Instructors

Semester 1, 2013

Note: preliminary teaching allocation....

  • HET603 Exploring Stars and the Milky Way: Chris Flynn

    • Dr Chris Flynn's research interests are dark matter and t he chemical evolution and kinematics of galaxies. He obtained his Ph.D. from Mount Stromlo in Canberra in 1989, and subsequently drifted steadily north, working at the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut in Heidelberg, NORDITA and the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen , the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton in the USA and at Tuorla Observatory in Finland, where his research interests have been "Solar twins" (searching for stars as similar to the Sun as possible) and measuring "Earthshine" (the amount of light reflected from the Earth on to the dark side of the Moon). He is spending 2013 at Swinburne, where he hopes to learn a thing or two about Pulsars.

  • HET608 Intro. Radio Astronomy & SETI

    Payne-Scott stream: Virginia Kilborn

    • Dr Virginia Kilborn studied astronomy at Melbourne University, obtaining her PhD in radio astronomy in 2001. During her PhD, Virginia spent many days observing at the Parkes radiotelescope, and the Australia Telescope Compact Array in Narrabri. In late 2000, Virginia travelled as a postdoc to the UK to work at the England's largest radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory. Whilst in England, Virginia helped to lead the first large-scale northern sky survey for neutral hydrogen in galaxies - the HIJASS survey. She also enjoyed living in the Cheshire countryside... and experiencing a white Christmas! In 2003, Virginia returned to Australia to Swinburne University, where she has since been working on the evolution of galaxies.

    Bolton stream: Tyler Bourke

    Tyler Bourke is an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). He received his PhD from the University of New South Wales while performing his research at CfA. His main research interests are studying the formation of stars and their planet-forming disks. For his research he has used many radio, millimetre/submillimetre, and infrared telescopes, on the ground and in space. Outside of his main research he has interests in science policy and history, astrobiology, and exploring the hard labours of local craft brewers. His torpedos go further than Glen's.

  • HET609 Astrophotography & CCD Imaging: Mel Hulbert

    • Melissa Hulbert completed a BSc. (Hons) in Physics at the University of Western Sydney, during which she worked as a night guide/lecturer at Sydney Observatory (part of the Powerhouse Museum) where she now works full-time as an Astronomy Educator. In between, she contributed a column to Lab News Magazine and then later spent some time as Assistant Editor on both Lab News and Today's Life Sciences Magazines. She is a member of the Australia Science Communicators and in 2000 she was part of the 'Science in the Pub' team that won an Australian Eureka Award f or Science Promotion. Melissa also teaches astronomy courses at WEA and the St George and Sutherland Community College. She has been an active member of Sutherland Astronomical Society for over 20 years with her main interest in astro-imaging. Nine years ago she initiated the formation of the Astro-Imaging group which she still coordinates. Melissa's main interests have always been comets and eclipses, but if it's up there and not beyond the range of the equipment she's using then she's happy to snap its portrait. In the last few years Melissa has been learning to read and translate Egyptian hieroglyphs and has been able to combine this with her interest in archeoastronomy. When time allows, Melissa likes nothing better than spending time imaging the wonders of a clear, dark night sky with a few friends.

  • HET624 Galaxies and their Place in the Universe: Terry Bridges

    • Dr Terry Bridges received his Ph.D. in astrophysics at Queen's University, Kingston, in 1992 and spent the next dozen years or so working as a research astronomer at observatories around the world (Observatoire Midi-Pyrenees in Toulouse, France; Royal Greenwich Observatory in Cambridge, which sadly closed in 1998; and the Anglo-Australian Observatory Sydney, Australia). During this time, he got to observe at lots of nice places, including Hawaii, Australia, Chile, and La Palma.
    Terry returned to Canada with his family in late 2003. Since then he has taught undergraduate physics and astronomy courses at Queen's University, obtained a B.Ed., and was coordinator for the Queen's observatory. In 2008 Terry returned to Australia, spending 6 months at the AAO working in the Australian Gemini Office. Terry's astronomical research interests are centered around stellar populations in nearby galaxies, in particular using globular clusters to study the formation, evolution, and dark matter content of elliptical galaxies. Terry is very involved in astronomical outreach activities, both locally in Kingston, and through Astronomers Without Borders. He will be finishing a Ph.D. in science education at Queen's University this year; his dissertation research involved working with middle school teachers on designing and teaching science lessons. Terry has also enjoyed teaching science & technology to Queen's teacher candidates while doing his Ph.D.

  • HET625 Cosmology and the Large-scale Structure of the Universe: Mike Beasley

    • Dr Mike Beasley received his Ph.D. in astrophysics at Durham University, UK, in 2001. He has worked at Swinburne University and the UCO/Lick Observatory at Santa Cruz, and currently works at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias in Tenerife, Spain. He has previously worked on various theoretical and observational aspects of globular cluster systems and their connection to galaxy formation. Recently his research has been focussing on stellar populations and disk formation in nearby galaxies including M33 (Triangulum galaxy). Mike's non-professional interests include hiking, SCUBA, wildlife conservation and he is also working on a part-time biochemistry degree.

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