Who's who at Cornell in the SIRTF/IRS program

By Susan Lang

These are some of the Cornell members of the infrared spectrograph (IRS) science team for NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF):

James R. Houck, the Kenneth A. Wallace Professor of Astronomy, principal investigator -- Houck earned his Ph.D. at Cornell in 1967 and has been on the faculty since 1969. He is an expert in developing optical and infrared (IR) instrumentation and techniques for observing astronomical sources. He has been working on IR techniques to identify the mechanisms responsible for the energy generation in ultraluminous infrared galaxies. These were discovered by IRAS, the infrared astronomical satellite, which he helped develop. Terry Herter, professor of astronomy and IRS science team co-investigator -- Herter oversaw the mid-band detector development effort for the IRS. He also is a principal investigator developing a facility instrument for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a multiband infrared camera that will be used to study the galactic center and dusty disks around nearby stars. A major contributor to the Atacama telescope project, a Cornell initiative to place a large telescope in the high Atacama desert of northern Chile, Herter has been a Cornell faculty member since in 1981 and studies normal and starburst galaxies, circumstellar disks, star-forming regions and the galactic center.

Dan Weedman, senior research associate since 2002 and IRS science team co-investigator -- Weedman previously worked at the National Science Foundation and has been director of NASA's Astrophysics Division. While professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University, he co-invented the Hobby-Eberly telescope, the world's first major telescope designed primarily for spectroscopy. His primary IRS role is scientific planning for observations that will study the formation of the first galaxies in the universe. Bernhard Brandl, senior research associate since 1998, IRS science team staff scientist and former lead scientist for the IRS Science Center (ISC) at Cornell -- Brandl's studies include the formation of massive stars. In the late 1990s he helped build the Palomar Observatory's High Angular Resolution Observer, an IR camera that provides detailed images unobstructed by atmospheric turbulence. In June 2003 he took up an appointment as associate professor of astronomy at Leiden University, The Netherlands. He will be the ISC input-output controller after the launch.
Vassilis Charmandaris, a research associate since 1999 and IRS science team staff scientist -- Charmandaris is a specialist on the mid-IR spectrograph for SIRTF. Born in Greece, he earned a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Iowa State University in 1995 and studies galaxy dynamics, specifically, the influence of galaxy interactions to the evolution and morphology of galaxies. Previously he worked at L'Observatoire de Paris.

Daniel Devost, research associate since 2000 and IRS science team staff scientist -- Devost's scientific interests include the study of starburst galaxies and the effects of star formation and their relation with the physical properties of galaxies. He is part of the IRS team that developed SMART (Spectroscopic Modeling Analysis and Reduction Tool) and leads the development of PIRAT (Pipeline Interactive Reduction and Analysis Tools). Both software will enable researchers to analyze the data from the IRS and identify molecular signatures from a wide variety of known and suspected processes. Devost is completing his Ph.D. at L'Université Laval in Quebec City in collaboration with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
James Higdon, research associate and IRS science team member since 2001 -- Higdon is a co-investigator on SIRTF extragalactic programs and also works on SMART development and testing and SIRTF post-launch science verification. His research interests include star formation in the early universe, galaxy evolution in clusters, starburst triggering and regulation and the physics of the interstellar medium. James was awarded research fellowships at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (Jansky Fellow) in New Mexico, the Australia Telescope and most recently at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute in the Netherlands. Sarah J. U. Higdon, research associate with the IRS instrument team since 2001 and co-investigator on SIRTF IRS extragalactic programs--Higdon's main research area is star formation in both nearby and high redshift galaxies. She is the lead developer of SMART. Formerly, she was a support astronomer for the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) Long-Wavelength Spectrograph, a support astronomer for the ISO-Short-Wavelength Spectrograph and a professor in astronomy at Queen Mary College, University of London.

Gregory Sloan, research associate and IRS science team staff scientist -- Sloan's responsibilities include calibration, analysis of test data and IOC preparation. His scientific interests include the chemistry of circumstellar dust, organic material in the interstellar medium and infrared spectral classification. Before joining the ISC in 2001, he was a senior astronomer at the Institute for Scientific Research at Boston College, a National Research Council fellow at NASA Ames Research Center and a Geophysics Scholar at the U.S. Air Force Phillips Lab. He recently completed an atlas of all 2-45 um spectra from the Short Wavelength Spectrometer on ISO. Keven Uchida, research associate at Cornell since 1999 and current lead of the IRS science center at Cornell -- After earning his Ph.D from UCLA in 1993, Uchida conducted research at the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy and Ohio State University. His main scientific interest is galactic infrared astronomy, particularly in disk and planetary formation around young stars. In 2002, he was recognized by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for his work on SIRTF in-orbit checkout sequence development, which involved the writing of code to calibrate the targeting of the mission's spacecraft. Don Barry, IRS team staff scientist and manager of astronomical computing -- After earning his Ph.D. in 1995, Barry, an instrumental astronomer, served as a Harlan Smith fellow at the University of Texas/Austin. At Cornell since 2000, he has overseen the deployment of computation resources within the Cornell team to best harness the flood of information from the IRS. His scientific interests include the determination of fundamental stellar parameters, evolutionary discrepancies in massive binary stars as probes of dynamic histories.

