A prolific researcher, Dr. Paglione's areas of expertise include Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Science; he is the latest faculty member scheduled to share his scholarship with the College and external communities in the Provost Lecture Series.

Paglione is also Research Associate in Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History; and co-director of the NASA-founded Science Engineering Mathematics Aerospace Academy (SEMAA) based at York, to encourage school-aged minority children to pursue careers in the sciences.

In addition to his busy teaching and research schedule, Paglione serves the larger Queens community as "astronomer in residence," at the York College Observatory, helping star-gazers find meteors, exploding stars and distant planets, using the Observatory's telescope. He is listed on the "Notable People of CUNY" roster of outstanding faculty.

The very largest clouds in galaxies form the most massive stars. Unlike our meek Sun, these stars live furiously, greatly affecting their surroundings with their winds and radiation, then die dramatically in giant explosions that enrich the interstellar medium in heavy elements. Their lives are relatively brief as well (“only” 10 million years or less) so their impact is not only profound but immediate.  Certain galaxies known as starbursts create numerous clusters of these massive stars in their centers.  

From birth to death, high mass stars reveal themselves through their emission at all wavelengths of light, from radio waves to gamma-rays.  I will review some of my previous and recent work with students on studying massive star formation in galaxies from both ends of the spectrum, what we have learned about starburst galaxies in the process, and how the entire spectrum of a galaxy is tied together by its star formation activity.