starburps

Irish-based teacher and researcher in Dublin. Currently a teaching fellow / technical officer at University College Dublin School of Physics where I assist with the Astrophysics and Space Science courses. Here I have the privilege of working alongside members of the EIRSAT-1 team, where I have serendipitously found myself involved in what is probably one of the coolest courses I’ve ever seen – the TupperSat course – in which we give our students the challenge of designing and building a small scientific payload within a Tupperware container that we launch on a high altitude balloon.

I was awarded the John & Pat Hume Doctoral Scholarship in Maynooth University, where I studied under Emma Whelan. While there I was a member of the Star and Planet Formation Group as well as the Centre for Astronomy and Space Science. My primary interest is the evolution of young stellar objects, particularly the phenomenon of astrophysical jets from weirder objects. This has focused on the extreme end of the stellar spectrum, such as the irradiated orion proplyds and sub-stellar objects like brown dwarfs. More lately, and partly due to my teaching responsibilities, I have also developed an interest in embedded systems and microcontrollers, especially their use in the development of nanosatellites and CubeSats.

I also enjoy (very amateur) photography, and one day I hope to get a decent camera. Anything I’m proud of, I’ve put up on my imgbb site, though it is in dire need of an update.