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Robert Gehrz

Professor (Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics), Director

357/385 Tate, 624-7806/626-2067, email gehrz @ astro.umn.edu
http://www.astro.umn.edu/~gehrz/
gehrz.jpg

PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY, 1985-; DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA OBSERVATORIES, 1989-; Interim Chair, Department of Astronomy, 2005-2006; CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, 2006-; Fellow, Explorers Club, 1979; Fellow, AAAS, 1995; President, American Astronomical Society, 1999-2000; Fellow, APS, 2004; NASA Group Achievement Award, 2004.

Principal, SIRTF In-Orbit Checkout Focus Integrated Products Team, 2000-; NAS Committee on Organization and Management of Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2001; Chair, NSF/NASA/DOE Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee, 2002-2005; JWST Product Integrity Team, 2002-; JWST Science Assessment Team 2005; Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Site Selection Committee, 2005-2006; NASA SOFIA Science Steering Committee, 2007 -; Leader, NASA SOFIA Community Task Force, 2007-.

Current Research

I am an observational/experimental infrared astromomer specializing in instrument development, telescope construction, telescope control and data acquisition systems. My observational programs include studies of comets, novae, supernovae, variable stars, and objects of opportunity.

Selected Publications

K.Haynes, J. M. Cannon, E. D. Skillman, D. C. Jackson, and R. D. Gehrz , Spatially Resolved Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Emission Features in Nearby, Low Metallicity, Star-forming Galaxies, Astrophysical Journal [abstract]

L. A. Helton, C. E. F. M. Walter, K. Vanlandingham, G. J. Schwarz, A. Evans, J. -U. Ness, T. R. Geballe, R. D. Gehrz, M. Greenhouse, J. Krautter, W. Liller, D. K. Lynch, R. J. Rudy, S. N. Shore, S. Starrfield, and J. Truran, The Dusty Nova V1065 Centauri (Nova Cen 2007): a Spectroscopic Analysis of Abundances and Dust Properties, Astrophysical Journal [abstract]

R. D. Gehrz, D. Angerhausen, E. E. Becklin, M. A. Greenhouse, S. Horner, A. Krabbe, M. R. Swain, and E. T. Young, SOFIA: On the Pathway toward Habitable Worlds, Pathways Towards Habitable Planets [abstract]

E. Dwek, R. G. Arendt, P. Bouchet, D. N. Burrows, P. Challis, I. J. Danziger, J. M. De Buizer, R. D. Gehrz, S. Park, E. F. Polomski,J. D. Slavin, and C. E. Woodward, Five Years of Mid-infrared Evolution of the Remnant of SN 1987A: The Encounter Between the Blast Wave and the Dusty Equatorial Ring, ApJ [abstract]

R. D. Gehrz, T. L. Roellig, and M. W. Werner, Writing a success story: lessons learned from the Spitzer Space Telescope, Proceedings of SPIE Volume: 7796

N. Smith, M. S. Povich, B. A. Whitney, E. Churchwell, B. L. Babler, M. R Meade, J. Bally, R. D. Gehrz, T. P. Robitaille, and K. G. Stassun, Spitzer Space Telescope Imaging of the Carina Nebula: The Steady March of Feedback Driven Star Formation, MNRAS [abstract]

R. D. Gehrz, E. E. Becklin, I. de Pater, D. F. Lester, T. L. Roellig, and C. E. Woodward, A New Window on the Cosmos: The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, Advances in Space Research [abstract]

R. D. Gehrz, T. L Roellig, G. G. Fazio, J. R. Houck, F. J. Low, G. H. Rieke, B. T. Soifer, M. W. Werner, E. A. Romana, D. A Levine et al, The NASA Spitzer Space Telescope, Review of Scientific Instruments [abstract]

T. Temim, R. D. Gehrz, C. E. Woodward, T. L. Roellig, N. Smith, L. R. Rudnick, E. F. Polomski, K. Davidson, L. Yuen, and T. Onaka, Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Imaging and Spectroscopy of the Crab Nebula, Astronomical Journal [abstract]

J. Th. Van Loon, I. McDonald, J. M. Oliveira, A. Evans, M. L. Boyer, R. D. Gehrz, E. Polomski, and C. E. Woodward, The First 8-13 μm Spectra of Globular Cluster Red Giants: Circumstellar Silicate Dust Grains in 47 Tucanae (NGC 104), Astronomy & Astrophysics [abstract]

Education

B.A., Physics, University of Minnesota, 1967.
Ph.D. Physics, University of Minnesota, 1971.