James Lauroesch Research Assistant Professor PhD, University of Chicago, 1995 Lauroesch Personal Page James Lauroesch's primary research interest is the study of the physical conditions in interstellar clouds at all redshifts.  His research projects include studies of the interstellar medium of our own Milky Way Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds, as well as quasar absorption-line systems. Lauroesch's current research is focused on analyzing over 100 spectra of stars in the Milky Way and Magellanic clouds taken with the Hubble Space Telescope to explore the homogeneity of the interstellar medium on large scales.  By observing large numbers of stars with a wide variety of stellar and interstellar properties, Lauroesch and his collaborators are able to study properties of the interstellar medium that are not accessible in other ways. In addition, working in conjunction with David Meyer and other collaborators, Lauroesch is studying the small-scale structure of the diffuse interstellar medium through high-resolution spectroscopy of interstellar absorption lines toward binary star systems, Galactic star clusters, and nearby bright galaxies.  Recent direct measurements of the physical conditions in several clouds have shown that they are less dense than previously inferred, and suggest that the distribution of some ions may be much patchier than previously thought. Lauroesch also continues to study the physical conditions in quasar absorption-line systems working with collaborators at a number of other institutions.  Their recent efforts have focused on the study of the elemental abundances in low redshift systems using the Hubble Space Telescope and the MMT Observatory 6.5-meter telescope. Selected Publications V. P. Kulkarni, S. M. Fall, J. T. Lauroesch, D. G. York, D. E. Welty, P. Khare, and J. W. Truran Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Element Abundances in Low-Redshift Damped Lyα Galaxies and Implications for the Global Metallicity-Redshift Relation Ap.J. 618, 68 (2005) S. I. B. Cartledge, J. T. Lauroesch, D. M. Meyer, and U. J. Sofia The Homogeneity of Interstellar Oxygen in the Galactic Disk Ap.J. 613, 1037 (2004) S. D. Points, J. T. Lauroesch, and D. M. Meyer The Complex Interstellar Na I Absorption toward h and χ Persei Pub. Astro. Soc. Pacific 116, 801 (2004)