My Institute-related research spans two principal research areas. 1. I research brown dwarfs and exoplanetary systems to create a context for the existence of our own solar system and its one habitable planet. Brown dwarfs in particular, as more massive analogues to giant planets, are a key focus of my work. My work on brown dwarfs and exoplanets uses space- and ground-based telescopes, such as the Hubble, Spitzer (retired), and James Webb Space Telescopes, the ground-based Gemini Observatory 8.2 m telescopes, and an array of smaller ground-based facilities.

I am also the Co-PI on a proposed Canadian space mission to discover and characterize exoplanets. The POET mission has had a Science Maturation Study and an on-going Space Technology Development Program award funding from the Canadian Space Agency. POET is also endorsed as one of the top priorities for small Canadian space missions by the 2020 Long Range Plan for the Canadian Astronomical Society. 2. I have commenced a survey of the solar system outskirts, using a novel fast-time domain implementation of the stellar occultation technique.

This will for the first time reveal the expected vast population of kilometre-sized comets in the solar system Kuiper Belt. Analogous to the debris disks of other planetary systems, the Kuiper Belt carries an imprint of the dynamical history of our solar system.To this end, I have commissioned a CFI-funded array of three 50 cm rapid-imaging telescopes - the Colibri Telescope Array - at Elginfield Observatory. In addition to commencing regular science in 2022, the Colibri Telescope Array also serves as a testing ground for novel imaging techniques, such as for video monitoring of artificial satellites, or with commercial off-the shelf cameras (visible-light or short-wavelength infrared).