Erik Rosolowsky, PhD

Professor, Faculty of Science - Physics
Associate Chair, Faculty of Science - Physics

Contact

Professor, Faculty of Science - Physics
Email
rosolowsky@ualberta.ca
Address
2-115 Centennial Ctr For Interdisciplinary SCS II
11335 Saskatchewan Drive NW
Edmonton AB
T6G 2H5

Associate Chair, Faculty of Science - Physics
Email
rosolowsky@ualberta.ca

Overview

About

Professor, University of Alberta, 2022-

Associate Professor, University of Alberta, 2016-2022

Assistant Professor, University of Alberta, 2013-2016

Visiting Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia (Okanagan), 2013-2016

Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia (Okanagan), 2008-2013

NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 2005-2007

PhD (2005) University of California Berkeley, USA

MA (2001) University of California Berkeley, USA

BA (Hons, 1998), Swarthmore College, USA




Research

My research program focuses on understanding the connections between stellar generations in galaxies. I seek a broad understanding how matter gets recycled in the universe, from when stars die and that material mixed into the interstellar medium to where the matter forms into another generation of stars. I regard that as the biggest missing link in understanding the evolution of the universe and the life within it.  My research uses observational data, mostly from radio and submillimetre telescopes coupled with novel algorithmic approaches to reach new discoveries.


Teaching

I teach graduate and undergraduate courses in astronomy and physics. My teaching style is transitional between traditional lecture delivery and a "flipped" classroom. I prefer to spend our time in the classroom developing skills and answering questions. Thus, my courses usually require students to complete reading and take a quiz on the content before coming to lecture. In lecture, I focus on the topics that students have the most questions about. In problem-based classes, we spend our time completing example problems together since, in physics, we are trying to develop problem solving skills rather than learn a body of facts. 

I enjoy teaching at all levels of the curriculum and I'm excited to share what we have learned about the Universe with you.


Announcements

Due to limited funding, I am only able to consider students with scholarship support for Fall 2025 admissions to MSc or PhD programs. Thank you for your interest.

Courses

PHYS 144 - Newtonian Mechanics

This calculus-based course introduces the fundamentals of classical mechanics: general kinematics, Newtonian dynamics, work-energy and energy conservation, impulse-momentum and momentum conservation, rotational kinematics and dynamics, rigid bodies, angular momentum and its conservation. The course concludes with a discussion of the elastic deformation of solids and simple fluid mechanics. Prerequisites: Mathematics 30-1 and Physics 30. Mathematics 31 is strongly recommended. Corequisites: MATH 117 or 144. Note: Credit may be obtained for only one of PHYS 124, 144 or EN PH 131.


PHYS 574 - Data Analysis in Physics

This course teaches the principles for designing physics experiments and analyzing data to obtain robust results. It explores the choice of experimental methods and conditions used for data collection and examines important techniques used for data analysis. Topics include: experimental and numerical noise/background sources, characteristics, and mitigation; sampling, replicates, and controls; probability distributions; parameter estimation; error estimation and confidence levels; model selection, model fitting, and hypothesis testing; non-parametric analyses; applications of frequentist and Bayesian statistics; modes of failure in measurements and analysis.


Browse more courses taught by Erik Rosolowsky

Featured Publications

Nickolas M. Pingel, Hongxing Chen, Snežana Stanimirović, Eric W. Koch, Adam K. Leroy, Erik Rosolowsky, Chang-Goo Kim, Julianne J. Dalcanton, Fabian Walter, Michael P. Busch, Ryan Chown, Jennifer Donovan Meyer, Cosima Eibensteiner, Deidre A. Hunter, Sumit K. Sarbadhicary, Elizabeth Tarantino, Vicente Villanueva, Thomas G. Williams

The Astrophysical Journal. 2024 October; 10.3847/1538-4357/ad6604


Hao He, Christine D. Wilson, Jiayi Sun, Yu-Hsuan Teng, Erik Rosolowsky, Ashley R. Bemis

