My interest in Rubin and specifically AGNs in Rubin is two-fold: understanding the physics of accretion onto supermassive black holes and using those systems as cosmological probes. My group considers the multi-wavelength nature of AGN physics with active work in the X-ray, UV, optical, IR, and radio, with emphasis on understanding how these energy regions are related. We also have been working on calibrating quasars as cosmological standard candles. For LSST, these areas require finding AGNs in the first place (with both high completeness and high efficiency, also both unobscured and obscured), so much of our LSST-related work is focused on machine learning methods for object classification. To this end I have been teaching a course on "Big Data Physics" since 2016 ( https://github.com/gtrichards/PHYS_440_540). As part of the leadership team of the AGN SC, I would welcome the opportunity to help mentor a Catalyst Fellow in their LSST preparation/science activities, in addition to their outreach/equity efforts.
