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Scientific Staff

NRAO Scientific Staff

The table below lists each member of the NRAO scientific staff, their scientific interests, and functional duties at the Observatory. Phone numbers and e-mail addresses for all employees are available in the NRAO Directory.

Tenured Staff

T. S. Bastian

Charlottesville, VA

Solar/stellar radiophysics, heliophysics; Frequency Agile Solar Radio telescope (FASR) planning and development.

T. J. Beasley

Charlottesville, VA

NRAO Director: Stellar activity, radio stars; very Long baseline interferometry techniques and applications; SETI; astrometry and celestial frame definition; space situational awareness.

C. L. Brogan Charlottesville, VA

High-mass star formation, astrochemistry, masers, magnetic fields, supernova remnants, small-scale structure in the interstellar medium, ALMA/NAASC, ALMA CASA subsystem scientist.

C. L. Carilli

Socorro, NM

Formation of First Galaxies and cosmic reionization; HI 21cm cosmology; gas and dust in early galaxies; Radio Galaxies; NRAO Chief Scientist.

P. Chandra

Charlottesville, VA

Time domain astronomy, evolution of massive stars, supernovae, gamma ray bursts, electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational waves, ngVLA science support.

W. D. Cotton

Charlottesville, VA

Extragalactic radio sources, interferometry, cosmic masers, computational techniques for data analysis, scientific support, NRAO sky surveys.

A. S. Evans

Charlottesville, VA

Extragalactic, multi-wavelength studies of infrared galaxies, radio galaxies and quasar hosts; ALMA/NAASC, ALMA/ NAASC web pages. NRAO/UVA Joint Faculty.

E. B. Fomalont

Charlottesville, VA

ALMA Charlottesville Science Verification, CASA Scientific Steering Committee, Astrometry and Relativity Tests, VSOP and RadioAstron coordination, VLBA Spacecraft Tracking, Deep Radio Imaging.

P. A. Henning

Socorro, NM

Assistant Director for New Mexico Operations; extragalactic HI, galaxy evolution, and large-scale structure of the Universe.

H. S. Liszt

Charlottesville, VA

Interstellar chemistry, diffuse clouds, galactic structure;  NRAO Spectrum Manager and Chair of IUCAF; NAASC member specializing in the ALMA Observing Tool, proposal preparation and scheduling.

M. A. Morgan

Charlottesville, VA

Millimeter-wave MMIC design, analog-digital-photonic integration, Integrated Receiver Development Group Leader.

E. J. Murphy

Charlottesville, VA

Galaxy formation and evolution; star formation and its associated feedback on the ISM of galaxies; cosmic ray propagation and magnetic fields; radio surveys; next-generation VLA Project Scientist.

S. T. Myers

Socorro, NM

Cosmology, cosmic background radiation, gravitational lenses, epoch of reionization, radio synoptic sky surveys, radio transients, interferometric imaging algorithms, ALMA and VLA scientific support.

R. A. Perley

Socorro, NM

Interferometry, polarimetry, antenna and receiver metrology.

S. M. Ransom

Charlottesville, VA

Pulsar searches and timing (especially binary and millisecond pulsars) and applications for basic physics, such as gravitational wave detection (NANOGrav); pulsar infrastructure improvement.

H. A. Wootten             

Charlottesville, VA      

Star formation, structure and chemistry of the ISM in galaxies, circumstellar material; ALMA Program Scientist.

Scientists/Astronomers

D. S. Balser

Charlottesville, VA

Galactic structure and abundances, H II regions, planetary nebulae; telescope time allocation, science data archive.

L. D. Barcos Munoz

Charlottesville, VA

Extragalactic Astronomy; Galaxy Evolution; Star Formation; AGN; outflows; Interacting Galaxies: e.g., Arp 220; Observations at Radio, Millimeter, Submillimeter and Infrared wavelengths. ALMA/NAASC: ALMA Ambassador Program. NAASC user support: ALMA Ambassadors program, face-to-face visitor program.

P. P. B. Beaklini

Socorro, NM

Studies of radio emission variability. Quasars and blazars: jet dynamic. Astrochemistry: cold cores. Stellar Astrophysics: Eta Carinae and Proto Planetary Nebulae. Masers: Halpha Recombination Lines. Radio Instrumentation: pointing, holography.  

