Post-doctoral appointments at the ATNF

The ATNF is pleased to announce the appointment of two post-doctoral fellows. This year's Bolton Fellow is Tony Wong. Tony graduated with a BA summa cum laude in Physics and Astronomy from Harvard University in 1994 and is currently completing a PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, under the supervision of Leo Blitz. His main interest is in understanding the evolution of the interstellar medium in spiral galaxies and its relation to star formation, and he has made extensive use of the mm interferometer system at Hat Creek. He has studied the galaxy NGC 4736 in detail, investigating its kinematics and star-formation history. He has also worked on several 3-mm CO-line surveys of galaxies. In addition to these studies, Tony has worked with Don Backer on pulsars, and is a co-author of a paper describing pulse timing and scattering observations of the Crab pulsar.

Tony expects to complete his PhD in September-October and to arrive at ATNF in November. He will be based at ATNF Headquarters in Sydney.

Tony Wong

The second appointment this year is Dr Roopesh Ojha. Roopesh received his initial training in India, graduating with an MSc from Poona University in 1990. He completed his PhD at Brandeis University, Massachusetts, in 1997 using VLBI polarisation observations to study Blazars. As part of this, he helped with the commissioning of the VLBA correlator at Socorro. He then held a post-doctoral appointment at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University, where he has been working on the Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope/Remote Observatory project. During his term at CfA he twice worked in Antarctica, during the summer of 1997-98 and for a full year from November 1998 to November 1999, where he had sole responsibility for operating and maintaining the Submillimeter Telescope.

Roopesh has been appointed to a position supported by the US Naval Observatory to work on the Southern Hemisphere VLBI astrometry program. Roopesh arrived in Australia at the end of September and is now based at the ATNF Headquarters in Sydney.

Dr Roopesh Ojha

Dick Manchester
Chair, Senior Staff Rewards and Appointments Committee