Rate My Professor Amanda Karakas

Professor Amanda Karakas is a Professor and Deputy Head of School in the School of Physics and Astronomy within the Faculty of Science at Monash University. She earned her PhD in Astrophysics from Monash University in 2004. After completing her doctorate, she held three years of postdoctoral positions at McMaster University and Saint Mary's University in Canada. At the end of 2006, she joined the Australian National University on an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship, followed by appointments as Stromlo Fellow and ARC Future Fellow, remaining there until early 2016. Karakas began at Monash University as a Senior Lecturer in 2016 and advanced to full Professor. She is an affiliate member of the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe at the University of Tokyo and has undertaken visiting fellowships at Utrecht University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Texas at Austin.

Karakas's research centers on the evolution and nucleosynthesis of low- and intermediate-mass stars, including sun-like stars, and their role in the origin of elements within galaxies. Her work particularly examines the production of heavy elements beyond iron via the slow neutron-capture process, with emphasis on uncertainties in the early Universe. She develops stellar models predicting yields from asymptotic giant branch stars, contributing to galactic chemical evolution studies. With over 200 peer-reviewed articles and more than 17,800 citations, key publications include 'Stellar Models and Yields of Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars' (2010, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia), a comprehensive review of AGB models; 'Rubidium-Rich Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars' (2006, Science), demonstrating rubidium overproduction in intermediate-mass stars; 'Nucleosynthesis in Helium-Enriched Asymptotic Giant Branch Models: Implications for Heavy Element Enrichment in ω Centauri' (2014, The Astrophysical Journal); and recent papers on binary evolution yields (2025, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia) and planet engulfment signatures. As Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions, her contributions extend to major funded projects on chemical enrichment.