First Name
Aaron
Last Name
Boley
Position
Associate Professor
Office Room
Hennings 320A
Tel (Office)
(604) 827-2641
Email
acboley@phas.ubc.ca
Research Groups


Bachelor's Degree
University of Mount Union, Alliance, OH, 2002, Physics & Astronomy

Master's Degree
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 2004, Astronomy

Doctoral Degree
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 2007, Astrophysics

Employment History

Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA 

  • Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow, 2010-2013
  • UF Astronomy Theory Postdoctoral Fellow, 2009-2010

Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Zurich, ZH, Switzerland

  • Postdoctoral Researcher, 2007-2009

Awards
  • Canada Research Chair in Planetary Astronomy
  • 2018 Killam Teaching Award
  • 2016 Wall Scholar at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Study
  • NASA Sagan Fellow
  • NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program Fellow

Research Area
Astronomy & Astrophysics

Research Field
Planetary astronomy, space sustainability, space policy

Research Topics
Planet formation and system evolution, protoplanetary disk evolution, formation of meteorite parent bodies, space sustainability, satellite observations, space weapons

Abstract

My research program uses theory and observations to explore a wide range of processes in the formation of planets, from the birth of planet-forming discs to the long-term evolution of planetary systems.  Key science objectives are to investigate

  • how and when solids are processed in planet-forming discs;
  • how debris and disc systems acquire their morphologies;
  • whether there are multiple modes of gas giant planet formation and the frequency for which each mode occurs; and,
  • the observational consequences for planetary system evolution.

I am also a co-founder and co-director of the Outer Space Institute, an institute that takes a transdisciplinary approach to addressing major challenges in space. The scope of the institute is broad, but some focus areas include

  • space science-policy
  • space sustainability
  • light pollution from orbital infrastructure
  • space resource extraction
  • space debris
  • space weapons

Selected Publications

Please see my ADS listing.