CV
Education
- MPhys in Physics with Astrophysics, University of Exeter, 2015
- Ph.D in Astrophysics, University of Leeds, 2019
Experience
- Jul 2016: Visiting Student
- University of Sydney
- Taught the intricacies of the technique of sparse aperture masking, where using a mask with an imaging instrument results in visibilities andclosure phases. Received data reduction pipelines for use with the T-ReCs, NIRC2 and NACO instruments.
- Supervisor: Prof. Peter Tuthill, Dr. Barnaby Norris
- Oct-Dec 2015: DTGF Student
- European Southern Observatory
- Three-month placement at ESO’s Santiago Office enabled by the ESO Director General Discretionary Fund (DTGF). Studied mid-IR interferometry and3D radiative transfer modelling.
- Supervisor: Dr. Willem-Jan de Wit
- Jun-Aug 2015: Leiden/ESA Program for Summer students (LEAPS)
- Leiden Observatory
- Awarded a funding for the program among ~15 other students from over 100 applicants. Project Title - ‘Relating the ionised and warmmolecular gas in three massive star forming regions’
- Supervisor: Dr. Pamela Klaassen
Prizes
- 1st Prize, Poster Competition at the international Olympian Symposium 2018 ‘Gas from milli- to mega-parsecs’
- 1st Prize, Oxford University Press Prize for the best student poster at the National Astronomy Meeting
Telescope time as PI
- VLTI/MATISSE
- ‘Imaging the substructure of a massive protostellar disk’ - 13.5hr
- Science Verification Time ‘Imaging the first transition disc around a massive protostar’ - awarded 20% of the available MATISSE SV time (10% of overall cycle) - 1 night
- VLT/VISIR
- ‘VISIR/Sparse Aperture Masking 10𝜇m survey of nearby massive young stellar objects : envelopestructure and evolution’ - 2 nights (observed in visitor mode)
- VLT/VISIR ‘VISIR survey of nearby massive young stellar objects with MIDI N-band interferometry.’ - 7hrs
Outreach
- Research Nights - Public engagement talk. Talk title: ‘How do giants grow? Where the most massive stars in our universe come from’ - Nov. 2018
- Writer for Popular Astronomy Magazine - 2018 - present
- ‘Pint of Science’ Festival - I hosted, presented at and helped to organize days of this outreach festival which is held in 34 cities across the UK - 2017-2019
- ‘Astronomy for All’ Workshop at the University of Leeds - Developing sign language for astrophysics - Sep. 2019
- Working with Dr. Olja Panic (who runs this initiative) at the University of Leeds I helped to explain astrophysical concepts to enable the generation of new signs for British Sign Language. We worked with linguists and deaf amateur astronomers and instrumentalists to develop signs relevant to star formation.
- School visit to De Zonnewijzer school in Wijgmaal, Belgium. Presented the talk ‘How do you build a star?’ to a class of 10-11yr olds - Oct. 2020
- Outreach talk at ESO IR 2020 conference outreach program “Infrared Astronomy for everyone and worldwide!” - Oct. 2020
- Outreach talk for the ‘Astrozoom’ amateur astronomers association - Nov. 2020
- Part of the ‘Skype a Scientist’ program - discuss astronomy and astrophysics with children from kindergarten to high school ages. Schools I have worked with are:
- The New American Academy Charter School - Dec. 2020
Service and leadership
- Astronomers for Earth
- LOC/VOC for 2 KU Leuven seminars
- Bachelors and PhD student supervisor
- Panelist for the Diversity & Inclusion podium discussion at ESO IR 2020
- Panelist for the ‘How can we continue building this community, especially for early-career researchers?’ discussion session at ESO IR 2020
Courses
- Introduction to Spectroscopy - STFC - 2015
- St. Andrew Monte Carlo Summer School - University of St. Andrews - 2017
- Supervising a master’s thesis - KU Leuven - 2020
- Writing for non-peers and press - ‘Let’s talk Science’ meeting - 2020
- Introduction to Astrobiology - Amity University - 2020
Skills
- Computing
- Modelling
- Radiative transfer (HOCHUNK Whitney 2013, Hyperion Robitaille)
- Geometric modelling
- Writing
- Write for ‘Popular Astronomy’ magazine
- Language
- Spanish (basic working proficiency)
- Dutch (learning)
