Star formation begins with the gravitational collapse of a dense molecular cloud. The protostar forming at the cloud center grows by accreting mass from the einvleope through the protostellar disk, and a new star is born when hydrogen burning is ignited at its center.The dynamical process of star formation occurs at a very short timescale compared to the timescale of stellar evolution, and the physical conditions such as density and temporature in the collapsing cloud and accretion disk vary significantly while the protostar builds its mass. Subsequently, the chemical conditions of associated material also change. Therefore, chemistry provides important diagnostics to study the dynamical processes and physical structuress associated with star formation.

Prof. Lee’s group studies dynamics, energettics, and chemistry associated with star formation using multi-wavelength observations and modeling of physical and chemical structures of young stellar objects. Her team also utilizes (sub-)millimeter telescopes such as Atacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array (ALMA) and space telescopes such as James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to explore the inventory of complex organic molecules, the building blocks of prebiotic molesules, in protostellar envelopes and protoplanetary disks.