Department of Astronomy

Much of Steiman-Cameron's research activities involve investigations into the dynamical properties of astrophysical disks, including studies of:

• nonplanar galactic disks, which form as a result of a minor merger or accretion event
• the use of these disks as probes of the distribution of "dark matter" in galaxies
• the long-term evolution of gravitationally unstable protostellar disks
• accretion-driven compact stellar X-ray sources

He also studies the interstellar medium (ISM) of the Milky Way Galaxy, with emphasis on deciphering the geometry of the Galaxy's spiral arms and the arm/interarm properties of the ISM.

Dr. Steiman-Cameron joined the IU Astronomy faculty as a Senior Scientist in 2003. He received his B.S. in astrophysics from Indiana University in 1975, M.S. in physics from Wichita State University, and Ph.D. in astronomy from Indiana University in 1984. He was a Carnegie Fellow with Mt. Wilson and Las Campanas Observatories (now known as The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington), a postdoctoral fellow at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, a National Research Council Fellow and later an Ames Associate at NASA Ames Research Center. He has also been a visiting scientist at the University of California Santa Cruz, the University of California Berkeley, and the University of Oregon.

Concurrent with the above research positions, Steiman-Cameron has served as a lecturer in the Department of Physics at Stanford University and as the Associate Academic Director of the Summer Science Program (SSP). He is currently a Trustee of the SSP, which has campuses in Ojai, California and Socorro, New Mexico. He typically teaches A100 (The Solar System).

A 3D hydrodynamics study of gravitational instabilities in a young circumbinary disc, Desai, K. M., Steiman-Cameron, T. Y., Michael, S., Cai, K., Durisen, R. H. 2019, MNRAS, 483, 2347.

View a complete list from the Astrophysics Data System

• A100: The Solar System
• A103: The Search for Life in the Universe
• A105: Stars and Galaxies