Els Peeters

Graduate positions in Astrophysics

Up to four graduate positions (at the M.Sc. or Ph.D. level) in observational astronomy are available at Western University (Canada) with a nominal starting date of September 2022, under the supervision of Prof. Jan Cami and/or Prof. Els Peeters.

Project description: The successful applicants will be involved in projects using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST; launch date Dec 2021). Hailed as the bigger and vastly more sensitive successor to HST, JWST will provide observations of unprecedented quality to study the Universe near and far. These observations will be dominated by infrared (IR) emission from large carbonaceous molecules (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs, and fullerenes) and nanoparticles. This emission encodes a large amount of information about the physical and chemical environments in which they reside and is a powerful messenger to study astrophysical processes such as star and planet formation and galaxy evolution.
Our research group aims to investigate the composition and lifecycle of the cosmic carbonaceous inventory. We aim to determine the detailed properties of large carbonaceous molecules and nanoparticles and their response to changing environments in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies. Graduate projects involve analyses of observational data from JWST using modern data processing and machine-learning techniques, analyses of the dependence of the observed emission of these species on the local physical parameters (e.g. temperature, density, strength of the radiation field, galaxy properties, ...) and/or interpretation of these observational results in terms of the properties of the PAH population (e.g. changes in size, shape, charge and composition) by using, for example, the NASA Ames PAH IR database .

Requirements: A B.Sc. or M.Sc. degree or equivalent in Astronomy, Astrophysics, or related fields, with demonstrated experience in scientific programming. Further information is available here; to apply for this position, start here.

Application received before February 1, 2022 will receive full consideration.

Contact: Interested candidates are encouraged to contact Prof. Jan Cami (jcami [at] uwo.ca) and/or Prof. Els Peeters (epeeters [at] uwo.ca) for more information regarding the application process.