Curriculum vitae
Versions of my CV:
.html Current as of Oct 29th, 2009
Department of Astronomy
116 Church St, SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
ryan (at) astro (dot) umn (dot) edu
Education
PhD in Astrophysics, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities 2005-2009Thesis title: The Asteroid Population As Derived from Spitzer Surveys
Bachelor of Science in Astronomy, University of Arizona 1998-2002
with a minor in Physics
Honors and Awards
American Astronomical Society AwardsChambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award, awarded 2009
NASA Group Achievement Awards
Spitzer Space Telescope First Look Survey Science Team
Spitzer Space Telescope General Observer Cycle 1 Time Allocation Process Team
Spitzer Space Telescope's Target of Opportunity Development Team
Spitzer Space Telescope Mission Operations Team
Scholarships
Glenn C. Purviance Scholarship in Physics (University of Arizona, awarded 1999)
Professional Experience
Professional Memberships
American Astronomical Society (Junior Member), Division of Planetary Sciences (Junior Member)
Principal Investigator, JPL Planetary Science Summer School 2009
Attended JPL Planetary Science Summer School in 2009. Served as Principal Investigator for the TRACER Trojan and Centaur Reconnaissance Flyby Mission. Studied mission management and development with JPL Team X and lead science team for mission concept.
Visiting Graduate Student/Scientific Research Assistant 2007-2008
Advisor: Sean Carey; Spitzer Science Center, Caltech
As a member of the MIPSGAL Legacy program, responsible for asteroid detection in survey data at 24 and 70 microns. Final products will include asteroid catalogs, submissions for newly discovered asteroids to the Minor Planet Center and papers describing the colors of detected asteroids and potential color selection techniques that can be used in MIPS data to exclude asteroids from point source catalogs of fields with only one epoch of observations.
Research Assistant 2006-present
Advisor: Charles Woodward; University of Minnesota University of Minnesota 2nd year project and dissertation project for discovering new asteroids and describing the size-frequency distribution as a function of ecliptic latitude are based on Spitzer observations and data with optical telescopes including the LBT. Thesis project includes imaging and spectroscopy data and will include data from multiple Bok telescope and LBT programs from which Ryan is the PI.
Laboratory Instructor 2005-2006
Astronomy 1001 Lab; University of Minnesota
I taught the basic introductory lab course in astronomy for non-majors. Sections consisted of 24 students and emphasized group learning and cooperation. The labs utilized hands on experiments and advanced computer tutorials to aid in student learning of astrophysical concepts.
Staff Scientist 2002-2005
Spitzer Science Center; California Institute of Technology
I served as the Helpdesk Operator and member of the Observer Support Team at the Spitzer Science Center. Activities required familiarity with Spitzer from observation planning by users, to data analysis with tools released by Spitzer as well as conventional astronomical packages. Additional knowledge and regular use of sql database required for observations scheduling and other tasks including writing and revamping existing users manuals. I also provided moving target support for scheduling and observational planning. Member of the Spitzer First Look Survey- Ecliptic Plane component which turned around optical and Spitzer data around in ~1 wk to characterize the potential contribution to source confusion by asteroids prior to public observation with the observatory.
Data Analyst 2001-2002
NOAO Deep Wide Field Survey; NOAO Tucson
Responsible for the reduction and calibration of K-band data obtained with the ONIS instrument at Kitt Peak. This data set represented ~160 nights of data for both data fields in the survey.
Research Assistant 1999-2002
Advisor: R. Mark Wagner; University of Arizona
Conducted investigations of low mass x-ray binary system with optical data obtained from Kitt Peak. Data analysis included obtaining light curves for mass determinations and spectroscopic studies for mass determinations and understanding of primary/secondary and accretion disk dynamics.
Computing skills
Programming and Computer Languages: Fortran 77/90, IDL, IRAFWebsite, Database, Documentation and Presentation Development: HTML, LaTeX, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint, Apple Keynote, Apple Pages, SQL
Operating Systems: UNIX, Linux, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh OS
Telescopes and Instrumentation:
Telescopes used: Bok Telescope, McGraw-Hill Telescope, Hiltner Telescope, KPNO 2.1-m, Mayall Telescope, MMT, Hale Telescope, LBT, Spitzer Space TelescopeObservational and data reduction experience: Optical imaging (2K CCD, 90prime, MOSAIC, Palomar Large Format Camera, Large Binocular Camera), Optical Spectroscopy (Boller and Chivens Spectrograph @ Bok, MMT Red Channel, Hectospec), NIR imaging (PISCES, FLAMINGOS), Mid-IR imaging (IRAC, MIPS), Mid-IR spectroscopy (IRS)