Jake Simon

Jake Simon

Position
  • Assistant Professor
I am a computational astrophysicist with interests in planet formation and black hole accretion processes. I received my Ph.D. in astronomy in 2010 from the University of Virginia. I then moved to Boulder, CO. My positions in Boulder included a Sagan Fellowship at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and a Senior Research Associate position at the University of Colorado.

Contact

Email
jbsimon@iastate.edu

Contact Info

Physics
2323 Osborn Dr
Ames
,
IA
50011-1026
Social Media and Websites

Education

  • Ph.D., Astronomy, University of Virginia, 2010
  • M.S., Astronomy, University of Virginia, 2006
  • B.S., Physics, University of Illinois, 2004

My primary research interest is in the formation of planetesimals, bodies that range in size from 1 km to 100 km or so (e.g., asteroids, comets, Kuiper Belt Objects). Determining how these planetesimsals form is one of the critical yet not well understood issues in astrophysics and planetary science.

I am also very strongly interested in the structure and evolution of protoplanetary disks, including the nature of turbulence in these disks.  Furthermore, I am continuing to study accretion processes (particularly those that are magnetically driven) in the high energy cousins to protoplanetary disks, those around black holes. 

In all of my work, my focus is on the use of large-scale high performance computing to study these various processes using detailed numerical simulations.