Elise Furlan, graduate research assistant since 2002 -- Furlan is part of the IRS Disks program, which will make use of the IRS data to study disk evolution throughout the life of a young star. Furlan, who received her undergraduate degree from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, has been using ground-based telescopes to carry out support observations of young stellar objects in the near- and mid-infrared. She will be involved in SIRTF data reduction and analysis.
Peter Hall , research associate since 2002 -- Hall is a software engineer and helped develop the SMART analysis software. He earned his Ph.D. in astrophysics in 1997 from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, England, where he worked on the formation of complex molecules during star formation. He has 10 years of industry experience as a computer programmer. Chuck Henderson, research support specialist at Cornell since 1980, and the principal engineering support person for SIRTF -- Henderson is a mechanical engineer who also is heavily involved with the Cornell Atacama Telescope project. Previous to work on SIRTF he designed much of and managed the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS).

Andy Parks, liaison with project management at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and handler of budgetary and logistical issues for the instrument team since 2002 -- Parks has a MBA from Syracuse University with a concentration in strategy, and an undergraduate degree in ceramic engineering from Alfred University. Craig Blacken, research support specialist, chief technician in the detector test laboratory -- an electrical engineer who joined the IRS team in 1996, Blacken has conducted dozens of experiments to document all the various minutia associated with the IRS detectors. He will support the IRS during the post launch phase investigating any anomalous effects and supplying calibration data from the ground-based detector lab.
Ahmed Reza , program analyst -- Reza first worked with SIRTF as an undergraduate student at Cornell, and since early this year, on leave from his studies, he has been helping to build and troubleshoot IRS computer hardware, mechanical systems and electrical systems and provide software support as needed to the IRS team.

Justin Schoenwald , program analyst and Cornell programmer since 1985 -- Schoenwald is a lead software engineer for the development of infrared array detectors for the IRS. He also is a member of the Cornell team developing the Faint Object infraRed CAmera (FORCAST) for an airborne telescope. Laurie McCall, executive staff assistant for the IRS team since 1998 Ð McCall provides basic support for the team, including travel arrangements, budgeting, purchases, logistical preparations for launch and accommodations in California during In Orbit Checkout. As the administrative contact for the team, she works with different departments at Cornell, JPL, University of Rochester and Ball Corp.