The Astrophysical Journal. 2024 August; 10.3847/1538-4357/ad5544


Thomas G. Williams, Janice C. Lee, Kirsten L. Larson, Adam K. Leroy, Karin Sandstrom, Eva Schinnerer, David A. Thilker, Francesco Belfiore, Oleg V. Egorov, Erik Rosolowsky, Jessica Sutter, Joseph DePasquale, Alyssa Pagan, Travis A. Berger, Gagandeep S. Anand, Ashley T. Barnes, Frank Bigiel, Médéric Boquien, Yixian Cao, Jérémy Chastenet, Mélanie Chevance, Ryan Chown, Daniel A. Dale, Sinan Deger, Cosima Eibensteiner, Eric Emsellem, Christopher M. Faesi, Simon C. O. Glover, Kathryn Grasha, Stephen Hannon, Hamid Hassani, Jonathan D. Henshaw, María J. Jiménez-Donaire, Jaeyeon Kim, Ralf S. Klessen, Eric W. Koch, Jing Li, Daizhong Liu, Sharon E. Meidt, J. Eduardo Méndez-Delgado, Eric J. Murphy, Justus Neumann, Lukas Neumann, Nadine Neumayer, Elias K. Oakes, Debosmita Pathak, Jérôme Pety, Francesca Pinna, Miguel Querejeta, Lise Ramambason, Andrea Romanelli, Mattia C. Sormani, Sophia K. Stuber, Jiayi Sun, Yu-Hsuan Teng, Antonio Usero, Elizabeth J. Watkins, Tony D. Weinbeck

The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 2024 July; 10.3847/1538-4365/ad4be5


Iveta Sosova, Alyssa Archibald, Erik W. Rosolowsky, Sarah Rathwell, Susan Christian, Elizabeth T. Rosolowsky

International Journal of Neonatal Screening. 2024 May; 10.3390/ijns10020035


Jialu 佳璐 Li 李, Andrew I. Harris, Erik Rosolowsky, Amanda A. Kepley, David Frayer, Alberto D. Bolatto, Adam K. Leroy, Jennifer Donovan Meyer, Sarah Church, Joshua Ott Gundersen, Kieran Cleary

The Astrophysical Journal. 2024 March; 10.3847/1538-4357/ad2171


Hamid Hassani, Erik Rosolowsky, Eric W. Koch, Joseph Postma, Joseph Nofech, Harrisen Corbould, David Thilker, Adam K. Leroy, Eva Schinnerer, Francesco Belfiore, Frank Bigiel, Médéric Boquien, Mélanie Chevance, Daniel A. Dale, Oleg V. Egorov, Eric Emsellem, Simon C. O. Glover, Kathryn Grasha, Brent Groves, Kiana Henny, Jaeyeon Kim, Ralf S. Klessen, Kathryn Kreckel, J. M. Diederik Kruijssen, Janice C. Lee, Laura A. Lopez, Justus Neumann, Hsi-An Pan, Karin M. Sandstrom, Sumit K. Sarbadhicary, Jiayi Sun, Thomas G. Williams

The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 2024 March; 10.3847/1538-4365/ad152c


Joshua Peltonen, Erik Rosolowsky, Thomas G Williams, Eric W Koch, Andrew Dolphin, Jérémy Chastenet, Julianne J Dalcanton, Adam Ginsburg, L Clifton Johnson, Adam K Leroy, Theo Richardson, Karin M Sandstrom, Sumit K Sarbadhicary, Adam Smercina, Tobin Wainer, Benjamin F Williams

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 2023 December; 10.1093/mnras/stad3879


Joshua Peltonen, Erik Rosolowsky, L Clifton Johnson, Anil C Seth, Julianne Dalcanton, Eric F Bell, Jonathan Braine, Eric W Koch, Margaret Lazzarini, Adam K Leroy, Evan D Skillman, Adam Smercina, Tobin Wainer, Benjamin F Williams

