CAASTRO People

CAASTRO Executive

The CAASTRO Executive is responsible for developing and implementing the Centre’s strategic plan.

Professor Bryan Gaensler (Univ. Sydney)
Director of CAASTRO

Professor Bryan Gaensler is an Australian Laureate Fellow and Professor of Physics at the University of Sydney. Bryan brings to CAASTRO more than a decade of international experience at world-leading research institutes such as MIT, the Smithsonian Institution and Harvard University. Bryan has also been involved at all levels in developing the next generation of astronomy facilities for which CAASTRO investigators will be key users. Most notably, he led the process to select the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Key Science Projects, served for two years as the international SKA Project Scientist, and co-authored the milestone 2007 report “Specifications for the SKA”, a document that has guided all subsequent discussion on this €1.5-billion project.
Bryan is currently on the board of the $30m Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) project, the head of the Science and Technical Advisory Group for the Australian SKA consortium, and the lead investigator on the POSSUM survey of astrophysical magnetic fields, planned for ASKAP.
As director of CAASTRO, Bryan is working to establish Australia as the world-leader in wide-field radio and optical astronomy.

Professor Lister Staveley-Smith (ICRAR - UWA)
Deputy Director of CAASTRO

Professor Lister Staveley-Smith is a Winthrop Professor at the University of Western Australia and Deputy Director (Science) within the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR). His research is oriented towards frontline radio astronomical observations with world-class facilities and preparing the path for future telescopes such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and its precursors.
Lister sits on the SKA Science Working Group and leads one of its survey coordination groups. He is also joint Principal Investigator of one of the key surveys to be conducted with the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) and chairs the Galactic and Extragalactic consortium of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). Lister is the immediate past-President of the Astronomical Society of Australia which commits much of its resources to promoting and rewarding research excellence for students and Early Career Researchers.
Lister is an internationally respected researcher who is renowned for his skill in coordinating large and complex projects, as recognised by the CSIRO medal for his leadership of the spectacularly successful Parkes Multibeam project.

Professor Matthew Bailes (Swinburne Univ.)
"The Dynamic Universe" theme leader; Computing

Professor Matthew Bailes is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) and former Director of the Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing at Swinburne University. Matthew’s first love are binary and millisecond pulsars, how they are born, how they evolve, and the exciting experiments you can do with them, particularly in the area of general relativity. Matthew also designs computer systems for pulsar processing, eVLBI and radio astronomy.
In his role with CAASTRO, he ensures that there is a coordinated approach to processing the terabytes of radio data that will flow from existing and new pathfinders during CAASTRO’s tenure. Nationally, Swinburne University has been playing a leading role in the adoption of graphics processing units into astrophysical computation. Matthew has the responsibility for identifying computational bottlenecks in CAASTRO’s broader research agenda, as may be brought about by processing limitations, hardware input/power rates, or even power consumption. He works closely with the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and with the Pawsey HPC Centre to ensure that the scientific instrumentation used in CAASTRO is well aligned with associated “back-end” processing capabilities.

Professor Stuart Wyithe (Univ. Melbourne)
"The Evolving Universe" theme leader; Theory

Professor Stuart Wyithe is an Australian Laureate Fellow at the University of Melbourne. His primary research interests lie in the field of quasar formation and reionisation in the early Universe. He also works in the field of gravitational lensing. Specifically, he studies problems in quasar microlensing, and the statistical properties of gravitational lensing by galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Stuart won the Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year 2011 in recognition of his work on the formation of the Universe.
Stuart represents one of the overarching programmes within CAASTRO, bringing together science in the areas of reionisation and galaxy formation. He coordinates activities within these areas, drawing on his scientific and mentoring experience. Of particular importance to the success of the CAASTRO programme is the full incorporation of theoretical expertise. The ongoing integration of theory into CAASTRO’s agenda is the responsibility of Stuart, whose broad perspective leaves him ideally placed to coordinate theoretical effort. In particular, this coordination role will lead to theoretical contributions that complement and inform CAASTRO’s large observational programmes. Success in this area will best place Australian astronomy to take advantage of opportunities beyond the lifetime of CAASTRO that will be provided by forthcoming large-scale investments such as the Giant Magellan Telescope and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Through CAASTRO, Stuart will make significant contributions both to the theory of reionisation and to the broader international programme to build an analysis pipeline for the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) Epoch of Reionisation science objectives.

