My research centres around the study of how stars form and the excitation of the interstellar medium in which this occurs. This primarily uses the tools of infrared and millimetre-wave astronomy, measuring the spectral signature of the gas and dust in molecular clouds. My particular specialty the study of the emission from molecular hydrogen, heated by both shock waves and UV photons originating from young stars, using this to investigate their environment. Recently, this has lead to the discovery of shocked molecular gas inside 'hot molecular cores', at the very earliest stages of the massive star formation process. The aim of this program is to identify the sequence of events that occurs as a massive star forms, through uncovering observational signatures of the processes at work. The newly-commissioned millimetre facilities of the Mopra and Australia Telescopes are playing a primary role in this work
