First AusSRC Director Appointed
CSIRO astronomer Dr Karen Lee-Waddell has been appointed as the first Director of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Regional Centre (AusSRC).
In her new role, Karen will lead the Australian effort to design and build computing and data intensive research capability that will support astronomers using the Australian SKA precursor telescopes (ASKAP and the MWA) and eventually the SKA.
Karen has been working as part of the ASKAP team for the past five years, helping to develop and enhance the telescope and its processing software. She is also currently the Project Scientist for the WALLABY survey science team, coordinating a collaboration of 150 international researchers and playing an instrumental role in producing new science results.
Karen will take up her new position in September, based in Perth at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and CSIRO.
The AusSRC will be part of an international network of SKA Regional Centres that will come online this decade to support the global flow of data and processing needed for the full SKA Observatory.
The AusSRC is funded by the Australian Government and CSIRO. The program is led by ICRAR and CSIRO in collaboration with the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, the MWA, the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Astronomy Australia Limited, and the international SKA Regional Centre Steering Committee.
Australian Radio Astronomy Data User Survey Report Released
The AusSRC Design Study Program recently undertook a survey of the radio astronomy data user community in Australia for the purposes of obtaining feedback that would inform the development of the AusSRC. The results based on seventy-four responses, as well as conclusions and future actions obtained from the survey are detailed in the report.
Information for Industry
Learn more about SKA Regional Centres and collaboration opportunities between digital industries and the AusSRC Design Program.
Design Study Program
Learn about AusSRC Design Study Program led by Dr Slava Kitaeff
Partners & Collaborations
See our key partners and collaborations and visit their websites for more information on their work towards the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope.
Related Instruments
SKA-Low
The low frequency SKA will be constructed in Australia and will comprise over one hundred thousand dipole antennas in stations across Western Australia.
Image: AAVS 1.0, a testbed for SKA-low technology at Australia’s SKA site, the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO). Credit: ICRAR/Curtin University.
ASKAP
CSIRO’s Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) is an SKA Precursor located at the Australian SKA site. Comprising 36 dish antennas, ASKAP is a technologically advanced radio survey instrument.
Image: ASKAP at sunset. Credit: ASKAP/CSIRO, image by Pete Wheeler, ICRAR.
MWA
The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is a low frequency SKA Precursor also located at the Australian SKA site. Led by Curtin University, the MWA has been operating since 2013.
Image: An outlier antenna tile of the Murchison Widefield Array. Credit: ICRAR/Curtin University.
Header image: artist’s impression of SKA-low at Australia’s SKA site. Credit: SKAO.