Book

Conference

Multimedia

Resources

Contact

Professor Fred Adams, Department of Physics, University of Michigan

Born in Redwood City, California, Fred Adams received his undergraduate training in Mathematics and Physics from Iowa State University in 1983 and his PhD in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1988. For his PhD dissertation research, he received the Robert J. Trumpler Award from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. After serving as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, he joined the faculty in the Physics Department at the University of Michigan in 1991. Adams was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1996, and to Full Professor in 2001. He is the recipient of the Helen B. Warner Prize from the American Astronomical Society and the National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award. He has been awarded both the Excellence in Education Award and the Excellence in Research Award from the College of Literature, Arts, and Sciences at the University of Michigan. In 2002, he was given The Faculty Recognition Award from the University of Michigan, and, in 2007, he was elected to The Michigan Society of Fellows.

Professor Adams works in the general area of theoretical astrophysics with a focus on star formation and cosmology. He is internationally recognized for his work on the radiative signature of the star formation process, the dynamics of circumstellar disks, and the initial mass function for stars. His recent research in this area includes studying the effects of cluster environments on the star formation process and studies of extra-solar planetary systems. In cosmology, he has worked on the inflationary universe, cosmological phase transitions, magnetic monopoles, cosmic rays, the structure of dark matter halos, and the cosmic background radiation fields. His work in cosmology also includes a continuing study of the long term fate and evolution of the universe and its constituent astrophysical objects