Department of Astronomy

Professor Friel has broad research interests in stellar and galactic astronomy. Much of her recent research has involved using star clusters as chemical and dynamical probes of the Galactic disk and halo to address questions of the formation and evolution of the Milky Way galaxy and its stellar populations. She is a collaborator in the Gaia-ESO Survey, a public spectroscopic survey being carried out on the ESO VLT, and regularly uses the WIYN telescope for observational studies.

Professor Friel has been on the IU Astronomy faculty since 2011. She previously served as Director of Lowell Observatory, and was for many years the Executive Officer (Deputy Director) for the Division of Astronomical Sciences at the National Science Foundation. Prior to joining NSF, she was Director of the Maria Mitchell Observatory for 5 years and directed Research Experience for Undergraduate programs there and at CTIO in Chile. She was a NATO/NSF Postdoctoral fellow at the Observatoire de Paris, a Plaskett Fellow at the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Canada, and the Beatrice Watson Parrent Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Hawaii.

She received her B.S. in Physics at the College of William and Mary, completed the Part III Maths Tripos at Cambridge University, and received her Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

The Gaia-ESO Survey: The N/O abundance ratio in the Milky Way, Magrini, L., Vincenzo, F. et al. 2018, A&A, 618, A102.

The Gaia-ESO Survey: the origin and evolution of s-process elements, Magrini, L., Spina, L. et al. 2018, A&A, 617, A106.

Light Element Abundances and Multiple Populations in M10, Gerber, J. M., Friel, E. D., Vesperini, E. 2018, AJ, 156, 6.

Robert Paul Kraft (1927-2015), Pilachowski, C. A., Carbon, D. F., Friel, E., Johnson, C. I., Shetrone, M. 2017, PASP, 129, 080201.

The Gaia-ESO Survey: Galactic evolution of sulphur and zinc, Duffau, S., Caffau, E. et al. 2017, A&A, 604, A128.

Internal Rotation in the Globular Cluster M53, Boberg, O. M., Vesperini, E., Friel, E. D., Tiongco, M. A., Varri, A. L. 2017, ApJ, 841, 114.

The Gaia-ESO Survey: radial distribution of abundances in the Galactic disc from open clusters and young-field stars, Magrini, L., Randich, S. et al. 2017, A&A, 603, A2.

The Gaia-ESO Survey: the present-day radial metallicity distribution of the Galactic disc probed by pre-main-sequence clusters, Spina, L., Randich, S. et al. 2017, A&A, 601, A70.

The Gaia-ESO survey: the inner disk intermediate-age open cluster NGC 6802, Tang, B., Geisler, D., Friel, E. et al. 2017, A&A, 601, A56.

The Gaia-ESO Survey: the inner disk, intermediate-age open cluster Trumpler 23. Overbeek, J. C., Friel, E. D. et al. 2017, A&A, 598, A68.

New Neutron-capture Measurements in 23 Open Clusters. I. The r-Process, Overbeek, J. C., Friel, E. D., Jacobson, H. R. 2016, ApJ, 824 75.

Chemical Abundances in NGC 5024 (M53): A Mostly First Generation Globular Cluster, Boberg, O. M., Friel, E. D., Vesperini, E. 2016, ApJ, 824, 5.

The Gaia-ESO Survey: Probes of the inner disk abundance gradient, Jacobson, H. R., Friel, E.D., et al. 2016, A&A, 591, A37.

Limitations of CN and CH Molecular Band Strengths at High Metallicities: A Case Study in NGC 6791, Boberg, O., Gerber, J., Friel, E. Martell, S., Briley, M., Morrison, H., 2016, AJ, 151, 127.

The Gaia-ESO Survey: Sodium and aluminium abundances in giants and dwarfs. Implications for stellar and Galactic chemical evolution, Smiljanic, R., Romano, D., Bragaglia A., Donati, P., Magrini, L., Friel, E. et al., 2016, A&A, 589, 115.

View a complete list from the Astrophysics Data System

• A450: Galactic Astrophysics
• A530: Galactic Astronomy
• A540: Stellar Atmospheres
• A780: Graduate Seminar on Astronomy with Archival Data Sets (Fall 2011)
• A780: Professional Development in Astronomy (Fall 2016)
• A780: Graduate Seminar on Writing in Astronomy (Fall 2017)