Laura Ferrarese

Laura Ferrarese
Image from NASA & ESA
Born Padova, Italy
Awards President of the Canadian Astronomical Society
Academic background
Alma mater

Johns Hopkins University

University of Padova
Academic work
Discipline Astronomy
Institutions Rutgers University
California Institute of Technology
National Research Council of Canada

Laura Ferrarese is a researcher in space science at the National Research Council of Canada. Her primary work has been with the Hubble Space Telescope for space-based observations.

Early life

She was born in Padova, Italy and studied at the University of Padova,[1] going on to receive a PhD in physics from Johns Hopkins University in 1996. She became a professor at Rutgers University in 2004.[2] She also worked at the California Institute of Technology.[3] Ferrarese was named guest lecturer for the Helen Sawyer Hogg Prize Lecture in 2014.[2]

Research

Laura Ferrarese’s work has earned her the opportunity to spearhead projects such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.[2] Her work concentrates on the masses of supermassive black holes and the stellar velocity dispersions of bulges in galaxies and how they affect each other. She has also worked on research on active galactic nuclei, dynamics and scaling relations, as well as extragalactic distance scale and the expansion rate of the Universe.[4] In her work, Ferrarese uses data from ground and space-based observatories. Such observatories include Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT).[4]

According to her CV, she has been included as an author in 147 published papers.[5]

Her current community service placements include: 1) the Canada France Hawaii Telescope on the Board of Directors; 2) the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) on the Board of Directors; 3) the AURA Oversight Council for Gemini (AOC-G) as a Chair; and 4) the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA) as a Past President.[4]

Teaching

Ferrarese has taught at the University of Victoria, Rutgers University, Universitá di Padova, and SIGRAV School on Contemporary Relativity and Gravitational Physics.

Recognition and awards

In 2012, she received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal and she has traversed North America speaking at lectures like the 2014 CASCA/RASC Helen Hogg lecture.[6]

On 30 November 2000, Ferrarese was featured in one of the episodes called "supermassive black holes" in the Horizon TV series.

Due to her contribution in astronomical research, Laura received the Peter G Martin award in 2015.[6]

Conferences

  • Supermassive Black Hole Research in the Post-HST Era (2002) appeared in "Hubble Science Legacy Workshop" held in Chicago, (ASP Conference Series)
  • Black Hole Demographics (2002) in "Current High-Energy Emission Around Black Holes", Proceedings 2nd KIAS Astrophysics Workshop, ed. C.-H. Lee. Singapore: World Scientific, p. 3
  • Relationship of Black Holes to Bulges by David Merritt & Laura Ferrarese (2001) appeared in "The Central Kpc of Starbursts and AGN", ed. J. H. Knapen, J. E. Beckman, I. Shlosman & T. J. Mahoney (ASP series.)
  • The Hubble Constant from the HST Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale by Laura Ferrarese (2000) appeared in "Towards an Understanding of Cosmic Flows" eds. S. Courteau, M. Strauss & J. Willick (ASP series)[7]

Publications

  • Astronomy: Feeding the first quasars in 2003[8]
  • Wavelength Calibration of GHRS, Analysis of Side 2 Data (Proposals 2844 and 2845). Duncan, D. Ferrarese, L. Walsh, J.R., Walter, L. 1991, GHRS Science Report no. 35, STScI Publications.
  • Analysis of GHRS proposal 3021 and 3127: Comparison between GHRS and Copernicus Data. Ferrarese, L.1991, STScI Publications.
  • GHRS Status. Gilliland, R., Duncan D, Ferrarese, L., 1991, STScI Publications.
  • Calibration of the Photometric Sensitivity of some Low and Medium Resolution Gratings for the GHRS. Ferrarese, L. Walsh, J.R. 1990, GHRS Science Report no. 27, STScI Publications.
  • Analysis of GHRS proposal 3021: Wavelength Accuracy and Stability. Ferrarese, L. 1990, GHRS Science Report no. 26, STScI Publications.[7]
  • Article: Co-author of Supermassive Black Holes (2002) Physics World.[7]

Affiliations

Laura Ferrarese is an active member of the IAU (International Astronomical Union) and is affiliated with Division B Facilities, Technologies and Data Science, Division H Interstellar Matter and Local Universe and Division J Galaxies and Cosmology within the IAU. She was a Past Member of Division VIII Galaxies & the Universe until 2012 and Commission 28 Galaxies until 2015 within the IAU.[9]

She was the president of the National Committee for Astronomy in Canada from 2013 to 2015.[9]

In July 2017, Ferrarese began her yearlong term as Interim Director of the Gemini Observatory.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Curriculum Vitae of Laura Ferrarese" (PDF). University of Victoria. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-11-17.
  2. 1 2 3 "CASCA 2015 Press Tip Sheet" (PDF). Canadian Astronomical Society.
  3. ↑ "Two Public Astronomy Lectures Help Mark 100 Years of Astronomy Group in Victoria". Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
  4. 1 2 3 "Laura Ferrarese -- Herberg Astrophysics". Herzberg Astrophysics. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
  5. ↑ Ferrarese, L. (2016, June 1). Curriculum Vitae of Laura Ferrarese. Retrieved from http://cdn1.regione.veneto.it/alfstreaming-servlet/streamer/resourceId/ed9a594d-af8a-4572-a408-503b0cf9459a/CV%20FERRARESE.pdf
  6. 1 2 Sage, Leslie (2015). "CASCA 2015 Press Tip Sheet" (PDF). Canadian Astronomical Society.
  7. 1 2 3 "Laura Ferrarese's Publications". astrowww.phys.uvic.ca. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
  8. ↑ Ferrarese, Laura (2003-01-23). "Astronomy: Feeding the first quasars". Nature. 421 (6921): 329–330. Bibcode:2003Natur.421..329F. doi:10.1038/421329a. ISSN 0028-0836.
  9. 1 2 "International Astronomical Union | IAU". www.iau.org. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
  10. ↑ "Dr. Laura Ferrarese Appointed Interim Director of Gemini Observatory". Gemini Observatory. 2017-06-02. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
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