Candace Leah Gray

1258 Oneida Drive Las Cruces, NM 88005 915-861-4407 [email protected]

EDUCATION  New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM Ph.D in Astronomy 2010 – 2015 Thesis Title: The Effect of Solar Flares, Coronal Mass Ejections, and Co-rotating Interaction Regions on Venus's 5577 Å Oxygen Green Line Thesis advisor: Dr. Nancy Chanover

 University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX UTeach program for teaching certification 2009 – 2010 M.A. in Astronomy 2006 – 2009 Thesis Title: A Chemical Survey of 67 Comets Conducted at McDonald Observatory Thesis advisor: Drs. Anita Cochran and Edward Robinson

 University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX B.S. in Physics with minor studies in Mathematics 2001 – 2006 Thesis Title: Radio Observations of Magnetic Cataclysmic Variable Stars at the Very Large Array Thesis advisor: Dr. Paul Mason

EMPLOYMENT  Apache Point Observatory, Sunspot, NM 2015 – Present Support Astronomer

 New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM Research assistant in Astronomy 2010 – 2015 Teaching assistant in Astronomy 2010 – 2011

 Austin Community College, Austin, TX Instructor of Physics and Astronomy Summer 2010

 Huntington High School, Austin, TX Instructor of Physics Spring 2010 CV Candace Gray 2 /7

 University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX Painter Hall Telescope Operator 2009 – 2010 Research assistant in Astronomy 2007 – 2009 Teaching assistant in Astronomy 2006 – 2007

 University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX Research assistant in Astronomy 2003 – 2005 Teaching assistant in Physics Spring 2006 Teaching assistant in Astronomy Fall 2003

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE While my research remains largely in the field of planetary science, I have been involved in a number of research projects throughout my career. As an undergraduate at the University of Texas at El Paso, I worked with Dr. Paul Mason studying radio emission from magnetic cataclysmic variable (CV) stars using the Very Large Array in Socorro, NM. I learned how to reduce and analyze radio data and discovered a new strongly magnetic cataclysmic variable to be a radio emitter. I was able to fund this research through the Minority Access to Research Careers scholarship program. In addition to my radio observations, I analyzed optical photometry images of CV stars to isolate outbursts with Dr. Edward Robinson at the University of Texas at Austin.

As a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, I worked with Dr. Anita Cochran, conducting a comparative study on the chemical composition of comets. I reduced and analyzed over 100 comets, extending over 25 years of spectroscopic observations, from McDonald Observatory. Additionally, I conducted new observations using the Robert G. Tull Coudé Spectrograph. Through these observations and analyses, I discovered several new carbon depleted comets as well as a new type of carbon depleted comet.

As a graduate student at New Mexico State University, I work with Dr. Nancy Chanover studying the effects of solar storms on the Venusian nightglow using spectroscopic observations from Apache Point Observatory as well as space-based data from Venus Express. This is a project of my own design for which I received my own funding through the NASA Earth and Space Fellowship program (2012 - 2015). I organized all observations, from telescope proposals, telescope operations, and data analysis, and discovered a connection between temporally variable Venusian nightglow and strong solar activity. I established collaborations with scientists from multiple institutes, nationally and internationally (including NASA Goddard, SRI International, IRAP in Toulouse France, ESTEC in Noordwijk the Netherlands, and EURAD in Cologne Germany, and ISTA in Neubiberg, Germany), in order to increase expertise and space-based data required for modeling. I utilize a 1-D MHD model, the Transelect model developed at IRAP, to reproduce observed nightglow emission as well as understand how large solar storms affect ionospheric conditions by apply space-based observed solar wind conditions. These observations and modeling are serving to increase the understanding of space weather effects on non-magnetic planets. CV Candace Gray 3 /7

SOFTWARE EXPERIENCE  IDL  ENVI  MatLab  C  IRAF  FORTRAN

TELESCOPE OPERATION EXPERIENCE  Apache Point Observatory, Sunspot NM 2006 – present Conducted observations, data reduction, analysis, and publications for data collected using the ARC Echelle Spectrograph and TripleSpec on the 3.5-m Astrophysical Consortium Telescope as a graduate student and continued 3.5m operations as a Support Astronomer.  University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX 2006 – 2010 Operation of the 9-in refractor Painter Hall Telescope for bi-weekly public viewing nights and in association with duties as a teaching assistant.  McDonald Observatory, Ft. Davis TX 2005 – 2008 Conducted observations, data reduction, analysis and publications using data collected using the Robert G. Tull Coudé Spectrograph and CCD photometery on the 2.7-m Harlan J. Smith telescope.  Very Large Array, Socorro NM 2003 – 2006 Conducted data reduction, analysis, and scientific publication from data collected from the VLA.