Professor Brian Schmidt (ANU)
"The Dark Universe" theme leader

Professor Brian Schmidt is an Australian Laureate Fellow and Professor of Astronomy at The Australian National University’s Mount Stromlo Observatory. Leading "The Dark Universe" theme within CAASTRO, he makes sure that the activities around the Centre are coordinated, unified and internationally competitive. Brian’s unique roles as SkyMapper lead scientist and leader of the High-Redshift Supernova Search team gives him an international profile in this area second to none. The discovery of the accelerating Universe and of Dark Energy won him, jointly with Adam Riess and Saul Perlmutter, the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics. Brian’s broad understanding of this subject field and his international contacts ensure that CAASTRO will lead this field internationally.
As the lead scientist on SkyMapper, Brian is in charge of delivering data products from the Southern Sky Survey for the wide variety of CAASTRO activities for which they are needed. This includes images, source catalogues and data products that go beyond the Southern Sky Survey’s planned activities. Brian’s research covers aspects of all three research themes within CAASTRO.

Professor Steven Tingay (ICRAR - Curtin Univ.)
Education & Outreach

Professor Steven Tingay is a Professor of Radio Astronomy at Curtin University, Director of Science and Operations at the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy and Deputy Director of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR). Formerly at the Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, he was the Project Leader for Swinburne’s Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project funded under the Federal government’s Major National Research Facilities (MNRF) Program.
Curtin University is the Australian Lead Organisation and Managing Organisation for the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). The MWA is the main instrument that will enable CAASTRO Epoch of Reionisation research. As both an MWA Board Member and as the manager for MWA staff and budgets at Curtin, Steven is making a major contribution toward delivering the MWA to the CAASTRO partners and to the broader Australian astronomical community. Steven is a Western Australian Premier’s Fellow in recognition of the quality of his research and leadership. He has contributed significantly to the definition of the science and technical programmes currently being rolled out in Western Australia.

Ms Kate Gunn (Univ. Sydney)
Chief Operating Officer

Kate has 25 years of business experience, having previously been Director, Business Development at the University of Western Sydney, and owning a number of her own businesses.
In 1999, Kate was a finalist in the Telstra Business Woman of the Year in South Australia. She holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Macquarie Graduate School of Management, and a Graduate Certificate in Management from the University of South Australia. Kate is the President of the National Foundation for Australian Women, and Chair of the National Women’s Alliance Economic Security4Women.

CAASTRO Chief Investigators

Professor Frank Briggs (ANU)
Professor Warrick Couch (Swinburne Univ.)
Associate Professor Scott Croom (Univ. Sydney)
Professor Jeremy Mould (Swinburne Univ.)
Professor Elaine Sadler (Univ. Sydney)
Professor Rachel Webster (Univ. Melbourne)

CAASTRO Associate Investigators

Associate Professor Chris Blake (Swinburne Univ.)
Dr Jamie Bolton (Univ. Melbourne)
Dr Tamara Davis (Univ. Queensland)
Dr Chris Lidman (AAO)
Dr Jean-Pierre Macquart (ICRAR - Curtin Univ.)
Associate Professor Martin Meyer (ICRAR - UWA)
Dr Tara Murphy (Univ. Sydney)
Associate Professor Christopher Power (ICRAR - UWA)
Dr Emma Ryan-Weber  (Swinburne Univ.)
Dr Stuart Sim (ANU)
Dr Randall Wayth (ICRAR - Curtin Univ.)

