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Assessment of a Plan for U.S. Participation in Euclid (2012)

Chapter: Appendix E: Committee and Staff Biographical Information

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Assessment of a Plan for U.S. Participation in Euclid. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13357.
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E

Committee and Staff Biographical Information

DAVID N. SPERGEL (NAS) is the Charles A. Young Professor of Astronomy on the Class of 1897 Foundation and chair of the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University. He was the W.M. Keck Distinguished Visiting Professor of Astrophysics at the Institute for Advanced Study. Dr. Spergel has made major contributions to cosmology, astroparticle physics, galactic structure, and instrumentation. He led the theoretical analysis for the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), invented novel coronagraphs for planet detection, originated and explored the concept of selfinteracting dark matter, and showed that the Milky Way is a barred galaxy. He was an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow and received the following awards: NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, the Helen B. Warner Prize, the Bart Bok Prize, the AAS Second Century Lecturer, a MacArthur Fellowship and the R.R. Shaw Prize in Cosmology. He is a member of the Science Working Group for the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). He is a member of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the American Physical Society (APS), and the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Dr. Spergel served on the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Advisory Committee for Astronomical Sciences, the Theory, Experimental and Laboratory Astrophysics Subcommittee and the Scientific Advisory Board for the Hayden Planetarium. He is the editor of the Princeton Series in Astrophysics and the Science Advisor for NPR’s “Earth & Sky” radio program. He received an A.B. (astronomy summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Princeton University; he was Harvard Travelling Scholar at Oxford University; and he received an A.M. in astronomy and a Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University. His NRC service includes current membership on the Space Studies Board. Previously, he has served as chair on the Astro2010 Panel on Cosmology and Fundamental Physics and as a member on the Committee to Review the Science Requirements for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), the Committee on Physics of the Universe, the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics, the Committee on Gravitational Physics, the Organizing Committee for the Eighth and Ninth Annual Symposiums on Frontiers of Science, the Task Group on Space Astronomy and Astrophysics, and the Panel on Cooperation with the USSR in High Energy Astrophysics.

CHARLES ALCOCK (NAS) is the director at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and a professor of astronomy at Harvard University. Prior to his position at Harvard, Dr. Alcock was at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for 15 years and afterward as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Alcock was the principal investigator (PI) of the Taiwanese-American Occultation Survey, an international project involving scientists from eight institutions in the United States, Taiwan, and South Korea. He was also the PI on the W. M. Keck Cyber Universe Survey Project at the University of Pennsylvania, which develops high-speed, automated data analysis pipelines for small survey projects, and he was the PI of the MACHO Project, an international project involving scientists from seven institutions in the United States, Australia, Canada, and Britain. His research interests include studying massive compact halo objects, comets, and asteroids; the outer solar system; cosmic dark matter; large astronomical surveys; astronomical data mining; and virtual observatory technologies. Dr. Alcock was a chair of the Observatories Council of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories and is an ex officio

Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Assessment of a Plan for U.S. Participation in Euclid. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13357.
×

member of the board of AURA. He received his Ph.D. in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Dr. Alcock’s previous NRC membership includes the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics, the Panel to Review Terrestrial Planet Finder Science Goals, and the Panel on Theory and Computation in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

RACHEL BEAN is an associate professor in the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. Her earlier work focuses on cosmological theories and how they can be constrained using observations such as the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and large scale structure data (galaxies and clusters of galaxies). Her current research includes work to establish the nature of dark energy and dark matter and how observations can be used to distinguish between competing theories. She is also interested in the application of high-energy particle theory to understanding how initial conditions for seeding structure were established in the early universe. She is a member of the WFIRST Science Definition Team. She received the Affinito-Stewart Award from the President’s Council of Cornell Women, the NASA Group Achievement Award for WMAP, and the Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation. Most recently, Dr. Bean is a recipient of the 2010 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers through the NSF. She earned her Ph.D. in physics from Imperial College, University of London. Dr. Bean previously served as a member on the NRC Astro2010 Panel on Cosmology and Fundamental Physics.

