DR J R Barnes Curriculum Vitae February 2018
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DR J R Barnes Curriculum vitae February 2018 1 HIGHER EDUCATION Degrees 1996 - 1999 Ph.D. "Doppler imaging of late type stars" (viva December 1999, graduated June 2000), University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK 1992 - 1996 M.Sci. in Astrophysics (first class honours), University of St Andrews Awards 2016 Open University merit award in recognition of research contribution to Proxima Centauri b discovery 1996 Fourth year undergraduate class medal for Astrophysics 1995 St Andrews Summer Vacation Scholarship, Royal Greenwich Observatory, Cambridge 1995 Third year undergraduate class medal for Astrophysics 2 APPOINTMENTS AND EXPERIENCE 2017 - Research Fellow, Open University 2017 - 2020 STFC funded Postdoctoral Research Associate ("Discovering the key planets for comparative planetology in the 2020s"), Open University 2014 - 2017 STFC funded Postdoctoral Research Associate ("PDRA in Exoplanet Observations"), Open University 2010 - 2014 University Research Fellow, University of Hertfordshire 2009 - 2010 Network Research Assistant (ROPACS) with 75% teaching load in 2009- 2010 and Sector Partner Champion for short course development, University of Hertfordshire. 2006 - 2009 STFC funded postdoctoral research associate , University of Hertfordshire 2005 - 2006 Teaching Fellow - first & final year lecturing, tutoring, examining and co- running of third year practical module. University of St Andrews. 2001 - 2005 PPARC funded postdoctoral research associate, University of St Andrews 2000 - 2001 Research Fellow, University of Porto, Portugal 1999 Postdoctoral research associate (Nov-Dec), University of St Andrews 3 CONTRIBUTIONS TO OPEN UNIVERSITY TEACHING AND STUDENT SUPPORT 2017 S382 Astrophysics - Marking exam scripts (pending June 2017) 2017 SXP390 Science project course: radiation and matter (30 credits) - Module team member 2016 Contributor to new Open University Badged Open Course on Exoplanets (video/interview) 2016 Ph.D. probation assessment (Dean Roberts) 4 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT 2011 - 2014 Coordinator for private group open evening visits to Bayfordbury observatory at the University of Hertfordshire 5 RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP Research background and summary - Doppler imaging of late type stars, including the first spectroscopic images of young analogues of the Sun in nearby stellar clusters (thesis) - First starspot images of low-mass M dwarf stars and studies of latitude dependent rotation leading to a highly cited letter demonstrating a trend with spectral type - Pioneering papers on high resolution spectroscopic detection and characterisation of exoplanetary atmospheres - Data analysis on prototype precision radial velocity experiments, achieving unprecedented precision in the near infrared - The first limits on planet mass for the lowest mass and most abundant stars - Contributed to the recent remarkable discovery of a potentially habitable near-earth-mass planet orbiting our nearest neighbour, Proxima Centauri (reported in Nature) Current research areas - Implementation of new near infrared analyses and radial velocity surveys to detect the first habitable zone, earth-mass planets, around the lowest mass stars - Radial velocity searches for low-mass planets - Atmospheric characterisation of exoplanetary atmospheres - Doppler imaging and stellar activity studies of the lowest mass M dwarf stars Key research collaborations - STFC funded Postdoctoral Research Associate, "Discovering the key planets for comparative planetology in the 2020s" (PI: Dr C. Haswell), comprising: + Contributing to "A precisely-targetted Radial Velocity Search for USPs orbiting Bright Nearby Stars" and leading aspects of follow-up characterisation studies + Leading the "Habitable planets around M dwarfs" component - "Newton STFC-NARIT - EXOhSPEC" project (PI: Prof. H.R.A. Jones, http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/projects?ref=ST%2FP005667%2F1) to build new-technology spectrograph telescope in collaboration with the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand. To include exploration of detector technologies with the Centre for Electronic Imaging at the Open University. Development of pipeline to provide data products. - Team member of the group that discovered the planet orbiting Proxima Centauri b. New observations from June 2017 on other nearby low-mass stars. - Collaboration with researchers at the University of Göttingen (Dr S. Jeffers, Dr D. Shulyak and Prof. A. Reiners) on stellar activity research focussed on low-mass stars and planets Research funding 2015 COST STSM visitor research grant with S. Jeffers (Götingen) Observing proposals and publications 1996 - Numerous successful observing applications with 4m & 8m