Dr. Duilia F de Mello

Catholic University of America
Physics Department - IACS

NASA/GSFC
Code 665, Observational Cosmology
Greenbelt, MD 20771

tel: 301-286-7497
fax: 301-286-1752
e-mail: duilia at ipanema.gsfc.nasa.gov

Present Position

CUA Research Faculty and Visiting Scientist at Johns Hopkins University.

Brief Bio

Dr. de Mello joined CUA in March 2003 and has been working at Goddard Space Flight Center since then. Prior to this, she spent three years at the Onsala Space Observatory in Sweden as an Assistant Professor. Before going to Sweden she was a post-doc at Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore from 1997-1999. She was also a post-doc at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in Chile and National Observatory in Rio, Brazil from 1995-1997. In 1997 she discovered the supernova SN1997D using the 1.52m ESO telescope in Chile.

Educational Background

B.A., Astronomy, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1985
M.S., Radio Astronomy, Brazilian Space Agency, INPE, 1988
M.S., Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, 1993
Ph.D., Astrophysics, University of Sao Paulo, 1995
Thesis advisor: Ronaldo de Souza
Thesis: Mixed Pairs of Galaxies

Research Interests

Research interest includes the role of evolution in galaxy properties; the environmental effects in galaxy evolution/formation; the properties of star-forming galaxies at low and high redshifts; the starburst/AGN connection.

Current Projects

- Starbursts in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey.

- GALEX observations of Compact Groups of galaxies and HI tidal tails.

- HST observations of the Ultra Deep Field in the Ultraviolet.

- Properties of nearby galaxies M51 and M82

Selected Publications

D.F. de Mello, L.J.Smith, E. Sabbi, J.S. Gallagher, M. Mountain, D.R. Harbeck, 2008. Star Formation in the HI Bridge Between M81 and M82. Astronomical Journal, 135, 548

D.F. de Mello, S. Torres-Flores, & C. Mendes de Oliveira, 2008. Searching for Star Formation Outside Galaxies: Multiwavelength Analysis of the Intragroup Medium of Hickson Compact Group 100. Astronomical Journal, 135, 319

D.F. de Mello, T. Dahlen, J.P. Gardner, N.A. Grogin, 2006. Near-Ultraviolet Sources in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey Fields. Astronomical Journal, 132, 2014.

D.F. de Mello, Y. Wadadekar, T. Dahlen, S. Casertano, J.P. Gardner, 2006. Star--forming galaxies at intermediate redshifts: morphology, ages and sizes. Astronomical Journal, 131, 216.

Y. Wadadekar, S. Casertano, D.F. de Mello, 2006. Faint U-Band Dropouts in the WFPC2 Parallels of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field.
Astronomical Journal, 132, 1023.

D.F. de Mello, E. Daddi, A. Renzini, A. Cimatti, S. di Serego Alighieri, L. Pozzetti, G. Zamorani, 2004. Metal enrichment in near-IR luminous galaxies at z~2: signatures of proto-ellipticals? Astrophysical Jounal Letter, 608, L29.

D.F. de Mello} C. Leitherer & T. Heckman, 2000. B stars as a Diagnostic of Star-formation at Low and High Redshift. Astrophysical Journal, 530, 251.

Publications at the ADS website.

Other Activities

When I am not travelling or flying around in one of those small airplanes with Tommy, I am probably writing a book or updating my blog... This book is a personal project that I decided to pursue when I realized that time was passing so fast .... I know it is a silly project, but I am writing it for myself and dedicating it to my mom. I hope one day to publish the "Mulher das Estrelas" in Brazil, meanwhile I am publishing as part of my blog, http://dudemello.zip.net (in portuguese). I will probably sell at least 19 copies to my 19 cousins ;-)

My blog is getting famous! I even have a fan club http://clubemulherdasestrelas.net (in Portuguese).

If you wanna surprise me give anything older than 1 million year old for my fossil collection which includes shart teeth, trilobite, Cephalopods and a meteorite!