Title: The Magnetic Fields of Young Stellar Objects: Making, Breaking, and Braking of Planets and Stars

Abstract: In this talk, I will present a few vignettes of star and planet formation in which the star’s magnetic field plays a pivotal role. Spectroscopic and interferometric observations of young stars present a rich and complex picture of circumstellar environments in the epoch of planet formation, and, together, have the power to disentangle observational ambiguities. For young solar analogs, we’ll explore the exo-weather environments protoplanets may experience. Across the range of solar- and intermediate-mass stars, I’ll discuss the role of magnetic fields in the accretion process in star and planet formation. Lastly, I’ll share ongoing work toward understanding intermediate-mass stellar magnetic fields where observations are plagued by likely flux cancelation, demonstrating how combined data set-driven simulations can help push modeling limits.