CHARLES L. BENNETT (NAS) is the Alumni Centennial Professor of physics and astronomy and Gilman Scholar at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Bennett’s research interests include experimental cosmology and astrophysical instrumentation. He was the PI for the WMAP mission, which quantitatively specified the age, content, history, and other key properties of the universe with unprecedented precision. Previous to his work on WMAP, Dr. Bennett was the deputy PI of the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Differential Microwave Radiometers instrument. He is also the PI for the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) ground-based experiment. Dr. Bennett received the Shaw Prize, the Comstock Prize in Physics, the Harvey Prize, the Henry Draper Medal, and he shared the Gruber Prize in Cosmology. From 1984 to 2005, Dr. Bennett was an astrophysicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where he won the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and twice won the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal. Dr. Bennett is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and APS. Dr. Bennett received his Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Bennett’s previous NRC service includes the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics, the Space Studies Board, the NASA Astrophysics Performance Assessment (NAPA) Committee, and the Committee on Assessment of Impediments to Interagency Cooperation on Space and Earth Science Missions.

ROMEEL DAVÉ is an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona. His work centers on using cosmological hydrodynamic simulations to understand galaxy formation and intergalactic medium evolution within a hierarchical structure formation context, focusing on constraining models through detailed comparisons versus multiwavelength observations. After completing his doctorate, Dr. Davé became a Lyman J. Spitzer Fellow at Princeton University and then he was a Hubble Fellow at the University of Arizona. He joined the faculty at the University of Arizona in 2003. He has a broad range of additional research interests, including constraining cosmological parameters, the epoch of reionization, the nature of dark matter, the stellar initial mass function, and numerical hydrodynamics. He is on the board of the Arizona Theoretical Astrophysics Program and the Arizona High Performance Computing Committee and has served on various ground- and space-based telescope time-allocation committees. Dr. Davé received his Ph.D. in astronomy from University of California, Santa Cruz. He previously served as a member on the NRC’s Astro2010 Panel on Galaxies Across Cosmic Time.

ALAN DRESSLER (NAS) is an observational astronomer at the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution. His principal areas of research cover the formation and evolution of galaxies and the study of

Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Assessment of a Plan for U.S. Participation in Euclid. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13357.
×

star populations of distant galaxies. Dr. Dressler has made significant contributions in the understanding of galaxy formation and evolution, including effects of the environment on galaxy morphology. He was a leader in the identification of the “great attractor,” which causes a large distortion of the Hubble expansion. From 1993-1995 Dr. Dressler chaired the Associated Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) committee “HST & Beyond: Exploration and the Search for Origins” that presented NASA with A Vision for Ultraviolet-Optical-Infrared Space Astronomy, which now form a substantial component of the NASA program in astrophysics. Dr. Dressler received his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California. He is currently a member of the NRC’s Space Studies Board. Previously, he chaired the Astro2010 Panel on Electromagnetic Observations from Space and the Panel on Optical and Infrared Astronomy from the Ground of the 2000 Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee, and served as a member on the Committee on Setting Priorities for NSF-Sponsored Large Research Facility Projects.

DEBRA M. ELMEGREEN is the Maria Mitchell Professor of Astronomy in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Vassar College. Her research interests include structure, interactions, and star formation in galaxies in the local universe and at high redshift. Dr. Elmegreen observes in optical, nearinfrared, and radio wavelengths. Her research often involves undergraduates, through the Undergraduate Research Summer Institute and the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium. She is a member and president of AAS and has served on several AAS committees, including the Astronomy Education Board as council liaison, as AAS representative to USNC-IAU board, and on the Warner and Pierce Prize Committee as a member and a chair. She served on NSF’s External Review Committee for the CTIO Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System, the Program Review Panel for the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, and the Waterman Prize Committee; HST’s Telescope Allocation Committee and Space Telescope Users Committee (member and chair); Spitzer Space Telescope’s Allocation Committee and the Postdoctoral Fellowship Committee (member and chair); NOAO’s Systems Committee on Optical/Infrared Astronomy and the Survey Telescope Allocation Committee; National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Users Committee and the Telescope Allocation Committee. She has also served on several scientific organizing committees. Dr. Elmegreen received her Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University. Her current membership includes the Board on Physics and Astronomy, the Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee, and as an ex officio member on the U.S. National Committee for the International Astronomical Union. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She previously served as a member on the NRC Committee on Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2010 and the Panel on Implementing Recommendations from New Worlds New Horizons Decadal Survey.

JOSHUA A. FRIEMAN is a scientist at the Theoretical Astrophysics Group at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), which he headed from 1994 to 1999, and is a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago, where he is also a member of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. He is a fellow of APS and AAAS and a trustee of the Aspen Center for Physics. He served on the Executive Committee of the APS Division of Astrophysics. Dr. Frieman’s research centers on theoretical and observational cosmology, including studies of the nature of dark energy, the very early universe, gravitational lensing, the large-scale structure of the universe, and supernovae as cosmological distance indicators. He is the author of more than 200 publications, has led the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Supernova Survey, and served as chair of the SDSS Collaboration Council. He is a founder of the Dark Energy Survey and serves as co-chair of its Science Committee. He earned a B.Sc. degree from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago. Dr. Frieman’s previous NRC membership includes service the Committee on Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2010 and the Panel on Particle, Nuclear, and Gravitational-Wave Astrophysics.

