MICHAEL ALLEN NOWAK Physics Dept., CB 1105, Washington University, One Brookings Dr
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MICHAEL ALLEN NOWAK Physics Dept., CB 1105, Washington University, One Brookings Dr. St. Louis, MO 63130 Phone: (314) 935-4162; Internet: [email protected] Research Interests Observational and Theoretical High Energy Astrophysics of Neutron Stars, Galactic Black Holes, and Active Galactic Nuclei; Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics and Accretion Physics Education 9/87 { 8/92 Stanford University, Stanford, CA M.S., Ph.D., Physics 9/83 { 6/87 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA S.B., Physics Positions Research Professor, Dept. of Physics, Washington University 6/18 { Present Deputy Group Lead, Science Data Systems, CXC-MIT 1/06 { 5/18 Research Scientist, Chandra X-ray Science Center, MIT 9/01 { 12/05 Visiting Researcher, Dept. of Astronomy, Yale University 9/00 { 9/01 Postdoctoral Fellow & Lecturer, JILA & Dept. of APS, U. of Colorado 8/94 { 8/00 Postdoctoral Fellow, Canadian Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics 9/92 { 8/94 Professional Service NASA Senior Review of Rest-of-Missions | Panelist/reviewer for the 2019 Committee Suzaku Satellite Users Group | Past member; co-wrote two Senior Review reports Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer Users Group | Past member; co-wrote five Senior Review reports; three times spoke at the NASA Review of Current Missions and Programs NASA Senior Review of Archives | Panelist/reviewer for the 2008 Committee Review Panels | Reviewer for National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA Long Term Space Astrophysics (LTSA), Astrophysics Data Program (ADP), Astrophysics Re- search & Analysis (APRA), NASA Research Fellowship, Chandra Guest Observer, XMM Guest Observer; Panel Chair for Astrophysics Theory (ATP), NuSTAR Guest Observer, Swift Guest Observer, Suzaku Guest Observer, & RXTE Guest Observer National and International Collaborations Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (www.eventhorizontelescope.org){ Variability and Multi-wavelength Working Groups Member, 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics citation Arcus (www.arcusxray.org){ High Resolution X-ray Grating Spectrometer, completed Phase A Study for the NASA Explorers Program | Science Definition Team Spectroscopic Time Resolving Observatory for Broadband Energy X-rays (STROBE-X) | Member of the Science Working Group, Chair of the Systematics Woking Group Lorentz Center | Co-organized a week-long workshop, \A New View of Accretion onto Sgr A*," (Jan. 2013, Leiden, the Netherlands) Recent Talks 01/21 \Time Domain Methods 1: Incoherent EHT Data Analysis Series, Variability" Virtual School 11/20 \Chandra Eclipse Timing Determination of the Frontiers in Time-Domain Science Third Body Period of 4U 2129+47" Chandra Virtual Workshop 08/20 \Breaking into the Black Box: Line Fitting and AtomDB, Interpretaion for the Confounded" Virtual Workshop 11/19 \Black Holes and Neutron Stars at Their Extremes: Astronomy on Tap, 20 Years of Chandra X-ray Observatory Discoveries" St. Louis, MO 11/18 \If Black Holes are Black, How Do We See Them?" WUSTL Public Lecture, St. Louis, MO 09/17 \Future Challenges of High Resolution X-ray WUSTL Physics Seminar, Spectroscopy" St. Louis, MO 09/17 \Are Black Holes as Simple as They Used to Be?" WUSTL Physics Seminar, St. Louis, MO 08/17 \The Ultra-fast Outflows of PG 1211+143" 16th HEAD Meeting, Sun Valley, ID Teaching Experience High School Level: Boston and Colorado Area 2006 { Present Judge for the high school science fair Boston Regional and Massachusetts State finals. Referee for the Massachusetts high school \Science Bowl". Occasional volunteer for \Citi- zens Schools" (www.citizenschools.org/massachusetts). I routinely give presentations about the Chandra satellite and lead tours of our lab facilities for middle and high school students (≈ 200 students each summer), and for the general public during the MIT \Inde- pendent Activities Period" (IAP; each January). I am a \telementor" for Colorado high school students (www.mentoredpathways.org). MIT 2005 { 2008 Mentored for \The Chandra Astrophysics Institute", a program to introduce astrophysical concepts to students via interactive learning and hands-on data analysis. I designed several of the analysis projects and tutored student groups over the course of their projects. Each year, the program culminated with a public presentation by the students. Undergraduate Level: MIT 1987; 2003 { Present Co-taught an intensive Freshman level Classical Mechanics course for non-majors during MIT's Independent Activity Period; tutor for Freshman Electricity and Magnetism. I supervise undergraduate student research projects (e.g., Trowbridge et al. 2007). I have guest lectured for the senior-level Topics in Astrophysics seminar course (8.971) on astrophysical black