Keywords
Fields of Research (FoR)
Cosmology and extragalactic astronomy, Galactic astronomyBiography
I am a Lecturer in Astrophysics at the School of Physics, at the University of New South Wales. My passion lies in sharing knowledge and mentoring and I enjoy lecturing and public speaking.
My research interests focus on understanding how our Milky Way and more massive galaxies form, evolve, and die. I have expertise in utilising integral field and near-infrared spectroscopic data to determine galaxies' stellar kinematic properties. I am...view more
I am a Lecturer in Astrophysics at the School of Physics, at the University of New South Wales. My passion lies in sharing knowledge and mentoring and I enjoy lecturing and public speaking.
My research interests focus on understanding how our Milky Way and more massive galaxies form, evolve, and die. I have expertise in utilising integral field and near-infrared spectroscopic data to determine galaxies' stellar kinematic properties. I am currently involved in several large galaxy surveys:
I am the Principle Investigator and Lead of GECKOS, a VLT/MUSE large survey of 35 edge-on galaxies with similar mass as the Milky Way. Within the SAMI and Hector Galaxy Survey teams I am leading the stellar kinematics working groups. I also work on intermediate and high-redshift galaxies (z=1-2) using MUSE, X-Shooter, and VIMOS-VLT and I am a member of the MAGPI and LEGA-C surveys. Recently, I have been studying the dynamics of Milky Way analogues with VLT-MUSE and organised the conference Linking the Galactic and Extragalactic.
I obtained my PhD in 2014 at Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, titled Dawn of the Red and Dead: Stellar Kinematics of Massive Quiescent Galaxies out to z=2. From 2015-2020 I worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher with Joss Bland-Hawthorn at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy. In 2020 I was awarded an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellowship. In 2024 I joined the School of Physics at the University of New South Wales as a Lecturer in Astrophysics.
You can read more about my research and interests on my website.
My Grants
ADACS Merit Allocation Program - Software development
ASTRO3D - distinguished visitor grant
The Hunstead Fund for Astrophysics - visitor grant
ASTRO3D - conference grant
The Hunstead Fund for Astrophysics - conference grant
AAL - Keck Observing travel funding
Leids Kerkhoven-Bosscha (LKBF) - travel grants
Leids Universiteits Fonds (LUF) - 1st price best travel story
Leids Universiteits Fonds (LUF) - international travel grant
My Awards
2020-2022 ARC - Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA)
My Research Activities
1) GECKOS (https://www.geckos.org.au/) is an IFS survey of 35 nearby edge-on Milky Way-like galaxies, going out to larger radius, deeper, and with higher spatial resolution than existing IFS nearby galaxy surveys. I am the Principal Investigator of the GECKOS ESO VLT/MUSE large program, and also lead the GECKOS team. The main goal of the survey is to determine the interplay between internal and external processes that shape disk galaxies with similar mass as our Galaxy.
2) The SAMI Galaxy Survey successfully created a large 3D integral-field spectroscopic dataset of 3000 galaxies across a large range of mass and environment. Since 2016 I have been leading the stellar kinematic workgroup producing high-quality stellar kinematic data products. My most recent work answered one of the fundamental questions from the SAMI science case: how do mass and environment impact the kinematic properties of galaxies?
3) Hector is the next major dark-time instrument for the AAT and is a multi-object integral-field-unit spectrograph aimed at obtaining a low-redshift galaxy survey of up to 15,000 galaxies. Within the Hector Galaxy Survey I have been leading the stellar kinematic working group. Due to its spectral resolution, Hector will revolutionise our ability to measure higher-order kinematic signatures that offer a complementary yet unique insight into the orbital structure of galaxies.
My Research Supervision
Areas of supervision
Available research projects focus on understanding how our Milky Way and more massive galaxies form, evolve, and die. I am looking for students who are interested in analysing imaging and spectroscopic data to understand the internal stellar structures of galaxies. My research group uses data from the VLT and AAT, and specialises in analysing integral field or hyperspectral imaging data.
If you are interested in doing a research project, please send an email describing your research experience with astronomy, your motivation, and a CV plus a transcript.
Currently supervising
I am (co)supervising three PhD students:
Michelle Ding - UNSW
Susie Tuntipong - University of Sydney
Tomas Rutherford - currently at ESO, Garching, Germany
Contact
Publications
ORCID as entered in ROS
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2552-0021