Kathryne Daniel
Tuesday February 25, 2025
4pm
Marlar lounge & via zoom
“Two-Eyed Seeing”: uniting perspectives to drive innovation in galactic dynamics & major observatory design
“Two-eyed seeing” was coined by Albert Marshall, a Mi’kmaq elder, to describe the depth of perspective gained when perceiving the world through both an Indigenous and western lens. This talk describes a two-eyed seeing framework for both an approach to galactic dynamics and facility design. Dynamical resonances drive emergent behavior that is essential to disk galaxy evolution. These resonances arise in the presence of massive structures, like a bar, spiral arms and satellites, and they reshape a galaxy as they diffuse, shepherd and rearrange orbits and stellar populations. This talk will highlight a collection of methods that, together, enable us to connect parsec-scale orbital dynamics to kiloparsec-scale morphological evolution. The end of this talk will touch on the status of the next generation gravitational wave observatory in the US, Cosmic Explorer. In particular, how our approach to site selection embodies two-eyed seeing and why our approach is critically important to the future of big science.
Kathryne J. Daniel is a galactic dynamicist with a particular interest in the evolution of spiral galaxies through internal, secular processes. Daniel’s research program focuses on resonant dynamics in spiral disks, the dynamical nature of morphological structures like the bar and transient spiral arms, and the impact of such structures on stellar kinematics and population demographics in the Milky Way. Daniel’s work has made a significant contribution to the theoretical framework for understanding radial migration in disk galaxies and constraints on its efficiency. Daniel is Deputy Director and the Director of Land & Community Partnerships for the next generation gravitational wave facility, Cosmic Explorer.