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Dan Weedman, senior research associate since 2002 and IRS science team co-investigator -- Weedman previously worked at the National Science Foundation and has been director of NASA's Astrophysics Division. While professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University, he co-invented the Hobby-Eberly telescope, the world's first major telescope designed primarily for spectroscopy. His primary IRS role is scientific planning for observations that will study the formation of the first galaxies in the universe.	Bernhard Brandl, senior research associate since 1998, IRS science team staff scientist and former lead scientist for the IRS Science Center (ISC) at Cornell -- Brandl's studies include the formation of massive stars. In the late 1990s he helped build the Palomar Observatory's High Angular Resolution Observer, an IR camera that provides detailed images unobstructed by atmospheric turbulence. In June 2003 he took up an appointment as associate professor of astronomy at Leiden University, The Netherlands. He will be the ISC input-output controller after the launch.	Vassilis Charmandaris, a research associate since 1999 and IRS science team staff scientist -- Charmandaris is a specialist on the mid-IR spectrograph for SIRTF. Born in Greece, he earned a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Iowa State University in 1995 and studies galaxy dynamics, specifically, the influence of galaxy interactions to the evolution and morphology of galaxies. Previously he worked at L'Observatoire de Paris.
Daniel Devost, research associate since 2000 and IRS science team staff scientist -- Devost's scientific interests include the study of starburst galaxies and the effects of star formation and their relation with the physical properties of galaxies. He is part of the IRS team that developed SMART (Spectroscopic Modeling Analysis and Reduction Tool) and leads the development of PIRAT (Pipeline Interactive Reduction and Analysis Tools). Both software will enable researchers to analyze the data from the IRS and identify molecular signatures from a wide variety of known and suspected processes. Devost is completing his Ph.D. at L'Université Laval in Quebec City in collaboration with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.	James Higdon, research associate and IRS science team member since 2001 -- Higdon is a co-investigator on SIRTF extragalactic programs and also works on SMART development and testing and SIRTF post-launch science verification. His research interests include star formation in the early universe, galaxy evolution in clusters, starburst triggering and regulation and the physics of the interstellar medium. James was awarded research fellowships at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (Jansky Fellow) in New Mexico, the Australia Telescope and most recently at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute in the Netherlands.	Sarah J. U. Higdon, research associate with the IRS instrument team since 2001 and co-investigator on SIRTF IRS extragalactic programs--Higdon's main research area is star formation in both nearby and high redshift galaxies. She is the lead developer of SMART. Formerly, she was a support astronomer for the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) Long-Wavelength Spectrograph, a support astronomer for the ISO-Short-Wavelength Spectrograph and a professor in astronomy at Queen Mary College, University of London.
Gregory Sloan, research associate and IRS science team staff scientist -- Sloan's responsibilities include calibration, analysis of test data and IOC preparation. His scientific interests include the chemistry of circumstellar dust, organic material in the interstellar medium and infrared spectral classification. Before joining the ISC in 2001, he was a senior astronomer at the Institute for Scientific Research at Boston College, a National Research Council fellow at NASA Ames Research Center and a Geophysics Scholar at the U.S. Air Force Phillips Lab. He recently completed an atlas of all 2-45 um spectra from the Short Wavelength Spectrometer on ISO.	Keven Uchida, research associate at Cornell since 1999 and current lead of the IRS science center at Cornell -- After earning his Ph.D from UCLA in 1993, Uchida conducted research at the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy and Ohio State University. His main scientific interest is galactic infrared astronomy, particularly in disk and planetary formation around young stars. In 2002, he was recognized by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for his work on SIRTF in-orbit checkout sequence development, which involved the writing of code to calibrate the targeting of the mission's spacecraft.	Don Barry, IRS team staff scientist and manager of astronomical computing -- After earning his Ph.D. in 1995, Barry, an instrumental astronomer, served as a Harlan Smith fellow at the University of Texas/Austin. At Cornell since 2000, he has overseen the deployment of computation resources within the Cornell team to best harness the flood of information from the IRS. His scientific interests include the determination of fundamental stellar parameters, evolutionary discrepancies in massive binary stars as probes of dynamic histories.
Elise Furlan, graduate research assistant since 2002 -- Furlan is part of the IRS Disks program, which will make use of the IRS data to study disk evolution throughout the life of a young star. Furlan, who received her undergraduate degree from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, has been using ground-based telescopes to carry out support observations of young stellar objects in the near- and mid-infrared. She will be involved in SIRTF data reduction and analysis.	Peter Hall , research associate since 2002 -- Hall is a software engineer and helped develop the SMART analysis software. He earned his Ph.D. in astrophysics in 1997 from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, England, where he worked on the formation of complex molecules during star formation. He has 10 years of industry experience as a computer programmer.	Chuck Henderson, research support specialist at Cornell since 1980, and the principal engineering support person for SIRTF -- Henderson is a mechanical engineer who also is heavily involved with the Cornell Atacama Telescope project. Previous to work on SIRTF he designed much of and managed the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS).
Andy Parks, liaison with project management at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and handler of budgetary and logistical issues for the instrument team since 2002 -- Parks has a MBA from Syracuse University with a concentration in strategy, and an undergraduate degree in ceramic engineering from Alfred University.	Craig Blacken, research support specialist, chief technician in the detector test laboratory -- an electrical engineer who joined the IRS team in 1996, Blacken has conducted dozens of experiments to document all the various minutia associated with the IRS detectors. He will support the IRS during the post launch phase investigating any anomalous effects and supplying calibration data from the ground-based detector lab.	Ahmed Reza , program analyst -- Reza first worked with SIRTF as an undergraduate student at Cornell, and since early this year, on leave from his studies, he has been helping to build and troubleshoot IRS computer hardware, mechanical systems and electrical systems and provide software support as needed to the IRS team.
Justin Schoenwald , program analyst and Cornell programmer since 1985 -- Schoenwald is a lead software engineer for the development of infrared array detectors for the IRS. He also is a member of the Cornell team developing the Faint Object infraRed CAmera (FORCAST) for an airborne telescope.	Laurie McCall, executive staff assistant for the IRS team since 1998 Ð McCall provides basic support for the team, including travel arrangements, budgeting, purchases, logistical preparations for launch and accommodations in California during In Orbit Checkout. As the administrative contact for the team, she works with different departments at Cornell, JPL, University of Rochester and Ball Corp.