J. M. Blanchard

Socorro, NM

Linking Radio and Gamma-Ray emission in Blazars. HI absorption in AGN. AGN jet formation and variability. All things VLBI. Instrumentation.

J. A. Braatz

Charlottesville, VA

Cosmic masers, active galaxies, cosmology, molecular gas in AGN, ALMA user support, Student Programs Coordinator.

B. J. Butler

Socorro, NM

Planetary astronomy; transient sources

N. Butterfield

Charlottesville, VA

Radio/IR studies of the Milky Way Galactic Center, star formation, molecular cloud properties, astrochemistry

J. M. Carpenter

Santiago, Chile

Formation and evolution of stars, planetary disks and systems. ALMA Observatory Scientist

L. Cerrigone

Santiago, Chile

AGB and post-AGB stars, molecular outflows, Planetary nebulae, LBV nebulae; Optimization of QA-related observatory operations.

C. J. Chandler

Socorro, NM

Star formation, circumstellar disks, protostellar outflows.

S. A. Corder

Santiago, Chile

Rapid accretion events from low mass stars, outflow feedback in star-forming regions, debris disks and the search for young planetary systems, techniques in wide-field imaging, interferometric calibration approaches; ALMA Deputy Director.

P. C. Cortes

Santiago, Chile

Star formation with a special interest in the role of magnetic fields.

J. R. Cortes

Santiago, Chile

Kinematics and dynamics of galaxies, galaxy evolution, galaxy-galaxy interactions, sub-millimeter galaxies; ALMA science.

A. H. Costa

Charlottesville, VA

High-mass star formation, magnetic fields, polarimetry, Faraday Synthesis, interstellar medium, HII regions, telescope time allocation tools.

P. B. Demorest

Socorro, NM

Pulsars; High-precision pulsar timing and gravitational waves; Interstellar scattering; Polarimetry; Signal processing; Pulsar instrumentation and analysis software.

C. De Pree

Charlottesville, VA

High Mass Star Formation in the Milky Way, Early Evolution of HII regions, Ultracompact HII Regions; National Radio Dynamic Zone (NRDZ) Project Director, NRAO Deputy Spectrum Manager

V. Dhawan

Socorro, NM

JVLA and VLBA science & engineering support, system tests. Radio and X-ray observations of microquasars, VLBA astrometry, spacecraft tracking.

S. M. Dougherty

Santiago, Chile

ALMA Director; massive stars; colliding-wind systems; stellar radio emission; radio astronomy techniques.

B. H. C. Emonts

Charlottesville, VA

Origin and evolution of radio galaxies; the cold circum-galactic medium at high redshifts; low-surface-brightness millimeter interferometry; CASA User Liaison.

A. S. Hales

Santiago, Chile

Dust and gas evolution in Protoplanetary and Debris Disks. Planetary Formation. Episodic Accretion in FU Ori  and Ex Ori systems. Astronomical Polarimetry. ALMA: Array Calibration, Astrometry. 

J. E. Hibbard

Charlottesville, VA

Extragalactic HI, galaxy evolution, merging galaxies; data reduction pipelines.

L. Hunt

Socorro, NM

ICRF sources, gravitational lensing, compact star forming galaxies, HI surveys; VLBA New Digital Architecture upgrade and ngVLA long baselines.

T. R. Hunter

Charlottesville, VA

High-mass star formation, protoclusters, UCHII regions, hot cores, outflows, masers; millimeter/submillimeter interferometry; ALMA commissioning and analysis utilities; CASA pipeline heuristics; atmospheric calibration and antenna position determination.

R. Indebetouw

Charlottesville, VA

(High mass) star formation, interstellar medium and molecular clouds; NAASC user support,  ALMA simulator and pipeline; NRAO/UVA Joint Faculty.

P. R. Jewell

Charlottesville, VA

Interstellar molecules, and astrochemisty; NRAO Deputy Director and Assistant Director for North American ALMA Operations.

A. D. Kapinska

Socorro, NM

Radio galaxies, relativistic jets, galaxy evolution, AGN feedback, computational radio galaxy evolution, nearby star-forming galaxies, continuum radio surveys; EVLA/VLBA Science and User support, summer student program (Socorro), postdoctoral programs.

