. Mark Richardson is the Educational and Outreach Officer at the Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute.
Got his start at St. Mary’s University with an honours in Astrophysics, and Masters and Ph.D. at Arizona State University.
Expertise in modelling galaxy formation and evolution using cosmological simulations.
A big advocate for Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity in Physics (or STEM in general)
Research:
To study the evolution of galaxies in the Universe, one needs cosmological simulations. These simulations track the evolution of dark matter and luminous matter over 13.8 Billion years.
He compares different methods of simulating the Universe: particle method and grid method.
Particle methods are easy to simulate and intuitive. However, grid method allow for capturing the mixing of gas in galaxies more robustly.
Dr. Mark Richardson is also highly involved in various outreach events such as Astronomy of Tap, Ignite events, etc.
Special thanks to Colin Vendromin for the music, also thanks to Zac Kenny for the logo!