Research Interests
Dr. Thorp is interested in how extreme events like galaxy mergers and nuclear activity reshape the gaseous interstellar medium (ISM) within galaxies, in particular how these events influence a galaxy’s ability to convert this gas into stars. Her research makes use of multiwavelength observations to probe a range of physical and chemical states in the ISM, with her most recent project combining optical and X-ray tracers of nuclear activity with sub-mm interferometry from NOEMA and ALMA to characterize the cold, molecular gas reservoir that fuels star formation. Her work is done in collaboration with large international endeavours to survey local galaxy populations, including ALMaQUEST, KILOGAS, and PHANGS.
Biographical Information
Dr. Thorp completed her B.Sc. with a double major in physics and astronomy from the University of Washington in 2017, where she pursued both modern observational research under the supervision of Dr. Emily Levesque, as well as historical astronomy research with Dr. Woodruff Sullivan. She completed her M.Sc. and Ph.D. at the University of Victoria (Canada) in 2022 working with Dr. Sara Ellison to study the multiwavelength impact of mergers in local galaxy surveys. She then moved to the Argelander Institute of Astronomy at the University of Bonn (Germany) to work with Dr. Frank Bigiel. She joined the astronomy department at IU Bloomington in August 2026 as a Sullivan Prize Fellow.
List of Publications
Full list of publications can be found on ADS.
The College of Arts