CV

Current position:

  • 07/2016 – present: Postdoctoral researcher at GRAPPA & API at the University of Amsterdam

Education

Research Experience:

  • 2013-2016: Scientific Employee (PhD candidate), Dr. Remeis-Observatory & Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics (ECAP), FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg.
    • Optical, X-ray, and γ-ray data analysis
    • Broadband fits to radio to γ-ray data
    • X-ray detector simulations
    • Neutrino calculations
    • Teaching duties
  • 11/2015: Research stay at NASA/GSFC
  • 11/2013: Research stay at NASA/GSFC
  • 2011-2013: Student Employee, Dr. Remeis-Observatory & Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics (ECAP), FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg.
    • X-ray data analysis
    • Teaching duties

Scientific Service:

  • 2016 – present: Referee for Astroparticle Physics
  • 2016 – 2017: Postdoc representative of the API PhD/PD Council
  • 2016 – 2017: Member of LOC and SOC for workshop on Transient Alert Mechanisms
  • 2016: Chair at IBWS 2016 meeting, session: HE Astrophysics Session I
  • 2015: Chair at FRANCI 2015 meeting, session: Neutrino and high energy astrophysics
  • 2014- present: Remeis data archive: responsible for Fermi/LAT archives at Remeis cluster, as well as Fermi/LAT extraction scripts.
  • 2014 – present: Internal referee for Fermi-LAT publications
  • 2014 – present: Flare Advocate for the Fermi-LAT collaboration
  • 2014 – present: Co-supervision of summer students, Bachelor, Master and PhD thesis projects
  • 2014: Convenor of the PhD meeting at the annual meeting of the Astronomische Gesellschaft (astronomical society)
  • 2014: LOC member, Annual meeting of the Astronomische Gesellschaft (astronomical society).
  • 2014: Tutor of the DAAD RISE program (project: “Broadband observations of supermassive black holes”)
  • 2013 – present: Remeis data archive: responsible for Swift archives at Remeis cluster, as well as Swift/XRT and Swift/UVOT extraction scripts.
  • 2012 – 2016: supervising first and second year students, giving introductory lecture to CCD experiment in the astrophysics lab course at Dr. Remeis observatory (FAU Erlangen)
  • 2011-2012: Teaching assistant at FAU Erlangen (lectures: Galaxies and Cosmology, X-ray astronomy; undergraduate courses)

 

Teaching Experience

  • 2017: Seminar lecture (GRAPPA, UvA) : giving 2 h lecture on γ-ray astronomy
  • 2016: School on High Energy Astrophysics and Spectroscopy (Kigali, Rwanda): Invited to give several lectures and lead hands-on session about X-ray and γ-ray astronomy, including Swift/UVOT, Swift/XRT, and Fermi/LAT data analysis, the ASDC SED Builder and combining multiwavelength data in ISIS. 
  • 2012 – 2016: supervising first and second year students, giving introductory lecture about Charged Coupled Devices and supervision of CCD experiment in the astrophysics lab course at Dr. Remeis observatory (FAU Erlangen)
  • 2011-2012: Teaching assistant at FAU Erlangen (lectures: Galaxies and Cosmology, X-ray astronomy; undergraduate courses)

 

Outreach:

Regular outreach events include guided tours, giving talks to the general public, and participating in special events.

  • 2017: Participation in Native Scientist Outreach Event (German)
    • Building spectroscopes with children age 15-16
    • Presenting complex concepts of current research and answering questions
  • 2017: Participation in Girl’s Day 2017 (Dutch)
    • Spending half a day with girls age ~11
    • Presenting current research and answering questions
  • 2016 – current: Guided Tours, Anton Pannekoek Institute
    • giving guided tours of the observatory
    • 20 minute presentations in Dutch about various topics (e.g., spectroscopy)
  • 2013 – 2016: Guided Tours, Dr. Remeis Observatory
    • giving guided tours of the historic observatory to adult and children groups
    • observing with 40 cm telescope
    • giving 30 minute presentation
  • 2015: Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften (‘Night of Science’), ECAP.
    • helping organizing an outreach event
    • presenting current research to the public
  • 2015-present: Participation in ‘Letters to a Pre-Scientist’: Writing letters to a middle school/high school student

Teaching & (Co-)Advising:

Co-Advising

2016-present: Maria Cosette Molijn, UvA, Master’s thesis project: Prospects for CTA observations of Centaurus A
2016-2017: Jean Damascène Mbarubucyeye, Mbara University, Master’s thesis project: Unidentified Fermi/LAT sources
2015: Kunal Deoskar, IIT Kharagpur, summer student: 3LAC sources in the error fields of IceCube neutrinos
2015: Alyssa McElroy, West Texas A&M University: DAAD RISE summer research project: Studying X-ray binaries in the neighbourhood of supermassive black holes
2014-2015: Christoph Bürkel, FAU, Master’s thesis: Bayesian γ-ray Light Curve Analysis of TANAMI Sources
2014: Claire Baxter, University of Edinburgh: DAAD RISE summer research project: 2LAC sources in the IceCube neutrino error fields
2014: Dr. Pheneas Nkundabakura, Kigali Institute of Education, visiting postdoctoral scholar, project: Studying unidentified Fermi-LAT sources
2014: Bingjie Wang, University of Pittsburgh, DAAD RISE summer research project: Broadband observations of supermassive black holes
2014: Andrea Gokus, FAU, Bachelor’s thesis: Light curve cross correlations of gamma- and radio data of PKS 0537–441
2014: Christina Gräfe, FAU, Bachelor’s thesis: Analysis of Chandra and Suzaku data of Centaurus A

Teaching Assistant

2012: X-ray astronomy (undergraduate)
2011: Galaxies and cosmology (undergraduate)

Other

2015-present: Participation in ‘Letters to a Pre-Scientist’: Writing letters to a middle school/high school student
2013-2016: Mentoring of high school student: Jugend forscht (Youth research) project on Swift/UVOT observations of long Gamma-ray bursts; won first place at regional level (Mittlerer Neckar, 2016), and second place at federal state level (BaWü 2016)
2011-2016: Undergraduate astronomy lab on CCD detectors including giving a lecture, evaluation of student reports and updating lab instructions

Skills:

Data Analysis: X-ray, γ-ray, and optical data analysis, including large campaigns (>1000 observations), multiwavelength data analysis
Software: ISIS/S-Lang, HEASoft, XMM SAS, ftools
Programming languages: fluent: S-Lang, good knowledge: Python, LaTeX, perl, shell scripting, HTML, basic knowledge: root, C, C++, CSS
Languages: German (native speaker), English (fluent), Dutch (advanced), French (UNIcert II/B2 level), Japanese (beginner)

Member of the following collaborations:

TANAMI
Swift
Fermi-LAT
CTA