I am a radio astronomer with experience in
spectral line studies of atoms and
molecules in
interstellar clouds and circumstellar envelopes, in low frequency
radio studies of the Sun, and in interferometry and aperture synthesis. My
current research concentrates on
precursors to star formation.
I obtained my B.Sc. in Honours Physics from Loyola College, Montreal, (which is now part of Concordia University in 1966.
During my undegraduate years, I also trained in the University Naval Training
Division (UNTD) at HMCS Donnacona and was commissioned into the
Royal Canadian Navy Reserve (now the
Naval Reserve of
Canada) and went on the inactive list in 1967 with the rank of
sublieutenant.
In 1973, I obtained my Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Maryland, College Park.
I joined
the JPL staff in 1975, after a two year tenure as a
National Research Council
Resident Research Associate. I was a founding
member of the JPL study team that originated the
concept of the Large Deployable Reflector (Gulkis, Kuiper and Swanson 1978).
I was also a member of the first team to conduct a millimeter wave spectral
line investigation with the NASA
G.P.
Kuiper Airborne Observatory, and
subsequently a principal investigator in that program.
I am the
Lead Radio Astronomer
for the
Deep Space Network, managing the
TMOD Radio Astronomy
Office, and also serve as Friend of the Telescope for the DSN
Goldstone Complex.
I am a member of
I served as
astronomical
consultant to the production of the Warner Bros.
production Contact. Together
with Linda Wald, the mathematical consultant, we advised Ian Kelly on a
a scheme for encoding the alien signal, and developed images for the signals
that were used in some of the computer displays in the film.