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ANITA Steering Committe Nominees
The members listed below have nominated for positions on the ANITA Steering Committee.`.
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ANITA Steering Committe NomineesThe members listed below have nominated for positions on the ANITA Steering Committee.`.
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This ballot is more informal than the ballot for ASA Council positions. To vote, simply reply to the email from John Lattanzio sent to the ASA exploder or send a new email to John Lattanzio (John.Lattanzio@sci.monash.edu.au) with the name of one (1) nominee for the position of Convenor and six (6) for the Steering Committee before 5pm AEDT Friday 19 February 2010.
The information below has been provided to help you make an informed decision in the ballot.
RSAA, ANU
As a foundation member of ANITA I am pleased to see the interest in the elections for the new Steering Committee. I would like to continue to serve on this committee to assist the new Convenor and Steering Committee and to provide a broad institutional representation. My main goal, in working with John Lattanzio as co-Convenor, was to establish a sense of community within Australian Theoretical Astrophysics. We have gone some way towards achieving this with the revival of the March btheory-festb where theorists and observers can meet and discuss theoretical topics and the ANITA town hall meeting at the 2009 AGM. We can do more through extensive engagement with the wider radio and optical community including the holding of one - two day workshops on various modern topics. ANITA also has an important role in supporting theorists and observers who work in other wavebands such as X-ray and gamma ray astronomy. This provides one avenue through which international work in this field is disseminated to the rest of the community. We should also continue to be proactive in taking advantage of opportunities for strategic infrastructure initiatives such as the recent NCRIS-financed support positions in computational astrophysics and the opportunity through AAL of establishing a computational facility based on GPUs. Nevertheless, the main infrastructure, which is important for theory is positions and it has been satisfying, in recent times, to see a number of appointments of young theorists. ANITA should do whatever is possible to support new appointees - mainly through providing a sense of community as I have outlined above. In 2006 I led the ANITA submission to the Astronomy Decadal Plan and I am enthusiastic about contributing to the mid-term revision of this plan.
QEII Fellow, Swinburne University
My role in ANITA thus far ...
I have been a member of the ANITA steering committee since September
2008.B In that time I have been involved in all ANITA initiatives promoting
astro theory in Australia, including:
Community Development and Identity:
ANITA should continue to build a strong and connected community of
Australian theorists.B This should be especially focused on students and
postdocs to provide a fertile environment within which they can build their
careers.
National Infrastructure and Opportunities:
ANITA should be actively involved in creating and capitalising on national
infrastructure opportunities for its members as they arise (e.g. AAL's EIF
money for the $1M gSTAR GPU supercomputer).
Linkage with Radio and Optical Facilities:
ANITA should promote linkages between theorists and observers, specifically
with the major radio and optical facilities and with survey science.B This adds
important "broader community" value to the science we produce, facilitates
collaboration, and enhances the job opportunities for students.
Research Fellow (University of Queensland) and Assoc. Prof. (University of Copenhagen)
The interest in astrophysics from theoretical physicists has skyrocketed over the last couple of decades as the significance of astrophysical data in complementing Earth- based experiments becomes more and more evident.B The energies and timescales of astrophysical processes allow us to test our physical theories in regimes inaccessible to experiments here on earth.
I am a theoretical cosmologist who works as part of large observational projects; currently those include the WiggleZ dark energy survey, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey supernova search, and the ESSENCE supernova survey.
I'm interested in seeing more theoretical input into the major observational projects in Australia.B By developing the interactions between theorists and observers (not that there is a strict divide between the two!) we can extract the best, most comprehensive, and most interesting results from our observational data sets as well as plan the most interesting new types of observations for the future.
We in Australia have a lot to contribute to this field, with our existing survey facilities (e.g. 2dF, 6dF), our growing supercomputing facilities, and the upcoming observational facilities such as ASKAP and SkyMapper, which are both generating a lot of excitement internationally.B ANITA will help ensure the efforts we put into these get the international recognition they deserve.
Research Associate, University of Western Australia
As a new postdoc at the University of Western Australia, I am working on a number of numerical galaxy formation simulations with Dr Rob Crain, Swinburne, together with Prof Joop Schaye, University of Leiden. These simulations aim to test galaxy formation models within the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) paradigm as well as determine important quantities such as the density of Dark Matter in galaxies, the evolution of the Tully-Fisher relation and the creation of theoretical descriptions for the influence of gas dynamics on the DM halo itself, the so-called backreaction.
In addition these simulations will aid in the design of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), by creating realistic test maps for this facility, together with Prof Lister Stavely-Smith. I have previously published on the ability of large neutral hydrogen surveys, analogous to the Square Kilometre Array, in constraining the parameters of cosmological models like CDM. This is a particularly timely theoretical problem that we here at UWA will attempt to develop.
I look forward to representing theory in Western Australia and am keen to participate in ANITA to determine how Australia can best meet the demanding computational and theoretical challenges that upcoming projects, particularly within Western Australia such as ASKAP, will bring.
Associate Professor and Supercomputing Manager, Swinburne University of Technology
I am Jarrod Hurley, Associate Professor and Supercomputing Manager at Swinburne University of Technology.
I work mainly in theory and computation with a focus on N-body models of star cluster evolution. I am keen for ANITA to provide a sense of community and a knowledge base for students working on theory/numerical projects. Also for ANITA to facilitate interaction between all areas of astronomy and astrophysics within Australia, at all levels.
Senior Lecturer, University of Melbourne
As a founding member of ANITA, and a former member of the National Committee for Astronomy, I worked extensively with then-chair Geoff Bicknell in framing ANITA's input to the last Astronomy Decadal Survey. I will continue to work to advocate the strategic interests of theoretical astrophysics in Australia, e.g. during the upcoming Mid-Term Review of the Decadal Survey. I also look forward to the opportunity to represent high-energy and theoretical astrophysics on the Steering Committee, and contribute to new and improved public outreach and postgraduate education initatives. These are both areas about which I am very passionate and in which I have a long record of active involvement.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Swinburne University
My name is Greg Poole and I am a postdoctoral researcher at Swinburne University.B Working as part of the WiggleZ survey, my efforts focus on producing large N-body simulations and mock galaxy catalogs for large extragalactic survey programs.B It is an exciting time to be an astronomer in Australia.B With outstanding new observational programs on their way and continually growing computing resources, our community has a great deal to prepare for.B I look forward to working with ANITA to find ways to represent the theory community and to make it's voice heard in Australian astronomy's prosperous future.
Professor, University of Melbourne
I have been nominated to fill the position of ANITA convener, and if elected would happily accept this role. My professional activities are very well matched to the mission of ANITA. I have a broad background in a wide range of areas within theoretical astrophysics, with specific emphasis on providing motivation for new observational programs and on interpretation of existing data.B I have a strong commitment to research training, both within astrophysics and more broadly in management of research training at the university level. I have a history of organizing scientific meetings, and of serving on time allocation committees for Australian national facilities. In addition, it is an important year for ANITA with the development of the mid-term review of the Australian Astronomy Decadal Plan. The mid-term review provides a vehicle through which ANITA can articulate the strategic requirements for the continued development of theoretical astrophysics in Australia. As a member of both the NCA and the mid-term review committee I am well positioned to capitalise on this opportunity. Appropriate advocacy by ANITA during this process will assist the growing theory community to build on the momentum gained for theoretical astrophysics in Australia through funding of the gSTAR supercomputer as part of the recent AAL investment plan.
