The Story of Light: Surveying the Cosmos

A/Prof. Alan Duffy is an astronomer at Swinburne University creating model universes on supercomputers to understand how galaxies like our own Milky Way form and explore the nature of the hidden universe; dark matter and dark energy. He is a team member of two main surveys with the next generation Australian SKA Pathfinder and is Co-Investigator in the world's first dark matter detector in the Southern Hemisphere in Stawell, Victoria. He is a regular on ABC Breakfast News and Ten’s The Project and is an experienced public speaker, ranging from amateur astronomy nights, school talks to TEDx at the Sydney Opera House. He is participating in "The Story of Light: Surveying the Cosmos".

Dr. Katie Mack is a theoretical astrophysicist. Her work focuses on finding new ways to learn about the early universe and fundamental physics using astronomical observations, probing the building blocks of nature by examining the cosmos on the largest scales. Throughout her career as a researcher at Caltech, Princeton, Cambridge, and now Melbourne University, she has studied dark matter, black holes, cosmic strings, and the formation of the first galaxies in the Universe. Katie is also a science writer, an active online science communicator and is passionate about science outreach. She is participating in "The Story of Light: Surveying the Cosmos".
 

Dr. Simon O’Toole spent a decade hunting planets orbiting stars other than the sun. He is now the Project Scientist for the Australian Astronomical Observatory Data Central project, which connects researchers to a wealth of theoretical and observational data from telescopes across the globe. Dr O’Toole builds tools that help people access astronomical data and images and interact with them in meaningful ways. He is participating in "The Story of Light: Surveying the Cosmos".
 

Dr. Ángel R. López-Sánchez is an astronomer and science communicator at the Australian Astronomical Observatory and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the Macquarie University. He studies how the gas is converted into stars in nearby galaxies and how this affects galaxy evolution. He also provides support for visiting astronomers to the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT, Siding Spring Observatory, NSW). Dr. López-Sánchez is a passionate science communicator who continuously gives talks and public lectures, writes popular science writings and organizes stargazing activities. He is participating in "The Story of Light: Surveying the Cosmos".
 

A/Prof. Tara Murphy is an astrophysicist working in the School of Physics at the University of Sydney. She is an ARC Future Fellow and a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics. Her research focuses on detecting and studying transient and highly variable astrophysical phenomena with next generation radio telescopes. She leads an international team of researchers searching for variable and transient sources with the Murchison Widefield Array and the Australian SKA Pathfinder telescopes in Western Australia. Tara is passionate about teaching and high school outreach. She has been a director of the National Computer Science School since 2004 and director of the NCSS Challenge. In 2014 Tara co-founded a start-up company, Grok Learning, to get high school students around the world excited about computational thinking. She is participating in "The Story of Light: Surveying the Cosmos".