B. R. Kent

Charlottesville, VA

Director of Science Communications.  Nearby galaxies and clusters, galaxy dynamics, data visualization, VLA Sky Survey Science Group.

A. A. Kepley

Charlottesville, VA

Star formation, molecular gas, dust, and magnetic fields in nearby galaxies, GBT 4mm system, ALMA pipeline development, CASA testing.

A. E. Kimball

Socorro, NM

Extragalactic radio sources, quasars and luminous active galactic nuclei, high-redshift galaxies, multi-wavelength sky surveys, data reduction pipelines. VLA Sky Survey (VLASS) Operations Coordinator, VLA user support.

D. Kunneriath

Charlottesville, VA

Sgr A* and the ISM at the Galactic centre; mm/submm interferometry; NAASC ALMA Scientific Software and User Support.

M. Lacy

Charlottesville, VA

Quasars and active galactic nuclei, distant galaxies and galaxy evolution, extragalactic surveys. NAASC, ALMA archive and user support.

J. D. Linford

Socorro, NM

Astronomical transients, especially classical novae and fast radio bursts; connections between radio and gamma-ray emission; blazars and AGN; VLBI; physics and astronomy education.

A. Lipnicky

Charlottesville, VA

Near field cosmology, small scale structure/dwarf galaxies, dark matter; ALMA calibration and archive.

R. Loomis

Charlottesville, VA

Protoplanetary disks, astrochemistry, interferometric imaging techniques, machine learning; ALMA pipeline development.

J. G. Mangum

Charlottesville, VA

Galactic and extragalactic star formation; Molecular spectroscopy of comets; Antenna performance characterization; Millimeter/submillimeter measurement calibration; ALMA; Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Editor-in-Chief.

J. Marvil

Socorro, NM

Extragalactic star formation and evolution; large radio surveys; data reduction pipelines; calibration and imaging techniques; VLA telescope and user support; VLA CASA subsystem scientist; VLA sky survey; science-ready data products.

B. S. Mason

Charlottesville, VA

Galaxy Clusters, Observational Cosmology; Imaging Algorithms; Instrumentation Development; ALMA & GBT support; team lead, NA-ALMA Scientific Software Support.

M. M. McKinnon

Socorro, NM

Pulsars, radio polarimetry.

J. Donovan Meyer

Charlottesville, VA

Nearby galaxies, outer galaxy disks. NAASC, CASA Scientific Testing Lead, ALMA Proposal Handling Team.

A. J. Mioduszewski

Socorro, NM

Astrometry of young stellar objects, novae, symbiotic stars; VLBA/VLA support, VLA Scheduling Manager.

E. Momjian

Socorro, NM

(Ultra) Luminous IR Galaxies, extragalactic HI surveys, deep continuum surveys, cm-wavelength molecular lines, OH megamasers, VLBI imaging of high-z QSOs and sub-mm galaxies, Galactic methanol masers, Zeeman effect; VLA and VLBA testing.

T. Nakos

Santiago, Chile

ALMA Data Management Group Manager;

M. Neeleman

Charlottesville, VA

High redshift quasars, galaxy dynamics and kinematics, quasar absorption line systems, cosmic baryon cycle; ALMA user support and pipeline heuristics.

B.D. Nhan

Charlottesville, VA

Radio frequency interference. Low-frequency radio astronomy instrumentation R&D: computational electromagnetics, antenna prototype, radiometry, polarimetry, global 21-cm experiment (Cosmic Twilight Polarimeter - CTP).

J. Ott

Socorro, NM

Molecular cloud and star formation in nearby active, dwarf, and interacting galaxies; multi-wavelength observations of the ISM in galaxies; galaxy evolution; the Galactic Center; CASA Project scientist; VLA user support and sub-system scientist for VLA pipeline infrastructure.

V. Parekh

Socorro, NM

Galaxy clusters, diffuse radio sources, superclusters, direction-dependent calibration, imaging.

F. Paganelli

Charlottesville, VA

Planetary radar; radar remote sensing for the characterization of planetary bodies, moons and asteroids; radar instruments; next-generation RADAR Project Scientist.

