Nick Scoville is the Francis L. Moseley Professor of Astronomy at Caltech and departmental chair.

His research interests include interstellar molecular cloud

Molecular cloud

A molecular cloud, sometimes called a stellar nursery if star formation is occurring within, is a type of interstellar cloud whose density and size permits the formation of molecules, most commonly molecular hydrogen ....

s, the star formation which occurs in these clouds, interacting ultraluminous-infrared galaxies

Galaxy

A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...

 and active galactic nuclei. His main hobby outside of astronomy is steel sculptural welding

Welding

Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...

. He works on the Hubble Heritage Project

Hubble Heritage Project

The Hubble Heritage Project was founded by a group of astronomers in 1998. The team releases on an almost monthly basis pictures of celestial objects like planets, stars, galaxies and galaxy clusters....

, and the Cosmic Evolution Survey multi-wavelength deep-field study of galaxies in the early universe.