Dr. Kathryn Volk

Dr. Volk's current research focuses on using small body populations to understand the history of the solar system. This includes combining observational and theoretical studies to examine the current orbital dynamics of small body populations (including trans-Neptunian objects, Centaurs, and comets) and modeling the dynamical histories of the giant planets to make observationally testable predictions about different planet migration scenarios. Dr. Volk contributed to the Outer Solar System Origins Survey, which discovered more than 800 trans-Neptunian objects, and she is active in the Solar System Science Collaboration for the Vera Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). One of her current projects is developing software tools to characterize the orbital dynamics of the many expected new small body discoveries from LSST. She also works on the dynamics of exoplanet systems, investigating the triggers of dynamical instabilities in closely packed planetary systems.