A. Plunkett

Charlottesville, VA

Star formation, protostellar outflows, molecular cloud evolution; NAASC user support, ALMA archive.

G. Privon

Charlottesville, VA

Galaxy evolution, multi-wavelength observations of massive and dwarf galaxy mergers, dynamical modeling / N-body simulations, ALMA user support, ALMA Ambassadors.

D. Rebolledo

Santiago, Chile

Properties of molecular clouds, different phases of the interstellar medium and the process of star formation at different size scales in nearby galaxies and the Milky Way. Coordinator of preparation activities for new ALMA observing cycles. Responsible for the ALMA observing queue, and the monitoring of duplicated and resubmitted projects in ALMA. ALMA VLBI friend and ALMA Solar friend.  

A. Remijan

Charlottesville, VA

Assistant Director of SSR; Astrochemistry, astrobiology, physical and chemical conditions of the interstellar, circumstellar, and cometary media.

V. Rosero

Socorro, NM

ngVLA configuration studies and simulations. Early stages of high-mass star formation, ionized jets and molecular outflows, hot molecular cores, infrared dark cloud cores, ultra-compact and hyper-compact HII regions.

F. Schinzel

Socorro, NM

Active Galactic Nuclei/Quasars; relativistic outflows; unassociated gamma-ray sources; radio/gamma-ray sky connection; low-frequency radio interferometry; very long baseline interferometry; VLA sky survey; VLA/VLBA Science Support

P. Sheehan

Charlottesville, VA

Planet formation, star formation, protoplanetary disks, pre-main sequence stellar masses; Science ready data products development.

L. O. Sjouwerman

Socorro, NM

Circumstellar masers and AGB stars; centers of the Galaxy and Andromeda, interstellar masers and SNR/MC interactions; data-reduction pipelines in AIPS; VLA/VLBA scientific support; subsystem scientist for the observing preparation tool (OPT).

T. K. Sridharan

Charlottesville, VA

Cross-disciplinary astrophysics & instrumentation: Interferometric techniques; Sub-mm-wave/THz antenna near-field holography; Science management; Massive stars – formation and effect on the ISM; Event Horizon Explorer space-VLBI mission concept development; Low SWaP antennas and frequency/time reference technologies; next generation VLA Lead Calibration Scientist.

B. Svoboda

Socorro, NM

High-mass star and cluster formation, interstellar medium, astrochemistry, dust polarization; interferometry and molecular spectroscopy.

J. Tobin

Charlottesville, VA

Low-to-intermediate mass star formation; proto-planetary disk formation; multiple star formation; protostellar outflows; molecular clouds; astrochemistry.

S. Tremblay

Socorro, NM

Single-pulse studies of pulsars, Evolution of radio galaxies, VLBI techniques, Low-frequency radio astronomy; Instrumentation; VLBA Technical Scientist.

E. Tremou

Socorro, NM

VLA/VLBA science support; radio transient search using radio continuum surveys; jet physics on compact objects such as stellar black holes in X-ray binaries; developing pipelines for low frequency radio imaging data sets.

C. Vlahakis

Charlottesville, VA

Deputy North American ARC Manager, ALMA Telescope Interface Group Manager; Properties of the interstellar medium and star formation in galaxies using (sub)millimeter and radio observations, molecular gas in galaxies, (sub)millimeter interferometry.

J. M. Wrobel

Socorro, NM

Intermediate-mass black holes, massive black holes on the move; next-generation VLA (ngVLA); Scientific Editor, AAS Journals.

I. Yoon

Charlottesville, VA

Atomic and molecular gas in galaxies, Galaxy morphology, Bayesian statistics, Stellar dynamics, Supermassive black holes, NAASC ALMA user support and pipeline development.

Scientists/Computational Science

S. Bhatnagar

Socorro, NM

Supernova remnants, Galactic astronomy, Wide-band surveys, interferometric imaging and calibration algorithms, scientific computational techniques, high performance computing using multi-core CPU, GPUs and FPGAs, Algorithms research and development (ARDG)/Production scientific software development (CASA).

K. Golap

Socorro, NM

Low-frequency calibration and imaging, imaging algorithm development, CASA.

E. W. Greisen

Socorro, NM

Radio galaxies, HI in galaxies, interstellar medium, computer analysis of astronomical data; AIPS.

