Service

Departmental Committee and Service Activities:

  • Assessment Committee:  Fall 2017 – Spring 2018 committee chair, Fall 2018 – present, committee member
  • Physics REU Broader Impact Committee:  Fall 2017 – present, committee member
  • Renewable Term Faculty Member Search: Fall 2017 – Spring 2018, search committee member, hired Daniel White
  • Committee A:  Fall 2015 – Spring 2017, Fall 2018 – Spring 2020  Department Personnel Committee
  • Homer L. Dodge Chair in Astrophysics Search:  Fall 2015 – Spring 2016  Search committee member – hired John Tobin
  • Assistant Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics Search:  Fall 2013 – Spring 2014 Search committee member – hired Nate Kaib
  • Assistant Professor in Astronomy &Astrophysics Search:  Fall 2011 – Spring 2012 Search committee chair – hired John Wisniewski
  • Assistant Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics Search:  Fall 2010 – Spring 2011  Search committee member – hired Mukremin Kilic
  • Homer L. Dodge Chair in Astrophysics Search:  Fall 2006 – Fall 2007 Served as a consultant for search committee; contributed to development of candidate short list. Search failed.
  • Graduate Studies Committee, Fall 2011 – Fall 2013, Fall 2018   Graduate student progress toward degree
  • Undergraduate Recruiting Committee,  Spring 2015 Assisted in designing strategies to recruit undergraduates to the Astronomy and Astrophysics program
  • Undergraduate Advisor for Astrophysics and Astronomy Majors, Fall 2001 – Spring 2006, Fall 2007 – Spring 2011, Fall 2013 Advise 20-25 undergraduate astronomy and astrophysics majors on course selection, graduation requirements, and professional development. Talk with prospective students and parents.
  • Colloquium Chairperson, Fall 2001 – Spring 2006 Coordinate colloquium visits, set up audio-video equipment for colloquium. Endeavor to fill colloquium schedule.
  • Undergraduate Studies Committee, Fall 2000 – Spring 2006,  Fall 2007 – Spring 2011. Represent astronomy group. Determine departmental scholarships and awards. Assisted in physics and astronomy undergraduate curriculum reform in 2002-2003.
  • Faculty Secretary, Fall 2005 – Spring 2006 Record and distribute minutes and attendance records for faculty meetings.
  • Lin Hall Building Committee:  Fall 2015 – Spring 2017   Assisted in designing roof-top observatory
  • Nielsen Hall Phase III Addition Building Committee, Fall 2005 – Spring 2006, Fall 2007 – Spring 2008 Participated in Phase III renovation of Nielsen Hall.
  • Nielsen Hall Phase II Addition Building Committee, Fall 2001 – Spring 2005.  Reviewed procedures and plans for new addition. Contributed to choosing furniture and audio-video equipment.
  • Faculty Marshall at Arts & Sciences Convocation, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2018.  One of two faculty marshals representing the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
  • Coordinated BAAS Observatory report for Astronomy group, Fall 2001 – Fall 2004. Collected information and edited observatory report.
  • Colloquium speaker host, Fall 2000 – Present. Hosted Daniel Proga, Randall LaViolette, Joe Shields, Herman Marshall, Mike Loewenstein, Bob Becker, Fred Hamann, Mike Eracleous, Mike Corcoran, Nahum Arav, Smita Mathur, Pat Hall, Martin Elvis, Mike Crenshaw, Laura Kay, Kerry McGruder, Gordon Richards, Andrew Baker, Don Terndrup, Matthias Dietrich, Dirk Grupe, Matt Benacquista, Marc Seigar, Jaqueline van Gorkom, Greg Madejski, Bret Lehmer, Donald Terndrup, Sarah Gallagher
  • AMO Faculty Search, Fall 2000 – Spring 2001.  Contributed to development of candidate short list and helped host candidates. Hired Jim Shaffer.

College Activities

  • CAS Big Data and Statistics Working Group, Spring 2016 – Spring 2018 Develop strategies for increasing statistical capabilities and literacy among faculty and students in the College of Arts & Sciences

University Activities

  • OU Research Council, Fall 2009 – Spring 2012.  Review internal funding proposals, award recommendations
  • Participant in OU Speaker Series, Fall 2001 – Spring 2006, Fall 2009 – Spring 2011

Service to the Profession

  • Proposal Panel Review:   ROSAT, ASCA, Chandra, HST, FUSE, Astro-E, Chandra Fellowship, GALEX, Suzaku, RXTE, NuSTAR, NSF AAG, NSF CCLI, JWST DD ERS  (Each review panel meets for 2—3 days and reviews 15—100 proposals)
  • Scientific Publication Referee, 1998-present  Reviewed papers for Astrophysical Journal, Astrophysical Journal Letters, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, Advances in Space Research
  • American Astronomical Society Chretien Grant Committee, January 2017 – December 2019. Review proposals for the Chretien International Research Grants, promoting collaborations on  observational research with astronomers in other countries.
  • CRESSTII Science Council, Fall 2017 – present.  CRESST II is a UMCP-UMBC-Howard-CUA-SURA partnership with UMCP as the lead.  The organization serves as a vehicle for hiring soft money space scientists at Goddard Space Flight Center.  The science council is a group of 9 scientists, three external to the organization, that will advise CRESST on scientific direction, interactions with the community, etc.  I have agreed to serve a term as one of the external members.
  • Suzaku User’s Group, 2005 – 2010 Suzaku (http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/astroe/astroegof.html) is a joint Japanese/US X-ray mission that was launched 10 July 2005.  The panel oversees Suzaku operations and the interaction between Suzaku and the guest investigators.  It also helps develop the proposal for the NASA Senior Review.
  • FUSE Observers Advisory Council (FOAC), 2001 – 2004. FUSE (Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer; http://fuse.pha.jhu.edu) was a medium-sized satellite mission that was launched 24 June 1999 and was operated by Johns Hopkins University.  It observed in the small but critically important bandpass from 900 – 1200 Angstroms, which includes the OVI transitions at 1034 Angstroms.  The panel oversaw FUSE operations and the interaction between FUSE and the guest investigators.
  • HEASARC (High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center) Users Group, 2001 – 2004. The HEASARC (http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/) is the largest repository of high-energy (X-ray and Gamma-ray) astronomical data in the world.  It also provides analysis tools for these data.  The HEASARC Users Group meets once per year to evaluate and monitor the performance of the HEASARC.
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