since faded.'
author:
- 'Steven Janowiecki, John J. Salzer, Liese van Zee, Jessica L. Rosenberg, Evan Skillman'
title: Constraining the Stellar Populations and Star Formation Histories of Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies with SED fits
---

Introduction
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The formation and evolutionary pathways of dwarf galaxies are still not well-understood, despite the fact that they are fairly simple systems and are the most abundant type of galaxy in the universe. Many studies have focused on the idea that dwarf galaxy evolution is driven by interactions and mergers, through ram pressure stripping, tidal disruption, or other external transformations. Today, there are many well-established mechanisms to evolve dwarf galaxies in high density group and cluster environments. It has been more difficult to study the ongoing secular dwarf galaxy evolution in isolated environments where mergers and interactions have a smaller impact. In this regime, star formation is the most transformative process a dwarf galaxy can undergo.

The best places to study the transformative effects of star formation are in the dwarf galaxies with the highest star formation rates (SFRs): the Blue Compact Dwarf galaxies (BCDs). Dwarf galaxies are often broadly categorized as either dwarf irregulars (dIs) which lack a regular morphology, possess substantial gas 