Welcome to my homepage! I'm a Professor and former Canada Research Chair (Tier II, held for maximum number of terms) in the department of Astronomy and Physics at Saint Mary's University. Before coming to SMU, I was an adjunct professor at Queen's University where I also held a CITA National Fellowship. During my time there I worked with Professors Larry Widrow and Stephane Courteau. Before Queen's, I was a post-doc at McMaster University (with Hugh Couchman), and at UC Berkeley where I worked with Marc Davis. I also have links with the Virgo, Hydra and Seattle Consortia. My work is focused primarily on using simulations to aid our understanding of the structure formation process. Recently, I've been collaborating with my good friend and colleague Evan Scannapieco on high redshift galaxy formation and the impact of AGN feedback on the downsizing phenomenon. As a core member of the Virgo Consortium I've played a role in the latest generation of Virgo Consortium simulations (being spearheaded by Volker Springel). I've also worked with Frazer Pearce, Peter Thomas and Eric Tittley in research conducted under the auspices of the Virgo Consortium. I got my PhD from the University of Alberta, where my supervisor was Don Page. I initially started working on early universe cosmology but later switched to structure formation, at which point Hugh Couchman became my co-supervisor. Since Hugh was at the University of Western Ontario at that time, I spent two years visiting the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UWO in London, Ontario. Outside of work I love to go hiking and backpacking - I fell in love with the Canadian rockies when I first saw them in 1995. Hiking also allows me to endulge another one of my passions - photography. I also love carpentry, although like all my other pasttimes, I invariably find myself stuck for time to get projects finished. If you are really curious, here is my standard headshot. My up-to-date contact details are: Dr. Rob Thacker 319E Atrium Building Department of Astronomy and Physics Saint Mary's University Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada B3H 3C3 Electronic-mail: (click here for address) Telephone: 902-420-5636 Facsimile: 902-496-8218