P. Jagannathan

Socorro, NM

Polarimetry, Interferometry,  Synthesis imaging algorithms, High Performance Computing, Algorithms R&D, Faraday Synthesis, Radio Deep Fields, AGN.

G. Moellenbrock

Socorro, NM

Polarization interferometry, VLBI, astrometry, kpc parallaxes; synthesis calibration and imaging algorithms, CASA; ALMA and EVLA commissioning support; ALMA, EVLA and VLBA user support.

R. Simon

Charlottesville, VA

ALMA testing in Chile.

J. W. Steeb

Charlottesville, VA

RFI mitigation, RFI localization, numerical techniques and image deconvolution. CASA (software development).

T. Tsutsumi

 Socorro, NM

X-ray binaries, the Galactic Center, extragalactic variable radio sources, interferometric and single dish data analysis systems; CASA.

R. V. Urvashi

Socorro, NM

Numerical techniques and high-performance computing applied to interferometric image reconstruction, calibration and RFI-removal; CASA (software development), ARDG (algorithm research).

Scientists/Research Engineering

R. F. Bradley

Charlottesville, VA

Special-purpose radio telescope systems, low-noise amplifiers, array receivers, adaptive RFI excision, advanced receiver development, Dark Ages / Epoch of Reionization science, and radio-based particle physics; Low Noise Radiometer Laboratory Group Leader.

W. Brisken

Socorro, NM

Pulsars, astrometry, interstellar scattering; VLBI software correlation.

B. Hawkins

Charlottesville, VA

Central Development Laboratory (CDL) Director; millimeter/submm/infrared/acoustic technology development, analysis and systems performance, radar characterization of physical objects, modeling of moving targets in compact cm/mm-wavelength radar ranges. 

R. Lehmensiek

Charlottesville, VA

Antenna and feed electromagnetic characterization and design. Optimization of wide frequency band feeds for low receiving sensitivity applications.

F. P. Mena

Charlottesville, VA

Superconducting travelling-wave kinetic-inductance parametric (TKIP) amplifiers, Millimeter- and submillimeter-wave receivers, CDL and ALMA project.

A. Navarrini

Charlottesville, VA

PI of the ALMA Band 6 receiver upgrade project, "ALMA Band6v2". Millimeter- and submillimeter-wave receiver development.

O. Y. Ojeda

Charlottesville, VA

Signal processing and statistics, large-scale back-end solutions, algorithms and machine learning.

K. Saini

Charlottesville, VA

ALMA local-oscillator development, frequency-multiplier development; ALMA Front-End System engineering.

W. Shillue

Charlottesville, VA

Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Photonics, Coherent Local Oscillator Generation and Distribution, Phased Array Receivers

Emeritus Scientists

B. G. Clark

Socorro, NM

EVLA control and software development, VLA/VLBA scheduling.

M. J. Claussen

Socorro, NM

Masers, young stellar objects, AGB stars, pre-planetary nebulae, spectropolarimetry; EVLA/VLBA user programs, EVLA and VLBA scientific support; EVLA commissioning; VLBA/EVLA scheduling.

R. L. Dickman

Charlottesville, VA

Interstellar medium, molecular clouds, gravitation and dark matter.

D. A. Frail

Socorro, NM

Transient radio sky with emphasis on EM-GW.

M. A. Gordon

Socorro, NM

CO, galactic structure, gas-rich galaxies, interstellar medium.

W. M. Goss

Socorro, NM

Galactic-center studies, galactic masers, pulsars, supernova remnants, nearby galaxies; history of radio astronomy.

J. R. Fisher

Charlottesville, VA

Cosmology, signal processing, phased array feed design, advanced receiver development, RFI mitigation; former NRAO Chief Technologist.

E. J. Hardy

Santiago, Chile

Cosmology, galaxies, stellar populations; former Assistant Director for Chilean Affairs and NRAO/AUI representative in Chile.

D. E. Hogg

Charlottesville, VA

Structure of spiral galaxies, stellar winds.

K. I. Kellermann

Charlottesville, VA

Extra-galactic radio sources, quasars, cosmology, radio telescopes, history of radio astronomy; NRAO Archives, space VLBI.