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 2023 May; 10.1093/mnras/stad1430


Hamid Hassani, Erik Rosolowsky, Adam K. Leroy, Médéric Boquien, Janice C. Lee, Ashley T. Barnes, Francesco Belfiore, F. Bigiel, Yixian Cao, Mélanie Chevance, Daniel A. Dale, Oleg V. Egorov, Eric Emsellem, Christopher M. Faesi, Kathryn Grasha, Jaeyeon Kim, Ralf S. Klessen, Kathryn Kreckel, J. M. Diederik Kruijssen, Kirsten L. Larson, Sharon E. Meidt, Karin M. Sandstrom, Eva Schinnerer, David A. Thilker, Elizabeth J. Watkins, Bradley C. Whitmore, Thomas G. Williams

The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 2023 February; 10.3847/2041-8213/aca8ab


Karin M. Sandstrom, Eric W. Koch, Adam K. Leroy, Erik Rosolowsky, Eric Emsellem, Rowan J. Smith, Oleg V. Egorov, Thomas G. Williams, Kirsten L. Larson, Janice C. Lee, Eva Schinnerer, David A. Thilker, Ashley T. Barnes, Francesco Belfiore, F. Bigiel, Guillermo A. Blanc, Alberto D. Bolatto, Médéric Boquien, Yixian Cao, Jérémy Chastenet, Mélanie Chevance, I-Da 宜達 Chiang 江, Daniel A. Dale, Christopher M. Faesi, Simon C. O. Glover, Kathryn Grasha, Brent Groves, Hamid Hassani, Jonathan D. Henshaw, Annie Hughes, Jaeyeon Kim, Ralf S. Klessen, Kathryn Kreckel, J. M. Diederik Kruijssen, Laura A. Lopez, Daizhong Liu, Sharon E. Meidt, Eric J. Murphy, Hsi-An Pan, Miguel Querejeta, Toshiki Saito, Amy Sardone, Mattia C. Sormani, Jessica Sutter, Antonio Usero, Elizabeth J. Watkins

The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 2023 February; 10.3847/2041-8213/aca972


Janice C. Lee, Karin M. Sandstrom, Adam K. Leroy, David A. Thilker, Eva Schinnerer, Erik Rosolowsky, Kirsten L. Larson, Oleg V. Egorov, Thomas G. Williams, Judy Schmidt, Eric Emsellem, Gagandeep S. Anand, Ashley T. Barnes, Francesco Belfiore, Ivana Bešlić, Frank Bigiel, Guillermo A. Blanc, Alberto D. Bolatto, Médéric Boquien, Jakob den Brok, Yixian Cao, Rupali Chandar, Jérémy Chastenet, Mélanie Chevance, I-Da 宜達 Chiang 江, Enrico Congiu, Daniel A. Dale, Sinan Deger, Cosima Eibensteiner, Christopher M. Faesi, Simon C. O. Glover, Kathryn Grasha, Brent Groves, Hamid Hassani, Kiana F. Henny, Jonathan D. Henshaw, Nils Hoyer, Annie Hughes, Sarah Jeffreson, María J. Jiménez-Donaire, Jaeyeon Kim, Hwihyun Kim, Ralf S. Klessen, Eric W. Koch, Kathryn Kreckel, J. M. Diederik Kruijssen, Jing Li, Daizhong Liu, Laura A. Lopez, Daniel Maschmann, Ness Mayker Chen, Sharon E. Meidt, Eric J. Murphy, Justus Neumann, Nadine Neumayer, Hsi-An Pan, Ismael Pessa, Jérôme Pety, Miguel Querejeta, Francesca Pinna, M. Jimena Rodríguez, Toshiki Saito, Patricia Sánchez-Blázquez, Francesco Santoro, Amy Sardone, Rowan J. Smith, Mattia C. Sormani, Fabian Scheuermann, Sophia K. Stuber, Jessica Sutter, Jiayi 嘉懿 Sun 孙, Yu-Hsuan Teng, Robin G. Treß, Antonio Usero, Elizabeth J. Watkins, Bradley C. Whitmore, Alessandro Razza

