We added 81 new GRBs in the sample! Please check them out in the "Pulse Shape" workflow!
The Team
Project Principal Investigator
Dr. Amy Lien is an assistant professor at the University of Tampa. She has performed research and supportive work related to the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (a space telescope that contains instruments to observe in gamma-rays, X-rays, ultraviolet, and optical wavelength). Her general research interests lie in time-domain astrophysics, star-formation history, stellar evolution, and cosmology with multi-messenger studies. She is particularly interested in fields related to gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), supernovae, and gravitational waves from the merging of neutron stars and black holes. Besides research work, she enjoys interacting with students. You can learn more about Dr. Lien's work here.
Science Team
Thomas Baumann (University of South Florida) is an undergraduate student, majoring in Physics and minoring in astronomy and mathematics. He became interested in high energy astrophysics through colloquiums and discussions with astronomers before joining the Burst Chaser project with Dr. Amy Lien. He is working towards continuing studies within astronomy.
Katherine Kurilov (University of Tampa) is an undergraduate student, majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Physics. She first gained an interest in physics after taking Dr. Amy Lien’s physics class in her freshman year and decided to pursue her interest in the field by collaborating on this project. In addition to studying physics, she is an aspiring veterinarian who looks for various volunteering opportunities where she can gain experience working with animals.
Hugo Durantini Luca (Former IATE-OAC, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba-CONICET) is an astronomy student in UNC-Famaf (Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física) from Córdoba, Argentina. Was part of the TOROS project, which aimed to perform an astronomical survey of the southern hemisphere sky in search of optical transients as counterparts for the gravitational wave observatory LIGO. He has been involved in several Zooniverse Citizen Science projects, including Disk Detective, Gravity Spy, and has been part of the Burst Chaser team since 2020. You can follow him on X: @HADL2015.
Danny Roylance (Worked at University of Utah Observatory) loves astronomy, has an insatiable curiosity, and has participated in multiple citizen science projects. He is very interested in high energy astrophysics and became involved with Burst Chaser when he was invited to join the first iteration of the project in 2020. A helicopter mechanic for six years, he is also a machine hobbyist and has ground his own telescope mirror, built a hybrid wind turbine, motors, and other things. You can follow him on X: @RoylanceDanny.
Jonathan Holden (AAS-HEAD, Colorado Local Section) studied nuclear mechanical engineering at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa, Texas. In addition to researching high-energy cosmic ray particles at the university, he began reaching out to do physics and astronomy research through Zooniverse, and joined Disk Detective in 2014. He has also participated in Higgs Hunters, Gravity Spy, and Supernova Hunters.
Dr. Bing Zhang is a distinguished professor at the Physics and Astronomy department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dr. Zhang's research focuses on in theoretical modeling and observations of high energy phenomena in the universe, including gamma-ray bursts, fast-radio bursts, pulsars, black hole accretion systems, and astrophysical jets. You can learn more about Dr. Zhang's work here.
Sovan Acharya From Delhi, India. He has B. Sc. From North Bengal University, a diploma in Civil Engineering from Malda Polytechnic and completed many certificated courses from IIT´s, IISc. Also worked as assistant construction manager in L&T construction on many projects around India. He is currently founding SA Citizen Science Group and SA Citizen Science Lab. His hobbies include astrophotography, participating in citizen science projects and encouraging others to get involved. Sovan has participated in Bennu Mapper, in the discovery of asteroids (preliminary and provisional) by IASC; in Hubble Asteroid Hunters in identifying asteroids trails; discovering supernovas in the SuperNova Hunters project; as well exoplanets candidates in Planet Hunter Tess and Planet Patrol Zooniverse projects; and galaxies classification in the Galaxy Cruise project run by NAOJ. You can follow him on X: @sovanacharya1
Carter Murawski is an undergraduate student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Tampa. He is majoring in Physics with a minor in Math and Computer Science. Carter was brought onto this team by Dr. Lien who is his favorite professor. His love for physics and math has been influenced by his dad who is a mechanical engineer. He hopes to better understand the universe and apply his skills in coding in this project. In his free time, Carter is enthusiastic about music and going to the gym.
Sebastian Reisch (University of Tampa) is an undergraduate student, majoring in Physics and Biochemistry. He enjoys learning as much knowledge as possible, and Dr. Lien has brought this out even more, connecting him to the team. Outside of school, Sebastian enjoys running, vlogging, photography, and even tinkers in the world of DnD.
Prof. Eleonora Troja is a professor at the Physics department at the University of Rome (Italy). Prof. Troja's research focuses on the most extreme explosions in the universe, such as gamma-ray bursts, gravitational wave counterparts and kilonovae. You can learn more about Prof. Troja's work here.
John Yablonsky worked for many years as a recording studio musician. Later, he formed a music production company to distribute his music in the United States and Europe. In 2012, John became Director of a non-profit organization that distributed food and clothing to the poor. Subsequent to that, John returned to his lifelong interest in astronomy. He is currently a volunteer on the Burst Chaser and Planet Patrol projects on the Zooniverse platform.
Dr. Michael Moss is a NASA postdoctoral fellow at Goddard Space Flight Center and focuses on the modeling and data analysis of gamma-ray bursts.
Vikrant Kurmude is working at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) and has research experience in the fields of active galactic nuclei(AGN), radiation physics, renewable energy, and science education. He was also a member of the academic team for the International Physics Olympiad (IPHO) in 2015 and the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) in 2016. Additionally, he is associated with many citizen science groups like Sa Citizen Science Group, Khagol Mandal. He has been involved in several Citizen Science projects like Galaxy Cruise, the International Asteroid Search Campaign(IASC). Zooniverse Citizen Science projects, including Burst Chaser, Disk Detective, Active Asteroids, Supernova Hunters, and Planet Hunters NGTS.
Marco Zaccaria Di Fraia
Orleo Marinaro
Sumit Banerjee
Eduardo Antonini
NASA Personnel
Dr. Marc Kuchner (NASA) is the NASA Citizen Science Officer. Marc got his bachelor's degree from Harvard, his Ph.D. from Caltech, and completed one postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and one at Princeton. He has worked on theory, observations and instrumentation, mostly related to extrasolar planets, circumstellar disks, or planet formation. You can follow him on X: @marckuchner.
