ABSTRACT:
One of the most exciting broader applications of the study of gamma-ray bursts is in better understanding the star-formation history of the Universe. Long-duration GRBs are produced exclusively by massive, young stars and can be detected beyond z>8, pinpointing a SFR-selected sample of galaxies independent of galaxy luminosity spanning nearly all of cosmic history. On the other hand, GRB selection may introduce new biases, both intrinsic (such as a dependence on metallicity) and observational (the host galaxy may be difficult to pinpoint if the GRB afterglow is dust-obscured). I will discuss recent efforts to shine light upon GRBs and their hosts via an ongoing observational campaign designed to measure the differences between GRB and star-formation rates and their redshift evolution out to z=3 and beyond in an unbiased manner. These results place new constraints on the GRB progenitor and also constrain broader questions of galaxy evolution, including the contribution of the faintest galaxies to cosmic star-formation.