Abstract

Stars are important tracers of and contributors to Milky Way (MW) chemical evolution.  The surface chemical abundances of young stars trace past Galactic chemical enrichment, while the chemical abundances of planetary nebulae trace ongoing Galactic chemical enrichment from their progenitor asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars.  In this seminar talk, I will present my results from two projects approaching MW chemical evolution from these two different viewpoints.  My first project examines the chemical homogeneity of several young, elongated stellar groups (called 'strings') to probe the assembly process of our local MW thin disk.  My second project examines the chemical abundances of eight planetary nebulae to trace the chemical compositions and nucleosynthetic outputs of their progenitor AGB stars.  Finally, I will discuss how the slow neutron-capture process bridges these two projects and plays an important role in my planned dissertation work.