SCHOLARSHIPS/AWARDS  NASA Solar Systems Observations Grant (2020 – 2021) [$83,614}  International Venus Conference Travel Grant (2019) {$5,000}  International Venus Conference Travel Grant (2013) [$500]  Comparative Climatology of Terrestrial Planets Travel Grant (2012) [$500]  NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (2012-2015) [$90,000]  New Mexico State University College of Arts and Science Travel Grant (2012 and 2013) [$500]  3rd place winner of New Mexico State University Three Minute Thesis Competition (2012) [$250]  New Mexico State University Astronomy Department Pegasus Teaching Award (2011) [$250]  Division of Planetary Science Hartmann Travel Grant (2011) [$1,500]  University of Texas at Austin UTeach Lucas Award for best Project Based Instruction project “Physics of a Pinball Machine” (2010) [$3,000]  Graduate Enrichment Fellowship (2006-2007) [$10,000]  Minority Access to Research Careers Scholarship (2004-2006) [$20,000]  Presidential Scholarship, University of Texas at El Paso (2001-2005) [$16,000] CV Candace Gray 4 /7

ORAL PRESENTATIONS  International Venus Conference, Hokido, Japan “Variability of the Venus and Martian Nightside Ionosphere After Solar Storms” (June 2019)  International Venus Conference, Oxford, England. “Effects of Solar Storms on the Venusian Ionosphere” (April 2016)  American Astronomical Society Division of Planetary Science, National Harbor, MD. “The Effect of Solar Flares, Coronal Mass Ejections, and Co-rotating Interaction Regions on Venus's 5577 Å Oxygen Green Line” (November, 2015)  Astronomical League Convention, Las Cruces, NM. “The Effect of Solar Flares, Coronal Mass Ejections, and Co-rotating Interaction Regions on Venus's 5577 Å Oxygen Green Line” (July 2015)  American Astronomical Society Division of Planetary Science, Tucson, AZ. “ Venus's Mysterious Oxygen Green Line: An Auroral Process?” (November 2014)  Apache Point Observatory 3.5m 20th Anniversary Celebration, Sunspot, NM. “Venus' Mysterious Aurora” (May 2014)  NMSU Graduate Research Arts and Science Symposium, Las Cruces, NM. “Aurora’s on Venus?” (March 2014)  European Space and Technology Center Seminar, Noordwijk, Netherlands. “Coronal Mass Ejections and Their Effect on the Venusian Nightglow” (June 2013)  International Venus Conference, Catania, Sicily. “Coronal Mass Ejections and Their Effect on the Venusian Nightglow” (June 2013)  NMSU Graduate Research Arts and Science symposium, Las Cruces, NM. “Venus's Oxygen Green Line and its Connection with Solar Activity” (March 2013)  Las Cruces Astronomical Society, Las Cruces, NM. “The Moons of Jupiter” (February 2013)  American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, CA. “Coronal Mass Ejections and Their Effect on the Venusian Nightglow” (December 2012)  Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics Colloquium, Boulder, CO. “ The Bastille Day II Solar Storm Event and Its Impact on the Venusian Nightglow” (November 2012)  Las Cruces Astronomical Society, Las Cruces, NM. “The Sun's Effect on the Planets” (July 2012)

POSTER PRESENTATIONS  American Astronomical Society Division of Planetary Science, Provo, Utah. “Variability of the Nightside Venusian Ionosphere During Solar Maximum” (October 2017)  American Astronomical Society Division of Planetary Science, Pasadena, CA. “The Variability of the Nightside Venusian Ionosphere and its Connection to Solar Storms” (October 2016)  American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, CA. “Venus’s Oxygen Green line: An auroral process?” (December 2014)  American Astronomical Society Division of Planetary Science, Denver, CO. “Venus’s Oxygen Green line: An auroral process?” (October 2013) CV Candace Gray 5 /7

 American Astronomical Society Division of Planetary Science, Reno, NV. “The Bastille Day II Solar Storm Event and Its Impact on the Venusian Nightglow” (October 2012)  Comparative Climatology of Terrestrial Planets, Boulder, CO. “Oxygen Green Line Emission on Venus and its Connection to Solar Flares” (June 2012)  Division of Planetary Science, Nantes, France. “Recent Observations of Venus' OI and O2 Emission from Apache Point Observatory” (October 2011)  Division of Planetary Science, Ithaca, NY. “A Chemical Survey of 73 Comets Conducted at McDonald Observatory” (October 2008)  American Astronomical Society, Minneapolis, MN. “AR Ursae Majoris: A New Persistent Radio Emitter” (June 2005)  American Astronomical Society, Denver, CO. “A VLA Survey of Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables: The First Radio Detection of the High Field Polar, AR UMa” (June 2004)  Compact Binaries in the Galaxy and Beyond, La Paz, Mexico. “A VLA Survey of Magnetic Cataclysmic Variable Stars” (November 2003)