A. R. Kerr

Charlottesville, VA

Millimeter- and submillimeter-wave receiver development, SIS mixer design, CDL and ALMA Project.

C. Lonsdale

Charlottesville, VA

Starburst galaxies, ultraluminous infrared galaxies, active galactic nuclei, galaxy evolution, large scale structure, extragalactic surveys, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, WISE;

P. J. Napier

Socorro, NM

Radio-astronomy instrumentation, antenna and system design for VLA, VLBA, & ALMA; SKA & CCAT design.

F. N. Owen

Socorro, NM

Evolution of galaxies, clusters of galaxies, radio galaxies, deep continuum surveys; EVLA.

S. K. Pan

Charlottesville, VA

Superconducting millimeter--and submillimeter--wave low-noise devices, circuit and receiver development.

M. W. Pospieszalski

Charlottesville, VA

Microwave and millimeter-wave low-noise devices, amplifiers and receivers, CMBR radiometers; EVLA/VLBA/GBT/ALMA receiver development.

M. S. Roberts

Charlottesville, VA

Extragalactic hydrogen, normal galaxies, dark matter.

S. Srikanth

Charlottesville, VA

Electromagnetics, optics and antennas. Development of polarizers and broadband feeds for cm to mm-wave applications.

A. R. Thompson

Charlottesville, VA

Radio-astronomy instrumentation, theory and practice of radio interferometry and synthesis imaging, interference mitigation and spectrum protection for radio astronomy.

P. A. Vanden Bout

Charlottesville, VA

Interstellar medium, star formation, high- redshift molecular emission galaxies, galaxy formation/evolution.

R. C. Walker

Socorro, NM

Extragalactic radio sources; VLBI, VLBA development, VLBA scientific support.

Jansky Fellows

J. A. Blue Bird

Jansky Fellow at NRAO in Socorro. Research interest: galaxy evolution, extragalactic HI and HII, gas/mass ratio evolution in galaxies, education and public outreach.

R. A. Charbonneau     

Jansky Fellow at NRAO in Charlottesville. Research interests: history of science, history of international cooperation within radio astronomy.

T. C. Ching

Jansky Fellow at NRAO in Socorro. Research interests: the interstellar magnetic field, interstellar medium, star formation, and radio polarimetry of single dish and interferometric telescopes.

D. Z. Dong

Jansky Fellow at NRAO in Socorro. Research interests: radio transients and variables, statistical characterization of black hole and stellar flares, extragalactic luminous transients, supernovae, automated tools for the detection of transients and variables in surveys.

C. Eibensteiner

Jansky Fellow at NRAO in Charlottesville. Research interests: structure, evolution, chemistry and kinematics of the interstellar medium (ISM), large scale disk properties in galaxies, central molecular zones in nearby galaxies.

K. L. Emig

Jansky Fellow at NRAO in Charlottesville. Research interests: the interstellar medium, star formation, and stellar feedback, galaxy evolution, radio recombination lines, low-frequency calibration and spectroscopy.

D. Monasterio

Jansky Fellow at NRAO Central Development Laboratory. Research interests: heterodyne receiver architectures for the next generation of astronomical receivers, RF components design.

H. Mueller

Jansky Fellow at NRAO in Socorro. Research interests: novel imaging and calibration algorithms for interferometric arrays, artificial intelligence methods, VLBI.

S. Scibelli

Jansky Fellow at NRAO in Charlottesville. Research interests: submillimeter studies of the complex chemistry (complex organic molecules), physical properties of starless and prestellar cores, low-mass star and planet formation.

M R. Rugel

Non-resident Jansky Fellow at Harvard CfA, and NRAO in Socorro (split appointment). Research interests: multiphase interstellar medium (ISM), formation of molecular clouds, studies of atomic, molecular and ionized gas, radio surveys of the Milky Way.

Research Associates and NRAO Postdoctoral Fellows

T. Gautam

Research Associate at NRAO in Charlottesville.

D. A. Ruiz Rodriguez

ALMA-JAO Fellow in Santiago, Chile.

M. Vioque De Lozar     

ALMA-JAO Fellowin Santiago, Chile. Star formation, Herbig Ae/Be stars, pre-main sequence accretion, open clusters, protoplanetary and debris disks, variable stars, emission-line stars and Be stars.