Academic Record:

02/2015 – today
Assistant Researcher and Data Scientist
Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison
09/2010 – 02/2015
Postdoctoral researcher at Center for Gravitation and Cosmology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
since ~ Sept. 2013 funded by own grant from HST/STScI
Sept. 2010: PhD in Astrophysics
Thesis: Galaxy Evolution and the redshift desert
Advisors: Prof. Uta Fritze & Prof. Elias Brinks
Examiners: Prof. Max Pettini (IoA, Cambridge) and Prof. Martin Hardcastle (U. Herts)
01/2010 – 05/2010
Research Internship at University of Wisconsin – Madison
Collaboration with Prof. Dr. Jay Gallagher on interacting galaxies
07/2007 – 09/2010
PhD Research studentship from University of Hertfordshire
Nov. 2006
Graduation with Diploma in Physics: grade “very good”
Thesis: Optical spectroscopy and multiwavelength analysis of X-ray selected Active Galactic Nuclei
09/2004 – 02/2005
Semester abroad at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Netherlands
10/2003 – 06/2007:
Study of physics at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
financial support: excellence grant from Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (10/03 – 11/05)
04/2002 – 09/2003:
Study of physics at Technische Universität Darmstadt
June 2001:
Abitur – German Grammar School degree

Teaching and Related Experience

09/2019 – present:
Director of the Research Experience for Undergraduates in Astrophysics (AstroREU) program at U. Wisconsin-Madison
01/2019-05/2019 (Spring Semester 2019)
Lecturer for “Astronomy 103 – Stars and Galaxies” (2 sections, ~250 students combined) at U. Wisconsin-Madison
08/2014 – 12/2014 (Fall Semester 2014)
Lecturer for “Astronomy 103 – Survey of Astronomy” (~70 students) at U. Wisconsin-Milwaukee
10/2003 – 09/2004, 03/2005 – 09/2006
Teaching Assistent “Physikalisches Praktikum für Nebenfächler” (Physics lab courses for minor subject students), Institute for Nuclear and Atomic Physics, University Göttingen
04/2006 – 08/2006
Teaching Assistent, “Einführung in die Geo- und Astrophysik”,
Institute for Geophysics, University Göttingen
09/2005 – 07/2007
Teaching Assistent “Fortgeschrittenenpraktikum Astrophysik” (Advanced astrophysics lab-courses for 3rd-year students), Institute for Astrophysics, University Göttingen
09/2005 – 07/2007
> 200 hours of observation with the IAG 50cm-telescope
Supervision of observations at the 0.5m telescope and of practical courses at the Institute for Astrophysics, University Göttingen
02/2007 – 06/2007
Supervision of two “Projektpraktikum” (2nd pratical, lasting ~2 weeks full-time) groups:
“Spektroskopie von aktiven Galaxienkernen” (Spectroscopy of active galactic nuclei)
“Bestimmung der Lichtgeschwindigkeit mittels variabler Sterne” (Determination of the speed of light using variable stars).
Institute for Astrophysics, University Göttingen
09/2005 – 07-2007
Creation and supervision of two praticals for third-year students:
“Strukturanalyse von Galaxien” (Structure analysis of galaxies)
“Photometrie von Sternhaufen” (Photometry of star clusters)
teaching the students the principles of astrophysical observations, data reduction and analysis (for more information see the institute’s website), Institute for Astrophysics, University Göttingen
04/2007 – 07/2007
Revision and extension of three astrophysics beginner practicals:
“Photometrie eines Sternhaufen” (Photometry of star clusters)
“Morphologie von Galaxien” (Morphology of galaxies)
“Spektren Aktiver Galaxien” (Spectra of active galaxies)
Institute for Astrophysics, University Göttingen
08/2008 – 12/2009
Student demonstrator for astrophysics experiments at the university observatory in Bayfordbury

Grants:

2018: NASA-ADAP (PI: Kotulla)
Project: Long-duration, precision stellar photometry from solar observatories in space
2016: NASA NN-EXPLORE Research Support Grant (PI: Kotulla)
Project: “Exploring the (extra)galactic background along lines-of-sight to nearby exoplanet host star candidates”
2014: NSF Astronomy Research Grant (PI: Kotulla) – $351,247
Project: Explosive Transients and their connection to stellar populations
2012: HST Theory Grant, Cycle 20 (PI: Kotulla) – $111,047
Project: The next generation of galaxy evolution models: A symbiosis of stellar populations and chemical abundances
2012/13: multiple grants from University of Wisconsin (~ US$ 34,000) and WIYN Observatory for a) development of pipeline reduction software for WHIRC and pODI and b) support of ODI Commissioning efforts.
2006-09: Travel grant from Astronomische Gesellschaft (combined ~ 2,000 Euro)
2009-12:Travel grant from International Astronomical Union (combined ~ US$ 2,000)
2012: Travel grants American Astronomical Society (~ US$ 1,700)
2007-10: Studentship at University of Hertfordshire, 3 years (~ 40,000 GBP)

Memberships

International Astronomical Union
Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (German Physical Society)
Astronomische Gesellschaft (German Astronomical Society)
European Astronomical Society
American Astronomical Society

Synergistic Activities

Referee for the Astrophysical Journal & Astronomical Journal
Referee for Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Technical Reviewer for NASA (2013, 2014, 2016)
Reviewer for the National Science Foundation (NSF; 2014)
Member of the WIYN One Degree Imager (ODI) Commissioning Working Group and the ODI Pipeline Science Team

Astronomical / Other Knowledge

Programming – also see my project at GitHUB
- fluent in C, C++, Python, Cython;
- experienced in PHP and Fortran, Perl, and shell-scripting
- Multi-threaded and multi-process programming for High Performance Computing
- MIDAS and IRAF Scripting, PyRAF
- MPI Parallel Computing
Astronomical Software
- ESO-MIDAS, IRAF, StarLink, DAOPHOT
- Single Lead Developer for a python-based data reduction pipeline for the WIYN One Degree Imager, a wide-field multi-CCD imager with ~480 Mpixels
- Development of an efficient Data Reduction Pipeline (Mr. Miller) for optical AND near-infrared data from various instruments and telescopes
Imaging and spectroscopy:
- Own observations (Optical and Near-Infrared, see above)
- ESO-, HST- and ING-Archives
- Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)
LaTeX, HTML, SQL, PHP, Perl, etc.