THOMAS A. PRINCE is a professor of physics at the Caltech and director of the W.M. Keck Institute for Space Studies. He is also a senior research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Previously, Dr. Prince served the chief scientist at JPL. He began his research career in experimental cosmic ray

Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Assessment of a Plan for U.S. Participation in Euclid. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13357.
×

astrophysics before coming to the Caltech campus to work in the area of experimental gamma-ray astronomy, collaborating with the high-energy astrophysics group at JPL. His current research uses the Palomar Transient Factory for large area sky surveys of compact objects. Dr. Prince was the U.S. Mission Scientist for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and formerly a member of the ground-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). He is a fellow of APS. Dr. Prince received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago. Dr. Prince previous NRC service includes co-chair of the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics and membership on the Panel on Theory and Computation in Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Space Studies Board.

MARCIA J. RIEKE is a Regents’ Professor of Astronomy and an astronomer in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. Her research interests include infrared observations of galactic nuclei and high-redshift galaxies. She has served as the deputy PI on the near-infrared camera and multiobject spectrometer for HST (NICMOS), and she is currently the PI for the near-infrared camera (NIRCam) for the James Webb Space Telescope. Dr. Rieke has worked on the Spitzer Space Telescope as a co-investigator for the multiband imaging photometer, as outreach coordinator, and as a member of the Science Working Group. She was also involved with several infrared ground observatories, including the Multiple Mirror Telescope in Arizona. Dr. Rieke is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She received her Ph.D. in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She currently serves on the NRC’s Space Studies Board. Her previous service includes as co-vice chair of the Committee on Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics, as a member on the Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee, as a vice chair on the Panel on Ultraviolet, Optical, and Infrared Astronomy from Space, and as a member on the Steering Committee for the Task Group on Space Astronomy and Astrophysics and the U.S. National Committee for the International Astronomical Union.

Staff

DAVID LANG, Co-Study Director, is a program officer for the NRC’s Board on Physics and Astronomy (BPA) and joined the NRC in 2004. Mr. Lang received a B.S. in astronomy and astrophysics from University of Michigan and a master’s degree in engineering and public policy from University of Maryland. At BPA he has operated several large committees on scientific and technical policy issues including spectrum management and telecommunications, astronomy and astrophysics, particle physics, plasma physics, and materials science. He is also responsible for developing future studies for the board through the identification of pressing policy issues and discussions with federal agency sponsors and the science community.

CARYN JOY KNUTSEN, Co-Study Director, is currently an associate program officer with the NRC’s Board on Physics and Astronomy. She came to the BPA in 2006 as a senior program assistant after completing a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in 2006. While attending the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs she also earned two certificates in industrial mathematics. At the BPA, she has been involved, through various roles, in multiple committees covering topics included physics education, astronomy and astrophysics, nuclear physics, plasma physics, and materials science. In 2010 she received an NAS Distinguished Individual Service Award.

LEWIS B. GROSWALD, research associate, joined the Space Studies Board (SSB) as the Autumn 2008 Lloyd V. Berkner Space Policy Intern. Mr. Groswald is a graduate of George Washington University, where he received a master’s degree in international science and technology policy and a bachelor’s degree in international affairs, with a double concentration in conflict and security and Europe and Eurasia. Following his work with the National Space Society during his senior year as an undergraduate,

Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Assessment of a Plan for U.S. Participation in Euclid. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13357.
×

Mr. Groswald decided to pursue a career in space policy, with a focus on educating the public on space issues and formulating policy.

AMANDA R.THIBAULT, research associate, joined the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board in 2011. Ms. Thibault is a graduate of Creighton University where she earned her B.S. in atmospheric science in 2008. From there she went on to Texas Tech University where she studied lightning trends in tornadic and non-tornadic supercell thunderstorms and worked as a teaching and research assistant. She participated in the VORTEX 2 field project from 2009-2010 and graduated with a M.S. in atmospheric science from Texas Tech in August 2010. She is a member of the American Meteorological Society.

