AProf' Quentin Parker

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A/Prof. Quentin Parker qap_at_physics.mq.edu.au,
room E7A 206 Department of Physics and
Engineering
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Astronomy and astrophysics research has grown
rapidly at Macquarie over the last 6 years. We
now have a Concentration of Research Excellence
(CORE) that comprises 30 group members including
5 academic staff, 3 adjuncts, 6 postdoctoral
fellows, 13 PhD students, 4 masters/honours
students engaged in vigorous programmes of
diverse astronomical research See
http//www.physics.mq.edu.au/astronomy/
Macquarie astronomers have built a strong
international reputation. Current research
strengths include wide-field astronomy, optical,
infrared and radio studies of planetary nebulae
and supernova remnants, binary stars, Galactic
archaeology, and theoretical studies of
shock-waves, star formation and black holes.
Output metrics 2003-2009 Publications170
papers including 70 in refereed journals Major
Grants with a total value 5m Major telescope
access won on worlds most prestigious
observatories such as HST, SPITZER, CHANDRA,
GEMINI, ESO VLT) equivalent to 4.2m of facility
access 6 PhD completions since Dec 2005 most
go in to industry.
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Postgraduate studies PhD Masters by research

• ? A variety of options are available for PhD
  graduates wishing to pursue a research or
  industrial career it is not just astronomy!
• ? Astronomy graduates have gone into a broad
  range of careers including remote sensing,
  medical physics, conservation science, financial
  modeling, defense industries, teaching, even
  insurance some even stay on in Astronomy.
• ? Students leave equipped with a wide range of
  sophisticated and useful skills. These include
  but are not restricted to
• - high level analytical skills including data
  processing, manipulation, interpretation,
  assessment and evaluation
• - Experimental design, testing against data,
  image processing, spectral analysis
• - Computational physics, software development,
  modeling, scientific writing, science proposals
  persuading someone to part with money/resources!

PhD projects are available in observational,
theoretical and in instrumentation projects that
can equip students with a very broad range of
capabilities
Cutting-edge instrumentation PhD projects with
advanced astrophotonics in collaboration with the
AAO are available now
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Planetary nebulae are among the most complex,
varied and fascinating of celestial phenomena and
they hold the key to determining the physics and
time-scales of mass loss and evolution for low-
to intermediate-mass stars. They are also vital
probes of - Nucleosynthesis processes -
abundance gradients - chemical enrichment of the
interstellar medium - plasma physics
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The Macquarie/AAO/Strasbourg H-alpha planetary
nebulae project MASH has essentially doubled
Galactic planetary nebula numbers and is having
a profound effect on nearly every aspect of PN
research.
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ASTRONOMY RESEARCH LINKS WITH THE AAO

• ? Macquarie is an active, growing centre of
  astronomical research and is in close proximity
  to both the AAO and ATNF and there are already
  established links (jointly supervised masters and
  PhD students) while the AAO is a customer of the
  laser micromachining facility
• ? These links offer additional synergies and
  opportunities for co-supervision and
  collaborations with international partners
  including industry, particularly in the area of
  cutting edge photonics as used in astronomical
  instrumentation.
• ? Two 5000 AAO/Macquarie honours scholarships
  have been set up to build further links.
• ? These would be jointly supervised projects
  between an AAO instrumentation scientist and
  Macquarie.
• ? Other honours/PhD projects are offered in
  collaboration with AAO research astronomers from
  within their areas of expertise
• ? Jointly supervised PhD projects in
  instrumentation or direct astronomical research
  are available