The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 2023 February; 10.3847/2041-8213/acaaae


Adam K. Leroy, Karin Sandstrom, Erik Rosolowsky, Francesco Belfiore, Alberto D. Bolatto, Yixian Cao, Eric W. Koch, Eva Schinnerer, Ashley. T. Barnes, Ivana Bešlić, F. Bigiel, Guillermo A. Blanc, Jérémy Chastenet, Ness Mayker Chen, Mélanie Chevance, Ryan Chown, Enrico Congiu, Daniel A. Dale, Oleg V. Egorov, Eric Emsellem, Cosima Eibensteiner, Christopher M. Faesi, Simon C. O. Glover, Kathryn Grasha, Brent Groves, Hamid Hassani, Jonathan D. Henshaw, Annie Hughes, María J. Jiménez-Donaire, Jaeyeon Kim, Ralf S. Klessen, Kathryn Kreckel, J. M. Diederik Kruijssen, Kirsten L. Larson, Janice C. Lee, Rebecca C. Levy, Daizhong Liu, Laura A. Lopez, Sharon E. Meidt, Eric J. Murphy, Justus Neumann, Ismael Pessa, Jérôme Pety, Toshiki Saito, Amy Sardone, Jiayi Sun, David A. Thilker, Antonio Usero, Elizabeth J. Watkins, Cory M. Whitcomb, Thomas G. Williams

The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 2023 February; 10.3847/2041-8213/acaf85


Sharon E. Meidt, Erik Rosolowsky, Jiayi Sun, Eric W. Koch, Ralf S. Klessen, Adam K. Leroy, Eva Schinnerer, Ashley. T. Barnes, Simon C. O. Glover, Janice C. Lee, Arjen van der Wel, Elizabeth J. Watkins, Thomas G. Williams, F. Bigiel, Médéric Boquien, Guillermo A. Blanc, Yixian Cao, Mélanie Chevance, Daniel A. Dale, Oleg V. Egorov, Eric Emsellem, Kathryn Grasha, Jonathan D. Henshaw, J. M. Diederik Kruijssen, Kirsten L. Larson, Daizhong Liu, Eric J. Murphy, Jérôme Pety, Miguel Querejeta, Toshiki Saito, Karin M. Sandstrom, Rowan J. Smith, Mattia C. Sormani, David A. Thilker

The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 2023 February; 10.3847/2041-8213/acaaa8


Adam K. Leroy, Eva Schinnerer, Annie Hughes, Erik Rosolowsky, Jérôme Pety, Andreas Schruba, Antonio Usero, Guillermo A. Blanc, Mélanie Chevance, Eric Emsellem, Christopher M. Faesi, Cinthya N. Herrera, Daizhong Liu, Sharon E. Meidt, Miguel Querejeta, Toshiki Saito, Karin M. Sandstrom, Jiayi 嘉 懿 Sun 孙, Thomas G. Williams, Gagandeep S. Anand, Ashley T. Barnes, Erica A. Behrens, Francesco Belfiore, Samantha M. Benincasa, Ivana Bešlić, Frank Bigiel, Alberto D. Bolatto, Jakob S. den Brok, Yixian Cao, Rupali Chandar, Jérémy Chastenet, I-Da 宜 達 Chiang 江, Enrico Congiu, Daniel A. Dale, Sinan Deger, Cosima Eibensteiner, Oleg V. Egorov, Axel García-Rodríguez, Simon C. O. Glover, Kathryn Grasha, Jonathan D. Henshaw, I-Ting Ho, Amanda A. Kepley, Jaeyeon Kim, Ralf S. Klessen, Kathryn Kreckel, Eric W. Koch, J. M. Diederik Kruijssen, Kirsten L. Larson, Janice C. Lee, Laura A. Lopez, Josh Machado, Ness Mayker, Rebecca McElroy, Eric J. Murphy, Eve C. Ostriker, Hsi-An Pan, Ismael Pessa, Johannes Puschnig, Alessandro Razza, Patricia Sánchez-Blázquez, Francesco Santoro, Amy Sardone, Fabian Scheuermann, Kazimierz Sliwa, Mattia C. Sormani, Sophia K. Stuber, David A. Thilker, Jordan A. Turner, Dyas Utomo, Elizabeth J. Watkins, Bradley Whitmore

