Dr Jordan Collier is our new Senior Project Scientist
The AusSRC is excited to introduce Dr Jordan Collier as our new Senior Project Scientist.
Jordan is passionate about astronomy and the many projects being undertaken with the SKA, and is excited by the unexpected discoveries that await those trawling through the data, be it human or machine!
Jordan looks forward to recruiting and working with top scientists:
“Together as AusSRC’s Science Support team, we will drive technical aspects of the science projects for the SKA and its precursors, providing the optimal test-bed that stretches AusSRC’s systems and capabilities, ensuring that we can deliver SKA data to science teams that meets their requirements. We will remain user-focused and user-driven, providing whatever support systems and services are needed to facilitate the highest-impact science within this broad and diverse scientific community.”
Jordan’s background is in extragalactic radio astronomy, a field in which he’s published ~80 refereed journal articles. His research interests include odd radio circles, the evolution of young and distant radio sources, large/deep radio surveys, and data processing techniques.
Jordan joins us from the Inter-University Institute for Data-Intensive Astronomy (IDIA), where he was a Senior Research Officer based at the University of Cape Town, and the Senior Astronomy Support Specialist for ilifu, a Tier 2 cloud-based research facility modelling a prototype SKA Regional Centre. In this position, Jordan held a technical leadership role, supporting and contributing to major science projects (such as the MIGHTEE and LADUMA projects) from the MeerKAT telescope, South Africa’s precursor to SKA-mid, with a particular focus on the computational and data-intensive aspects.
Jordan was previously seconded to CSIRO Space and Astronomy from Western Sydney University, where he was part of the ASKAP Commissioning and Early Science (ACES) team, working on ASKAP operations for the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU), data processing, and science validation. Jordan has remained involved as a leader in the EMU project, as the validation team lead, and has first-hand experience using data from ASKAP and the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), the Australian SKA precursors which will be the subject of his initial focus for the AusSRC.
Jordan joins AusSRC’s management team and will lead our Science Support personnel, who together will provide strong engagement and support towards local and international scientists and science projects utilising the SKA and its precursors. Jordan and his team will participate in the international SRC Network and its prototyping activities, and will provide training tools and events for the scientific community.
