Abstract

Disks surrounding protostars are a key ingredient of both the star and planet formation processes. They both govern the accretion of material onto a growing protostar and provide the reservoir of material that will eventually be incorporated into planets.  Recent observational work has shown that disks in the youngest Class 0 and I phases, when disks are still accreting material from their larger scale envelopes and parental clouds, can have dust rings favorable to planet formation. Further, within the past two years, several disks with streamers---long and thin funnels that feed material from envelopes into these youngest planet-forming disks---have been found towards a growing number of Class 0 and I protostars. It is becoming clear that to understand star and planet formation in the embedded phases, disks cannot be unmarried from their surrounding environments.  I will discuss the disk-envelope connection and how streamers likely influence disk structure, evolution, and chemistry starting from the earliest stages of star formation.