Hollis B. Akins

Astronomy Ph.D. student at UT Austin

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PMA 16.220

2515 Speedway

Austin, TX 78712

Welcome! I am a third-year Ph.D. student at the University of Texas at Austin working with Prof. Caitlin Casey on high-redshift galaxy evolution. In particular, I study the massive galaxies in the epoch of reionization, a period of major phase change in the first billion years of the universe. I focus in particular on the dust-obscured universe using major telescopes including JWST and ALMA, and I’m a member of the COSMOS-Web and CEERS collaborations.

I completed my Bachelors in Physics at Grinnell College in rural Iowa, surrounded by corn-fields and fueled by small-town coffee. While there I studied the evolution of the smallest galaxies in the local universe using hydrodynamic simulations as part of the N-Body Shop collaboration. I’ve also previously studied the color evolution of massive galaxies using the SIMBA cosmological simulations.

This page will be a home for updates about my research projects, publications, and growth as a scientist. Follow the links below to learn more.

news

selected publications

  1. Akins24a.png
    COSMOS-Web: The over-abundance and physical nature of “little red dots”–Implications for early galaxy and SMBH assembly
    Hollis B. Akins, Caitlin M. Casey, Erini Lambrides, and 38 more authors
    arXiv e-prints, Jun 2024
  2. Akins23a.png
    Two Massive, Compact, and Dust-obscured Candidate z ≃ 8 Galaxies Discovered by JWST
    Hollis B. Akins, Caitlin M. Casey, Natalie Allen, and 58 more authors
    The Astrophysical Journal, Oct 2023
  3. Akins22b.jpg
    ALMA Reveals Extended Cool Gas and Hot Ionized Outflows in a Typical Star-forming Galaxy at z = 7.13
    Hollis B. Akins, Seiji Fujimoto, Kristian Finlator, and 9 more authors
    The Astrophysical Journal, Jul 2022