CAASTRO Partner Investigators 

Prof Lindsay Botten (NCI)
Dr Brian Boyle (CSIRO)
Dr Robert Braun (CSIRO)
Professor Matthew Colless (AAO)
Professor Xiaohui Fan (Univ. Arizona, USA)
Professor Carlos Frenk (Univ. Durham, UK)
Associate Professor Andrew Hopkins (AAO)
Professor Guinevere Kauffmann (Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Germany)
Professor Michael Kramer (Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Germany)
Professor Shri Kulkarni (CalTech, USA)
Professor Ray Norris (CSIRO)
Dr Reynald Pain (Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Energies, France)
Associate Professor Ue-Li Pen (Univ. Toronto, Canada)
Professor Ravi Subrahmanyan (Raman Research Institute, India)

Refer to our Partners page for more information.

CAASTRO Research Staff

Dr Martin Bell (Univ. Sydney) 
Dr Ramesh Bhat (Swinburne Univ.)
Dr Michael Childress (ANU)
Mr Shin Kee Chung (ICRAR - UWA)
Dr Stephen Curran (Univ. Sydney)
Mr Andrew Jameson (Swinburne Univ.)
Dr Eyal Kazin (Swinburne Univ.)
Dr Jonathon Kocz (Swinburne Univ.)
Dr Jun Koda (Swinburne Univ.)
Dr David Lagattuta (Swinburne Univ.)
Dr Emil Lenc (Univ. Sydney)
Dr Greg Madsen (Univ. Sydney)
Dr Daniel Mitchell (Univ. Melbourne)
Assistant Professor Se-Heon Oh (ICRAR - UWA)
Dr Marcin Sokolowski (ICRAR - Curtin Univ.)
Dr Edoardo Tescari (Univ. Melbourne)
Dr Patrick Tisserand (ANU)
Dr Steven Tremblay (ICRAR - Curtin Univ.)
Dr Cathryn Trott (ICRAR - Curtin Univ.)
Dr Fang Yuan (ANU)

CAASTRO Affiliates

Dr James Allison (Univ. Sydney)
Mr Keith Bannister (CSIRO)
Mr Duncan Campbell-Wilson (Univ. Sydney)
Dr Sean Farrell (Univ. Sydney)
Professor Karl Glazebrook (Swinburne Univ.)
Professor Anne Green (Univ. Sydney)
Dr Paul Hancock (Univ. Sydney)
Dr Hansik Kim (Univ. Melbourne)
Dr Philip Lah (ANU)
Dr Bart Pindor (Univ. Melbourne)
Dr Willem van Straten (Swinburne Univ.)

CAASTRO Professional Staff

Mr Jay Banyer, Software Engineer (Univ. Sydney)
Ms Joanne Daniels, Administration (Univ. Sydney)
Ms Kim Dorrell, Administration (Univ. Melbourne)
Dr Wiebke Ebeling, Education & Outreach (ICRAR - Curtin Univ.)
Ms Debra Gooley, Finance (Univ. Sydney)
Ms Ruth Jeffries, Events & Communications (Univ. Sydney)
Ms Tanya Jones, Administration (ICRAR - Curtin Univ.)
Mrs Katie Lau, Administration (ICRAR - UWA)
Ms Carly Mansfield, Administration (Swinburne Univ.)
Ms Tina Sallis, Finance (ICRAR - Curtin Univ.)
Ms Denise Sturgess, Administration (ANU)
Mr Darshan Thakkar, Digital Engineer (Univ. Sydney)

CAASTRO Students

Mr Loren Bruns (Univ. Melbourne)
Mr Bradley Greig (Univ. Melbourne)
Ms Kitty Lo (Univ. Sydney)
Ms Christina Magoulas (Univ. Melbourne)
Mr Ben McKinley (ANU)
Mr Mehran Mossammaparast (ICRAR - Curtin Univ.)
Ms Sharon Rapoport (ANU)
Ms Sarah Reeves (Univ. Sydney)
Mrs Jennifer Riding (Univ. Melbourne)
Mr Jongwhan Rhee (ANU)
Ms Morag Scrimgeour (ICRAR - UWA)
Mr Tao Hong (NAOC, China)