Silas is an Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He has had a few other jobs, including Astronomer, Dad, Camp Counselor, and some others we won’t mention! Today his work involves explaining complex ideas in ways that people can easily understand, whether they be students, other scientists, or the public.
Professor | UMass Lowell
September 2010 – Present
As a professor at a large public research university my main focus is on communicating about science to a wide audience. That includes teaching students, engaging the public, and disseminating my research findings. As an astronomer I use telescopes including the Chandra X-ray Observatory, Gemini, and Hubble to study black-holes and pulsars. I write about my results in scientific papers published in professional journals, and I write many grant proposals, a few of which end up funding research, outreach, and teaching at UMass Lowell. I am a go-to contributor for local media (radio, TV, newspapers, etc) on current events in astronomy, and write for The Conversation, where my articles have been read by hundreds of thousands of people, and been re-posted by dozens of websites worldwide (including in translation in at least 3 languages). I lead our campus observatory which offers monthly public open nights, supports astronomy courses, and provides astronomy research training for our students. Check out @umlastronomy on facebook and Insta.
Of course being a professor involves teaching, not surprisingly my classes include Astronomy & Astrophysics, and Observational Astronomy. The big surprise to me came when I started teaching Introductory Physics to non-physical science majors (UMass calls this “General Physics”, and its known as “College Physics” elsewhere). It turns out people who want to be Physical Therapists, Doctors, and Biologists have unbelievable work ethic and motivation, but find Physics an alien way of thinking. Figuring out how to help these students learn Physics became my new obsession.
Astronomer | Gemini Observatory
July 2007 – August 2010
As a Gemini Science Fellow at the International Gemini Observatory (now part of NSF’s National Optical and Infra-Red Laboratory: NOIRLab) I spent 3 years living in Hilo Hawaii as part of the scientific team operating one of the world’s leading (and largest at 8 meters diameter) astronomical telescopes. I observed with the telescope more then 150 nights (a week per month year-round), gathering data for astronomers around the world, conducted my own research, published papers on my discoveries, and supported high-tech instrumentation. I also did my fair share of breaking things, which kept the engineering staff cheerfully busy. Raising twins in the middle of the Pacific had its moments, but all too soon the time came to return to civilization, and UMass beckoned.
Research Fellow | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
September 2002 – July 2007
I received my postdoctoral training at Harvard, and remained for 5 years conducting astrophysics research. My work focused on using The Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes to map and (try to) understand the population of black holes and neutron stars in our home galaxy, the Milky Way. I also became involved in a digitization project to mine the century’s worth of astro-photographic plates held in Harvard’s archives. Many trips to far-flung mountaintop observatories later, I became inspired to work at one full-time, which led me to Gemini Observatory.
thephysicsprof.com 