Grace Wolf-Chase

Professional History

My life-long love of astronomy led me to major in physics at Cornell University during the 1970s. When my only parent became seriously ill, I took an extended leave of absence, returning only after her death. During my upperclass years, I was hired as an undergraduate astronomy T.A. and by radar planetary scientist, Steven Ostro, whom I helped develop a Fortran program for his Delay-Doppler observations of Saturn’s Rings with the Arecibo Observatory. I received my Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Cornell University in 1981.

I entered graduate school at the University of Arizona during the 1980s, initially working with Charles Lada, a pioneer in the field of star formation. This was an exciting time, shortly after the discovery of bipolar molecular outflows through extensive spectral-line mapping of molecular clouds using telescopes that operate at millimeter wavelengths! Mapping molecular clouds was a painstakingly long process that involved moving the telescope from position to position over what could amount to hundreds or thousands of positions. Bipolar outflows were associated with bright infrared sources that were thought to be protostars, but at the time, the anticipated signatures of protostellar infall, let alone the protostellar/protoplanetary disks that were later identified with launching the outflows, had yet to be detected. My early work focused on millimeter-wave spectral-line observations and radiative transfer modeling of star-forming regions, which illustrated a close relationship between dense, star-forming cores and the molecular outflows generated by protostars. From 1986-1990, I was essentially a full-time operator for the then-NRAO 12-meter radio telescope on Kitt Peak, while navigating funding difficulties in graduate school. I completed my Ph.D. in 1992, primarily under the auspices of Christopher Walker, but also remotely with Lada, who had migrated to Harvard University.

I was awarded a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with Jacqueline Davidson at NASA Ames Research Center in 1994, partly to help develop plans for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, but also to continue to apply radiative transfer models to study infall and outflow around protostars. Two years and three children later, I was awarded a University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with Mary Barsony at U.C. Riverside, where I combined single-dish and interferometric data to study small-scale outflow structure and dynamics, and applied HIRES-processing of IRAS data to improve the resolution of protostars at infrared wavelengths. I used the new, faster “On-The-Fly”mapping techniques to explore the full extent and impact of bipolar molecular outflows on their environments, demonstrating that even solar-mass protostars drive parsec-length outflows.

From 1998 to 2020, I was an Astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, where one of my first projects was directing the development of an exhibit on the Milky Way Galaxy. From 1998 - 2012, I simultaneously held a soft-money position at the University of Chicago, first as a Research Scientist (1998-2004), and later as a Senior Research Associate (2004-2012), where I developed a long-term observing program using the Astrophysical Research Consortium 3.5-m telescope to study near-infrared emission associated with outflows from massive stars, which enabled distinguishing between the shocks produced by jets driving outflows and photo-dissociation regions produced by intermediate- (3-8 M⊙) and high-mass (≥ 8 M⊙) stars, and provided evidence for similarities in outflows driven by protostars across a range of masses, suggesting possible similar formation mechanisms. I also worked with external colleagues on Spitzer observations that revealed shock conditions in an outflow associated with a proto-brown dwarf.

Over the years, I contributed to the development of multiple exhibits and planetarium shows, as well as many educational programs, while maintaining an active research program in star formation. I co-organized the Pale Blue Dot III conference in 2006, and arranged several large special events that brought prominent religious leaders and campus ministers to the planetarium. I helped to create the Milky Way Project (MWP), which was launched on the popular Zooniverse platform for people-powered research, and to date I have been lead- or co-author on four of the resulting MWP publications.

My primary research interests at the Planetary Science Institute continue to be the origins of stars and planets, which we now know form together. Along with my decades of experience in the acquisition, reduction, and analysis of infrared, sub-millimeter, and millimeter-wave observations, I work with large archived data sets to conduct research assisted by the efforts of citizen scientists. I was lead author on the most recent MWP publication, which presents evidence that the so-called “yellowballs” (YBs) discovered by citizen scientists are a unique tracer of young star-forming regions that help bridge the transition between regions that produce only low-mass (≤ 1-2 M⊙) stars and regions that produce dense stellar clusters including high-mass (≥ 8 M⊙) stars. I was a Co-I on a NASA Citizen Science Seed Funding Program grant that resulted in the creation of tools and curricula to provide introductory astronomy students with real research experiences using the MWP YB data, and I'm currently a Co-I on an NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Grant that leverages a database of over 6,000 YBs to analyze the physical thresholds that delineate environments that do and do not form the massive stars (≥ 8 M⊙) that eventually produce supernovae. Since supernovae strongly influence the chemical and physical conditions under which planetary systems form, distinguishing these environments is of great astrophysical interest to both the astronomy and planetary science communities.

I consider my most important work to be at the intersection of science and religion, where I’ve played a leading role at both the academic and public levels. As an affiliated member of the Zygon Center for Religion and Science , I’ve taught astronomy to seminary students for 20 years, and I’ve served as Vice President of the Center for Advanced Study in Religion and Science (CASIRAS), an independent organization of scientists and theologians, since 2016. I’ve been a science advisor and monthly astrobiology writer for the Clergy Letter Project for over 10 years, and I’ve served on many science and religion advisory boards, including (but not limited to) the AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion Science for Seminaries program, the UC Faculty Roundtable on Science and Religion, and the Preaching with the Sciences project at the Catholic Theological Union. I recently led and evaluated an effort to engage faith-based communities in citizen science. I have contributed to several science and religion journals and books (e.g., Theology and Science; Interactive World, Interactive God; Intersections of Religion and Astronomy). In August 2023, I was a speaker, panelist, and event moderator in the Science and Religion track, organized by the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science, at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago. Several years ago, I was featured in a short video on the Oprah Winfrey Network. I frequently (and am happy to) speak to seminaries, places of worship, and youth and intergenerational gatherings.

Charlie's Grads, Gen. 1 (Crete III, 23-27 Sep 2019): Pat Hartigan, Chris Walker, Charlie Lada, Bruce Wilking, Grace Wolf-Chase