holes (Spring 2007), and on radiation processes (Fall 2007). Dominican College (Orangeburg, New York) 2000 I designed and taught the final 3 weeks of an introductory astronomy survey course. University of Colorado 1999 I guest lectured for Prof. Mitchell Begelman's (non-majors) course on black holes. Stanford University 1990 { 1992 Recitation Instructor for Freshman year Classical Mechanics and Electricity and Mag- netism, and an Astronomy survey course (non-majors). Courses required preparing weekly one hour recitation sections, office hours, and organizing visits to the student observatory. Graduate Level: International 2009 { Present I have prepared lectures for and mentored graduate students in hands-on X-ray data analysis projects at two COSPAR Capacity Workshops, one in Jiangsu Province (2013; 35 students from China, India, and Turkey), and one in Viedma, Argentina (2017; 26 students from across South America). My most recent lecture materials can be found at: http://donfaca.wixsite.com/cospar-viedma2017/talks-projects In January 2014, I gave a similar set of lectures in Pune, India to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who planned to work with the Indian Astrosat UV/X-ray satellite. I have facilitated interactive learning and lead hands-on tutorials on X-ray data analysis at the 1st & 2nd Summer Schools on Multiwavelength Astronomy. Students from 20 different countries and 5 different continents participated. My lecture materials can be found via: http://www.black-hole.eu/index.php/schools-workshops-and-conferences I also taught at a workshop on \High-resolution X-ray spectroscopic software and tools" (Madrid, Spain; Spring 2016): http://delphineporquet.wixsite.com/x-raytools and at a Chandra/CIAO Workshop (Pune, India; Fall 2017): http://cxc.cfa.harvard.edu/ciao/workshop/oct17 pune Chandra X-ray Science Center 2003 { 2018 As part of the Chandra X-ray Science Center (CXC) I taught at workshops and summer schools, helping graduate students and postdocs to learn the basics of X-ray astronomy and how to use the satellite. I gave lectures on X-ray astrophysics, high energy detectors, and data analysis techniques and software. My lecture materials can be found at: http://cxc.harvard.edu/xrayschool/program.html We provided students with hands-on analysis exercises. Those I wrote (\Spectral Analysis of High Resolution X-ray Binary Data"; \Timing Analysis of X-ray Lightcurves") are at: http://cxc.harvard.edu/xrayschool/analysis/index.html Yale University 2000 I guest lectured one week for the High Energy Astrophysics graduate course. University of Colorado 1994 { 2000 I designed and taught a full semester course on High Energy Astrophysics (Spring 1997). Topics included: Compton and synchrotron radiation processes; shockwaves and Fermi acceleration; accretion disk structure; galactic binaries and AGN; neutron stars and pul- sars; gamma-ray bursters. I co-organized a graduate seminar course on black hole physics (Spring 1999), and frequently lectured for the Astrophysical Processes course (1994 { 2000). Stanford University 1992 I was a grader and substitute lecturer for an introductory course on General Relativity. Principal Investigator Grants and Proposals 38. \A NICER Study of Spectral Variations in NGC 2992," PI: Michael A. Nowak (WUSTL), CoI: Kendrah Murphy (Skidmore) NICER Cycle 3 Guest Program, * May 1, 2021 { Apr. 30, 2022; $37,500. 37. \Measuring HMXB Winds with NICER Observations of Cyg X-1 Near Orbital Phase 0," PI: Michael A. Nowak (WUSTL), CoIs: Erin Barillier (WUSTL), Victoria Grinberg (T¨ubingen),Katja Pottschmidt (GSFC), J¨ornWilms (Bamberg) NICER Cycle 3 Guest Program, * May 1, 2021 { Apr. 30, 2022; $37,500. 36. \Bridging the Gap Between Phenomenological and Physical Spectroscopy Models," PI: Michael A. Nowak (WUSTL), Chandra Cycle 22 Theory Program, * Jan. 1, 2021 { Dec. 31, 2022; $55,000. 35. \EHT, XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, Chandra Study of the Black Hole MKN 501," PI: Michael A. Nowak (WUSTL), Chandra Cycle 21 Guest Observer Program, * May 12, 2020 { May 11, 2022; $20,060. 34. \GX5-1 as a Probe of the ISM: A Case for Joint NICER Observations," PI: Michael A. Nowak (WUSTL), CoIs: Lia Corrales (UMich), J¨ornWilms (Bamberg), NICER Cycle 2 Guest Observer Pro- gram, * Aug. 1, 2020 { Jul. 31, 2021; $21,047. 33. \Joint NICER, NuSTAR, and Event Horizon Telescope Observations of 3C 273 and 3C 279," PI: Michael A. Nowak (WUSTL), CoIs: Sera Markoff (Amsterdam), Daryl Haggard (McGill), Joseph Neilsen (Villanova), Alan Marscher (Boston University), Svetlana Jorstad (Boston University), Jose Gomez (IAA), Shoko Koyama (ASIAA), Stefanie Komossa (MPIFR), Karl Foster (Caltech), Thomas Kirchbaum (MPIFR), Kazuro Hada (NAO Japan) Abe Falcone (Penn State), Geoff Bower (ASIAA) NICER Cycle 2 Guest Observer Program, * Apr. 1, 2020 { Mar. 31, 2021. 32. \Distinguishing between Circumbinary and Interstellar Medium Dust Signatures