B.S. Physics, University of Arkansas, 1989

Ph.D., Caltech, 1995

Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, 1995-1997

Postdoctoral Researcher, Astrophysics Division, Department of Physics, Oxford University, 1997-2000

Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, 2003-2007

NSF ADVANCE Fellow, 2004-2007

Assistant Professor, 2007-present

Research Interests:
Dr. Kennefick's primary research interest is the discovery and study of high redshift quasars. She has obtained data on these objects at Palomar Observatory in Southern California, Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in Chile, Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, the AAT in Australia, and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii.

QUASARS AT HIGH REDSHIFTS

Quasars are a subset of the class of objects known as active galactic nuclei, or AGN, which are the active centers of galaxies powered by accretion of matter on to supermassive black holes. Since their discovery in the early 1960's, quasars have been used to trace the structure and evolution of matter in the Universe, and as astrophysical laboratories in which to study their fueling processes.

One focus of my research has been to look for quasars at high redshift, particularly at redshifts greater than 4, which corresponds to look-back times of over 12 billion years. I have conducted several successful searches for these objects, including the discovery of quasars using imaging data from the Digitized Palomar Observatory Sky Survey and a large imaging survey carried out at CTIO in Chile using the Blanco 4m Telescope. I am also currently leading a program to use imaging data from the Oxford-Dartmouth Thirty-Degree survey to search for quasars at high redshift, and am utilizing online astronomical catalogs such as the the 2-Micron All Sky Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to more effectively search for quasars at moderate redshifts. In additional to providing objects for individual study, the main purpose of such surveys is to establish the number of quasars as a function of their luminosity and look-back time in order to trace the history of quasar activity and to gain insights into how they and normal galaxies form and evolve. During the course of these surveys, I have become interested in the evolution of quasar spectral energy distributions and what it can tell us about the quasar accretion process. I am currently exploring this issue using optical and near-infrared imaging from the KPNO 2.1m Telescope.