class telescopes 1998 - 104 papers, 74 refereed with 23 as first author + 1 pending Invited conference talks 2017 (pending) Review talk on Proxima Centauri b at the European Geophysical Union General Assembly (2017 April 23-28) 2014 “Planets at the bottom of the main sequence”, Photonics for Planets, Florence 2010 "Radial velocities & Earth-mass planet detection thresholds in the near infrared", Astronomy of Exoplanets with Precise Radial Velocities, Penn State 2009 “Spectrscopic characterisation of close orbiting extrasolar giant planets", New Technologies for probing brown dwarfs & exoplanets diversity, Shanghai Contributed conference talks 2016 “Photospheric acne at the bottom of the main-sequence: Doppler images of M4.5 - M9V stars”, Cool Stars, Stellar Systems and the Sun 19, Uppsala, Sweden 2015 “Characterising disintegrating planets with ARIEL”, ARIEL workshop, University College London 2015 “Starspot distributions on fully convective M dwarfs: implications for radial velocity planet searches”, UK Exoplanet Meeting, University of Warwick, UK 2013 “Red-Opitcal Planet Survey - A radial velocity search of low mass planets”, “Mind the Gap” conference, University of Hertfordshire 2012 “Red-Opitcal Planet Survey - A radial velocity search of low mass planets”, ROPACS meeting, Garching, Germany 2012 “Probing Planetary atmospheres at high resolution”, Opacities in Cool Stars and Exoplanets, Cumberland Lodge, UK 2009 "Direct exoplanet detection and characterisation from high resolution spectroscopy", RoPACS kick-off meeting, Madrid 2008 "Detecting H2O and CO in the atmospheres of close orbiting extrasolar giant planets using high resolution spectroscopy", Molecules in the atmospheres of Extrasolar Planets, Paris Observatory 2008 “High resolution spectroscopic characterisation of extrasolar planets”, European Planetary Science Congress on planetary atmospheres, Munster, Germany 2008 "The potential for precision radial velocities in the near-infrared", Habitability in Our Galaxy meeting, Royal Observatory Edinburgh 2008 “Near Infrared Detection of Close Orbiting Extrasolar Giant Planets”, Measuring the atmospheric spectrum of Extrasolar Planets, Exeter 2003 “The decrease in differential rotation with decreasing stellar mass in a sample of young rapidly rotating, main sequence stars” Cool Stars 13, Hamburg 2002 “The boundaries of Doppler imaging: Starspot patterns on M dwarfs”, Potsdam Thinkshop, Potsdam 2000 “Doppler Images of the M Dwarf RE 1816 +541”, Astrotomography conference, Brussels External Seminars 2017 “Research overview”, Kick-off meeting for “Newton STFC-NARIT - EXOhSPEC” project, University of Hertfordshire 2015 “Starspot distributions on fully convective M dwarfs”, University of Göttingen, UK 2015 “From cool stars to habitable planets: a research overview”, Queen Mary University London, UK 2015 “From cool stars to habitable planets: a research overview”, Open University, UK 2014 “Searching for planets orbiting active M dwarf stars”, University of Warwick, UK 2013 “Red Optical Planet Survey (ROPS): A radial velocity planet search for low mass M dwarf planets”, National Astronomy Meeting, St Andrews, UK 2012 “ROPS search for planets orbiting M dwarf stars”, Göttingen, Germany 2011 “Towards Habitable Zone Rocky Planets”, Santiago, Chile 2010 “The search for habitable zone planets: a radial velocity perspective”, University of Hertfordshire, UK 2009 "Detecting and characterising close orbiting extrasolar giant planets using high resolution spectroscopy", Armagh Observatory 2009 “Direct exoplanet detection and characterisation from high resolution spectroscopy”, Utrecht, Netherlands 2008 "Near Infrared Spectroscopic Detection of Close Orbiting Extrasolar Giant Planets", University of Sheffield, UK 2006 “Doppler imaging of late-type stars”, Penn State University, US Posters 1996 - Various poster presentations at national and international conferences (see publications list) Observing experience - Échelle and high resolution optical/near infrared spectroscopy/polarimetry with 8m, 4.2 m 2.5 m & 2m class telescopes (VLT, Subaru, Magellan, ESO 3.6-m, ING telescopes, Anglo Australian Telescope, Canada France Hawaii Telescope, OHP 1.93m). - Imaging/photometry with 0.94m James Gregory Telescope (St Andrews). Programming skills - Fortran 77/90/95, IDL, HTML/CSS, C, Perl, Python, Cshell, BASH, Maintenance of Linux system, Starlink 6 POSTGRADUATE STUDENT SUPERVISION 2014 - Supervisory team member of three Ph.D. students (Dan Staab, Joseph Cooper and James Doherty) working on planet detection and stellar activity, Open University 2014 – 2016 Co-supervisor of M.Phil. student, C. McCune (degree awarded 2016) 2013 - 2016 External co-supervisor of part time M.Phil. student, J. Collins (viva/passed 2016), Univ. of Hertfordshire 2013 - Continued external co-supervision of Ph.D. student working on stellar activity and planet