The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 2021 December; 10.3847/1538-4365/ac17f3


Adam K. Leroy, Annie Hughes, Daizhong Liu, Jérôme Pety, Erik Rosolowsky, Toshiki Saito, Eva Schinnerer, Andreas Schruba, Antonio Usero, Christopher M. Faesi, Cinthya N. Herrera, Mélanie Chevance, Alexander P. S. Hygate, Amanda A. Kepley, Eric W. Koch, Miguel Querejeta, Kazimierz Sliwa, David Will, Christine D. Wilson, Gagandeep S. Anand, Ashley Barnes, Francesco Belfiore, Ivana Bešlić, Frank Bigiel, Guillermo A. Blanc, Alberto D. Bolatto, Médéric Boquien, Yixian Cao, Rupali Chandar, Jérémy Chastenet, I-Da Chiang, Enrico Congiu, Daniel A. Dale, Sinan Deger, Jakob S. den Brok, Cosima Eibensteiner, Eric Emsellem, Axel García-Rodríguez, Simon C. O. Glover, Kathryn Grasha, Brent Groves, Jonathan D. Henshaw, María J. Jiménez Donaire, Jaeyeon Kim, Ralf S. Klessen, Kathryn Kreckel, J. M. Diederik Kruijssen, Kirsten L. Larson, Janice C. Lee, Ness Mayker, Rebecca McElroy, Sharon E. Meidt, Angus Mok, Hsi-An Pan, Johannes Puschnig, Alessandro Razza, Patricia Sánchez-Bl’azquez, Karin M. Sandstrom, Francesco Santoro, Amy Sardone, Fabian Scheuermann, Jiayi Sun, David A. Thilker, Jordan A. Turner, Leonardo Ubeda, Dyas Utomo, Elizabeth J. Watkins, Thomas G. Williams

The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 2021 July; 10.3847/1538-4365/abec80


Eric W Koch, Erik W Rosolowsky, Adam K Leroy, Jérémy Chastenet, I-Da Chiang (江宜達), Julianne Dalcanton, Amanda A Kepley, Karin M Sandstrom, Andreas Schruba, Snežana Stanimirović, Dyas Utomo, Thomas G Williams

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 2021 April; 10.1093/mnras/stab981


Erik Rosolowsky, Annie Hughes, Adam K Leroy, Jiayi Sun, Miguel Querejeta, Andreas Schruba, Antonio Usero, Cinthya N Herrera, Daizhong Liu, Jérôme Pety, Toshiki Saito, Ivana Bešlić, Frank Bigiel, Guillermo Blanc, Mélanie Chevance, Daniel A Dale, Sinan Deger, Christopher M Faesi, Simon C O Glover, Jonathan D Henshaw, Ralf S Klessen, J M Diederik Kruijssen, Kirsten Larson, Janice Lee, Sharon Meidt, Angus Mok, Eva Schinnerer, David A Thilker, Thomas G Williams

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 2021 February; 10.1093/mnras/stab085


Rosolowsky, E. W.; Pineda, J. E.; Kauffmann, J.; Goodman, A. A.

The Astrophysical Journal. 679


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