Mailing Address:
PENN STATE BEHREND
1 PRISCHAK BUILDING
ERIE PA 16563
Biography
Teaching Specialties
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Planetary Science
Funded Projects and Grants
- Observable Signatures of Extreme Seasonality on Planets with High Orbital Eccentricity or High Obliquity. Gaidos, E. (principal investigator) and D. Williams (co-principal investigator). National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Terrestrial Planet Finder Program, submitted through the University of Hawaii, $250,000. June 2004-May 2007.
- Extraordinary Climates of Earth-Like Planets: GCM Simulations at High Obliquity. Williams, D. (principal investigator) and D. Pollard (co-principal investigator). National Science Foundation, Life in Extreme Environments, $196,518, September 1999-August 2002.
Research Interests
Spin-Orbital Dynamics of Planets and Moons; Evolution of the Solar System; Exoplanets and Exomoons; Asteroid Impacts on Terrestrial Planets; Climates of Terrestrial Planets
Publications
Forming Massive Terrestrial Satellites through Binary-Exchange Capture, Planetary Science Journal - August 31, 2024
Formation, habitability, and detections of extrasolar moons, Astrobiology Journal - September 8, 2014
Capture of Terrestrial-sized Moons by Gas-Giant Planets, Astrobiology Journal - April 22, 2013
Searching for Water Earths in the Near Infrared, The Astrophysical Journal - 2011
Collaborators: M. Zugger; J. Kasting, Co-Author; T. Kane, Co-Author; C. Philbrick, Co-Author
The Planet Paparazzi: Earth Through the Lens of Interplanetary Spacecraft, Astrobiology Journal - 2011
Light Scattering from Exoplanet Oceans and Atmospheres, The Astrophysical Journal - 2010
Collaborators: M. Zugger; J. Kasting, Co-Author; T. Kane, Co-Author; C. Philbrick, Co-Author
The Effect of Lunar-Like Satellites on the Orbital Infrared Light Curves of Earth-Analog Planets, Astrobiology Journal - 2009
Collaborators: N. Moskovitz; N. Gaidos, Co-Author
Detecting the Glint of Starlight on the Oceans of Distant Planets, Icarus - 2008
Collaborator: E. Gaidos, Co-Author
Looking for Planetary Moons in the Spectra of Distant Jupiters, Astrobiology - 2004
Collaborator: R. Knacke, Co-Author
Seasonality on Terrestrial Extrasolar Planets: Inferring Obliquity and Surface Conditions from Infrared Light Curves, New Astronomy - 2004
Collaborator: E. Gaidos, Co-Author
Extraordinary Climates of Earth-Like Planets: Three-Dimensional Climate Simulations at Extreme Obliquity, International Journal of Astrobiology - 2003
Collaborator: D. Pollard, Co-Author
The Average Distance Between a Star and Planet in an Eccentric Orbit, American Journal of Physics - 2003
Earth-Like Worlds on Eccentric Orbits: Excursions Beyond the Habitable Zone, International Journal of Astrobiology - 2002
Collaborator: D. Pollard, Co-Author
Earth-Moon Interactions: Implications for Terrestrial Climate and Life, Origin of the Earth and Moon - 2000
Collaborator: D. Pollard, Co-Author
Low-Latitude Glaciation and Rapid Changes in the Earth's Obliquity Explained by Obliquity-Oblateness Feedback., Nature - December, 1998
Collaborators: J. Kasting, Co-Author; L. Frakes, Co-Author
Education
Ph D, Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University
BS, Physics, The University of Pittsburgh
AS, Physics and Mathematics, Jamestown Community College