TEACHING EXPERIENCE  New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM Lab instructor for ASTR 105G: The Planets 2010 – 2011  Austin Community College, Austin, TX Instructor for ASTR 1304: Solar System Astronomy Summer 2010 Instructor for PHYS 1407: Conceptual Physics II Summer 2010  Huntington High School, Austin, TX Physics Instructor 2009 - 2010  UTeach Program, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX Designed and taught lessons for 3rd, 8th, and 11th grade classes 2009 - 2010  University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX Lab Instructor for AST 301: Introduction to Astronomy 2009 - 2010 Lab Instructor for AST 301: Introduction to Astronomy Spring 2007 Teaching assistant for AST 309L: Search for Extraterrestrial Life Fall 2006  University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX Lab instructor for PHYS 1403: General Physics I Spring 2006 Teaching assistant for PHYS 1311: Elementary Astronomy of the Solar System Spring 2003

MENTORING EXPERIENCE In 2018, I began mentoring NMSU graduate student Sarah Kovac. For NMSU’s Graduate Student Independent Research course, Sarah worked with me in collecting and analyzing high-resolution echelle spectrograph data obtained from Apache Point Observatory in order to better understand the Venusian aurora. I trained her in data collection, reduction, analysis, and assisted in developing her dissertation project. We would meet to discuss progress as well as work through road blocks. I would advisor her on CV Candace Gray 6 /7

any issue she brought up and, together, we built a ground-based observing campaign in coordination of Parker Solar Probe observations of Venus.

REVIEW PANELS I frequently serve on NASA review panels and have served on order 20 panels since 2015, leading as Group Chief for multiple panels.

PUBLICATIONS  Gray, C.L., Chanover, N.J., Slanger, T., Moliverdikani, K., Peter, K., Häusler, B., Tellmann, S., Patzold, M., Venus' Oxygen Green Line: An Auroral Process? Soon to be submitted to Planetary and Space Science..

 Barentine, J.C., Gray, C.L. “Nightglow Emission Can Explain Historical Reports of the `Ashen Light' of Venus” Soon to be submitted to Icarus.

 Schmidt, C., Schneider, N., Leblanc, F., Gray, C.L., Morgenthaler, J., Turner, J., Grava, C. “Visible Observations of S+ in Io's Plasma Torus during the Hisaki Epoch” In review

 Stefansson, G., Mahadevan, S., Hebb, L., Wisniewski, J., Huehnerhoff, J., Morris, B., Halverson, S., Zhao, M., Wright, J., O'rourke, J., Knutson, H., Hawley, S., Kanodia, S, Li, Y., Hagen, L., M., Liu, L., Beatty, T., Bender, C., Robertson, P., Dembicky, J., Gray, C., Ketzeback, W., McMillan, R., Rudyk, T., 2017. “Toward Space-like Photometric Precision from the Ground with Beam- shaping Diffusers.” The Astrophysical Journal, Vol 848. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017ApJ...848....9S

 Gray, C.L, Chanover, N.J., Slanger, T., Moliverdikhani, K., 2014. The Effect of Solar Flares, Coronal Mass Ejections, and Solar Wind Streams on Venus' 5577Å Oxygen Green Line. Icarus, Volume 233, p. 342-347. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014Icar..233..342G

 Cochran, A. L., Barker, E. S., Gray, C. L., 2012. Thirty Years of Cometary Spectroscopy from McDonald Observatory. Icarus, Volume 218, Issue 1, p. 144-168. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012Icar..218..144C

 Mason, P. A., Robinson, E. L., Gray, C. L., Hynes, R. I., 2008. The Orbital Period and Time- variable Asymmetric Accretion Disk in the X-Ray Binary MS 1603.6+2600 (UW Coronae Borealis), ApJ vol. 685, pp. 428. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008ApJ...685..428M

 Mason, P. A., and Gray, C., 2007. AR Ursae Majoris Discovered to Be a Persistent Radio Polar: Results from a VLA Survey of Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables, ApJ, 660, pp. 662. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007ApJ...660..662M CV Candace Gray 7 /7

 Mason, P.A. and Gray, C. L. 2002. An Investigation of Radio Emission in Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables. Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables IAU Colloquium 190, edited by Vrielmann, S., Ceopper, M., pp. 237-242, Sheridan Books, Ann Arbor, Michigan. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004ASPC..315..237M

ORGANIZATIONS/ASSOCIATIONS  Astronomy Ambassadors  Astronomy Learner  American Astronomical Society Division of Planetary Science (AAS DPS)  AAS DPS Professional Development Committee  American Geophysical Union  Venus Exploration and Analysis Group (VEXAG) 

PUBLICITY Interview and article in:  National Geographic (online) November 2014  UniverseToday.com November 2014  EarthSky.com November 2014  SpaceRef.com November 2014  The El Paso Times June 2012  The Las Cruces Sun Times June 2005