Faherty’s research interests are primarily concerned with the study of brown dwarfs, low mass objects that cannot sustain stable Hydrogen fusion. In 2006, she initiated the Brown Dwarf Kinematics Project (BDKP) in order to use astrometric measurements to investigate fundamental physical properties of the brown dwarf population. Since that time, Faherty and collaborators have been collecting proper motions, parallaxes, and radial velocities for all brown dwarfs within 20pc as well as more distant objects of specific scientific interest (e.g low-surface gravity, subdwarfs, or extreme photometric outliers). The first major papers to emerge from the BDKP are:
A velocity analysis of the population leading to a correlation between near-infrared color, kinematics, and age: The Brown Dwarf Kinematics Project I. Proper Motions and Tangential Velocities for a Large Sample of Late-Type M, L, and T Dwarfs
Identification of wide benchmark brown companions to age-calibrated main sequence stars discovered through their proper motion: The Brown Dwarf Kinematics Project. II. Details on Nine Wide Common Proper Motion Very Low Mass Companions to Nearby Stars
Analysis of luminosity trends and model comparisons for normal, low-surface gravity and subdwarfs: The Brown Dwarf Kinematics Project (BDKP). III. Parallaxes for 70 Ultracool Dwarfs
Detailed Characterization of the 50-100 Myr Brown Dwarf 2M0355, which shows striking similarities to giant exoplanets: 2MASSJ035523.51+113337.4: A Young, Dusty, Nearby, Isolated Brown Dwarf Resembling A Giant Exoplanet
Analysis of luminosity trends among the coldest brown dwarfs: The luminosities of the coldest brown dwarfs
Radial Velocity analysis of M and L dwarfs: The Brown Dwarf Kinematics Project (BDKP). IV. Radial Velocities of 85 Late-M and L Dwarfs with MagE
Fundamental property analysis of brown dwarfs and exoplanets: Population Properties of Brown Dwarf Analogs to Exoplanets
Fundamental property analysis of brown dwarfs with measured distances: Fundamental Parameters and Spectral Energy Distributions of Young and Field Age Objects with Masses Spanning the Stellar to Planetary Regime