CATHERINE A. GRUBER, editor, joined the Space Studies Board as a senior program assistant in 1995. Ms. Gruber first came to the NRC in 1988 as a senior secretary for the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board and also worked as an outreach assistant for the National Science Resources Center. She was a research assistant (chemist) in the National Institute of Mental Health’s Laboratory of Cell Biology for 2 years. She has a B.A. in natural science from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

DIONNA WILLIAMS is a program associate with the SSB, having previously worked for the National Academies’ Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education for 5 years. Ms. Williams has a long career in office administration, having worked as a supervisor in a number of capacities and fields. Ms. Williams attended the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and majored in psychology.

MICHAEL H. MOLONEY is the director of the SSB and the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board at the NRC. Since joining the NRC in 2001, Dr. Moloney has served as a study director at the National Materials Advisory Board, BPA, the Board on Manufacturing and Engineering Design, and the Center for Economic, Governance, and International Studies. Before joining the SSB and ASEB in April 2010, he was associate director of the BPA and study director for the Astro2010 decadal survey for astronomy and astrophysics. In addition to his professional experience at the NRC, Dr. Moloney has more than 7 years’ experience as a foreign-service officer for the Irish government and served in that capacity at the Embassy of Ireland in Washington, D.C., the Mission of Ireland to the United Nations in New York, and the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, Ireland. A physicist, Dr. Moloney did his graduate Ph.D. work at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. He received his undergraduate degree in experimental physics at University College Dublin, where he was awarded the Nevin Medal for Physics.

DONALD C. SHAPERO, director, Board on Physics and Astronomy, received a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1964 and a Ph.D. from MIT in 1970. His thesis addressed the asymptotic behavior of relativistic quantum field theories. After receiving the Ph.D., Dr. Shapero became a Thomas J. Watson postdoctoral fellow at IBM. He subsequently became an assistant professor at American University, later moving to Catholic University and then joining the staff of the National Research Council in 1975. Dr. Shapero took a leave of absence from the NRC in 1978 to serve as the first executive director of the Energy Research Advisory Board at the Department of Energy. He returned to the NRC in 1979 to serve as special assistant to the president of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1982, he started the NRC’s BPA. As BPA director, he has played a key role in many NRC studies, including the two most recent surveys of physics and the two most recent surveys of astronomy and astrophysics. He is a member of the American Astronomical Society and the International Astronomical Union and a fellow of both the APS and the AAAS. He has published research articles in refereed journals in high-energy physics, condensed-matter physics, and environmental science.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Assessment of a Plan for U.S. Participation in Euclid. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13357.
×
Page 42
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Assessment of a Plan for U.S. Participation in Euclid. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13357.
×
Page 43
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Assessment of a Plan for U.S. Participation in Euclid. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13357.
×
Page 44
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Assessment of a Plan for U.S. Participation in Euclid. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13357.
×
Page 45
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Assessment of a Plan for U.S. Participation in Euclid. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13357.
×
Page 46
Assessment of a Plan for U.S. Participation in Euclid Get This Book
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NASA proposed to make a hardware contribution to the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Euclid mission in exchange for U.S. membership on the Euclid Science Team and science data access. The Euclid mission will employ a space telescope that will make potentially important contributions to probing dark energy and to the measurement of cosmological parameters. Euclid will image a large fraction of the extragalactic sky at unprecedented resolution and measure spectra for millions of galaxies.

Assessment of a Plan for U.S. Participation in Euclid evaluates whether a small investment in Euclid (around $20 million in hardware) is a viable part of an overall strategy to pursue the science goals set forth in New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics, a decadal plan for ground- and space- based astronomy and astrophysics. The top-ranked large-scale, space-based priority of the New Worlds, New Horizons is the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). WFIRST has a broad, wide-field, near-infrared capability that will serve a wide variety of science programs of U.S. astronomers, including exoplanet research, near-infrared sky surveys, a guest observer program, and dark energy research. In carrying out this study the authoring committee's intent has been to be clear that this report does not alter New Worlds, New Horizon's plans for the implementation of the survey's priorities.

Assessment of a Plan for U.S. Participation in Euclid concludes that the NASA proposal would represent a valuable first step toward meeting one of the science goals (furthering dark energy research) of WFIRST. While WFIRST dark energy measurements are expected to be superior to Euclid's, U.S. participation in Euclid will have clear scientific, technical, and programmatic benefits to the U.S. community as WFIRST and Euclid go forward. According to this report, the current NASA proposal, to invest modestly in Euclid, is consistent with an expeditious development of WFIRST and the achievement of the broader, and more ambitious, goals outlined in New Worlds, New Horizons. Knowledge gained from the Euclid project could help optimize the science return of the WFIRST mission as well. Such an investment will further the goals of New Worlds, New Horizons, be helpful to the preparations for WFIRST, and enhance WFIRST's chances of success.

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