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Professor, Undergraduate Director
Physics - Tenure-Track Faculty
420 Geology-Physics Building
513-556-0524
margaret.hanson@uc.edu
http://www.physics.uc.edu/~hanson

Professional Summary

Prof. Hansons research focuses on the formation and evolution of the most massive stars and the very massive stellar clusters in which they reside. She uses highly sophisticated ground-based telescopes located all over the world to obtain spectra of these stars. Unique to her method is working exclusively at near-infrared wavelengths when observing. Such light can better penetrate the interstellar dust residing between the stars than traditional optical light and allows her to probe deeply embedded stellar regions of our Galaxy. Her earlier work developed the first, widely used, spectral classification system for massive stars at near-infrared wavelengths. She continues to obtain very high quality near-infrared spectra of massive stars to study the nature of their stellar winds and to characterize opitically invisible massive stars. Presently she is using her observations to better reveal the inner structure of our Milky Way Galaxy.

Education

PhD, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 1995 (Astrophysics, Planetary and Atmospheric Sciences).

M.S., University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 1993 (Astrophysics, Planetary and Atmospheric Sciences).

B.S., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 1988 (Astrophysics).

B.S., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 1988 (Physics).

Research Interests

Dr. Margaret Hanson's research emphasizes the use of near-infrared spectroscopy to study and analyze massive stars and massive star systems. Her present interest is in using newly completed, sophisticated stellar atmosphere models, developed with her collaborater, Joachim Puls (U. Munich) to work exclusively with near-infrared spectra, to characterize the massive star population of the inner galaxy. She presently has ongoing programs which aim to study the stellar content and cluster properties of the Galactic Center Cluster, Cluster 11 (a newly identified galactic center cluster), Westerlund 1, and W49a using the ESO Very Large Telescope and The Hubble Space Telescope.

Research Support

co-I Hanson, IDEAS Grant Program, NASA. $76,000. Funded 2007 to 2009.

(PI) Margaret M. Hanson, Revealing our Galaxys Massive Star Clusters , National Science Foundation. (0607497); $350,000. Funded 08/01/2006 to to Present.

sole P.I. Hanson, Salary & Incidentals , AAS. $35,000/year. Funded 01-2005 to 12-2009.

sole P.I. Hanson, Hubble Space Telescope, NASA. $3,999. Funded 12-2004 to 06-2006.

(P.I.) Margaret M. Hanson, CAREER: Spectral Analysis of Massive Stars in the Near-Infrared , National Science Foundation. (0094050); $549,625. Funded 07/01/2001 to 06/30/2007.

(P.I.) Margaret M. Hanson, Sub-mm Studies of Massive Star Forming Regions , National Science Foundation. (9973922); $69,376. Funded 09/01/1999 to 01/31/2002.

Peer Reviewed Publications

Popescu, B., & Hanson, M. (2009). MASSCLEAN—Massive Cluster Evolution and Analysis Package: Description and Tests. The Astronomical Journal(138), 1724.

Borissova, J., Ivanov, V.D., Hanson, M.M., Georgiev, L., Minniti, D., Kurtev, R., Geisler, D. (2008). The young Galactic star cluster [DBS2003] 179. Astronomy & Astrophysics(488), 151.

Hanson, M.M., Bubnick, B.F. (2008). NIR Spectroscopy of the candidate members of the galactic cluster . PASP(120), 107, [BDS2003].

Pellegrini, E., Baldwin, J., Brogan, C., Hanson, M.M., Abel, N., Ferland, G., Nemala, H., Shaw, G., Troland, T. (2007). A Magnetically-Supported PDR in M17 . ApJ(658), 1119.

Hanson, M.M., Kudritzki, R.-P., Kenworthy, M.A., Puls, J., Tokunaga, A.T. (2005). A Medium Resolution Near-IR Spectral Atlas of O and Early B Stars . ApJS(161), 154.

Repolust, T., Puls, J., Hanson, M., Kudritzki, R., & Mokiem, M. (2005). Quantitative H and K band spectroscopy of Galactic OB-stars at medium resolution. A&A(440), 261.

Tenenbaum, E., Clayton, G., Asplund, M., Engelbracht, C., Gordon, K., Hanson, M., Rudy, R., Lynch, D., Mazuk, S., Venturini, C., & Puetter, R. (2005). Detection of Near-IR CO Absorption Bands in R Cor Borealis Stars. AJ(130), 256.

Bik, A., Kaper, L., Hanson, M., & Smits, M. (2005). VLT K-band spectroscopy of massive stars in IRAS sources with UCHII colours. A&A(440), 261.

Kenworthy, M.A., Hanson, M.M. (2004). Minimizing Strong Telluric Absorption in Near-IR Stellar Spectra. PASP(116), 97.

Hanson, M.M. (2003). Cygnus OB2: Pointing the Way toward Finding Our Galaxy's Super-Star Clusters. ApJ(597), 957.

Martin-Hernandez, N, Bik, A, Kaper, L, Tielens, A, Hanson, M. (2003). A VLT spectroscopic study of the ultracompact H II G29.96-0.02. A&A(405), 175.

Wilson, T., Hanson, M.M., Muders, D. (2003). Two Molecular Clouds near M17. ApJ(590), 895.

Bik, A., Lenorzer, A., Kaper, L., Comeron, F., Waters, L., de Koter, A., Hanson, M. (2003). Identification of the ionizing source of NGC 2024. A&A(404), 249.

Colloquia

(09/17/2009). . University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

(09/15/2009). . University of Indiana, Bloomington.

(04/07/2009). . University of Wisconsin, Madison.

(11/25/2008). . Santiago, Chile.

(06/19/2008). . University of Valporaiso, Chile.

(04/22/2008). . University of Notre Dame.

(03/11/2008). . Goddard Space Flight Center.

(02/28/2008). . University of Toledo.

(02/26/2008). . University of Notre Dame.

(10/18/2007). . University of California.

(05/08/2007). . University of Delaware.

(11/17/2006). . University of Wyoming.

(11/09/2006). . University of Kentucky.

(11/07/2006). . Boston University.

(05/24/2006). . Florence, Italy.

(01/27/2006). . Wright State University.

(12/08/2005). . University of Georgia.

(09/24/2005). . Cincinnati, OH.

Symposia

(08/12/2009). Deducing the Milky Way's Massive Cluster Population. IAU General Assembly, Rio de Janeiro, August 2009, .

(12-2007). One Hundred 30 Dors?. International Astron. Union, Symposium 250: Massive Stars as Cosmic Engines, Kauai, United States.

(05-2005). Near-infrared spectral analysis of young OB star. International Astron. Union, Symposium 227: Massive Star Birth, Acireale, Italy.

(06-2002). Stellar content of obscured compact HII regions. International Astron. Union, Symposium 212: A Massive Star Odyssey, Lanzarote, Spain.

Post Graduate Training & Education

10/01/1995-09/31/1998, Hubble Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.

Additional Information

Associate Editor-in-Chief, The Astronomical Journal