Professional Experience

• Associate Professor, Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (2014 – current)

• Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (2008 – 2014)

• Research Scientist and Astrophysics Group Leader, DOE Advanced Scientific Computing (ASC) Flash Center, Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Chicago (2005– 2008)

• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Postdoctoral Research Associate, (AX Division, 2002-2005)

Education

• University of California at Berkeley, Ph.D., (Physics, 2002)

– Thesis : “Single and Multiple Star Formation in Turbulent Giant Molecular Cloud Cores”

– Thesis Advisors : Christopher F. McKee and Richard I. Klein

• University of California at Berkeley, M.S., (Physics, 1998)

• Caltech, B.S. with Honors, (Physics, 1994)

• Fenwick High School, (Oak Park, Illinois, 1990)

Academic and Professional Honors, Visiting Professorships

• American Astronomical Society 231 Invited Plenary, “The Fate of Exploding White Dwarfs,” 1/12/2018

• Visiting Professor, International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics (2016 – current)

• Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) Institute for Theory and Computation (ITC) visiting faculty (2016 – 2017)

• Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) Scholar (2014 – 2017)

• Department of Energy Certificate of Service (2009), awarded to members of the Flash Center “For… leadership in advancing the field of computational science and engineering by using high-performance computing within the University of Chicago Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) Alliance Center to elevate the understanding of the physical problems of nuclear ignition, detonation, and turbulent mixing of complex multi-component fluids and other materials as represented by supernovae.”

• NASA Graduate Student Research Fellowship (1998 – 2001)

• George W. and Bernice E. Green Prize for Creative Scholarship (1994), awarded annually to a Caltech undergraduate for outstanding research

Principal Investigator Grants Awarded

2019 NSF XSEDE Supercomputer Allocation on Stampede2: 106,839 node hours (9.1 Million KNL CPU Hours, $27,735 equivalent)

2019 NASA HST: “The Late-time NIR Light Curves of SNe 2017erp and 2018gv,” PIs D. Eisenstein, O. Graur (Harvard), R. Fisher $45,377

2018 NuSTAR-XMM-Newton 80NSSC19K0601 : “The Supernova Remnant 3c 397: Constraining Physics of Type Ia Supernovae in the Single-Degenerate Scenario”, PIs H. Yamaguchi (NASA GSFC/Kyoto), R. Petre (NASA GSFC), R. Fisher $26,750

2018 – 2021 NASA Astrophysics Theory Program (ATP): “Evaluating the Double-Degenerate Spiral Type Ia Merger Model” $150,000

2018 – 2021 NASA HEC-SMD-17-1205 Supercomputer Award

2018 NSF XSEDE Supercomputer Allocation on Stampede2: 119,837 node hours (8.1 Million KNL CPU Hours, $36,000 equivalent)

2016 NSF XSEDE Supercomputer Allocation on Stampede :981,816.0 SUs ($38,000 equivalent)

2015 NSF XSEDE Supercomputer Allocation on Stampede : 1,461,623.0 SUs ($51,000 equivalent)

2010 NSF MRI-R² : “Acquisition of a Heterogeneous Terascale Shared Campus Computing Facility” (10/01/10 – 10/01/11) $199,480

2007-2008 University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory Joint Theory Institute : “Support for International Collaboration on Turbulence Research,” $78,000

2005 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory : “Large-Scale 3-D Simulation of Weakly-Compressible Homogeneous Isotropic Turbulence with Lagrangian Tracer Particles,” 26.7 Million CPU hours on IBM BG/L (then #1 on top 500 supercomputer list in the world)

Co-Principal Investigator Grants Awarded

2010 AFOSR DURIP : “Acquisition of a Heterogenous Terascale Shared Campus Computing Facility” (10/01/10 – 10/01/11, PI S. Gottlieb, University Massachusetts Dartmouth) $199,800

Selected Upcoming and Recent Presentations

AAS 237, 1/21

AAS 236, “Constraining the Progenitors and Mechanisms of Type Ia Supernovae Through Late-Time Light Curve Observations,” 6/20

TAPIR Seminar, Caltech, 3/2020

UCSC FLASH Seminar, 3/2020

“Three-Dimensional Simulations of White Dwarf Mergers and Turbulently-Driven Detonation Initiation,” Beginnings and Ends of Double White Dwarfs Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, 7/4/2019

“Universality and Non-Universality in Turbulent Detonation Initiation,” Technion University, Israel, 6/27/2019

“Detonation Initiation in Turbulent Electron-Degenerate White Dwarf Matter,” EUROWD21 Austin, 7/23/2018 – 7/27/2018

Invited ASTRONUM17, St. Malo France, 6/29/2017

AAS 229, “The Fate of Exploding Chandrasekhar-Mass White Dwarfs: The Production of Stable Iron Peak Elements in SNR 3C 397,” 1/6/2017

UMass Amherst Astronomy Colloquium, 12/8/2016

Harvard Center for Astrophysics, Institute for Theory and Computation Colloquium, 10/20/2016

Harvard Center for Astrophysics, Institute for Theory and Computation Luncheon, 10/20/2016

Tufts University Physics & Astronomy Colloquium, 10/7/2016

Invited Talk, ICRANet Pescara Meeting, 6/2016

AAS 227, 1/6/2016

UMass HPC Day, 11/14/2014

Harvard Center for Astrophysics, Institute for Theory and Computation Luncheon, 10/16/2014

Harvard Center for Astrophysics, Institute for Theory and Computation Colloquium, 10/16/2014

Type Ia Supernova Workshop, University of Chicago, 9/15 – 9/19/14

Unquiet Universe Meeting, Cefalù, Sicily, 6/9 – 6/14/14

AAS 224th Meeting, 6/5/2014

“Big Data Challenges in Petascale Computational Astrophysics Simulations,” UMass Boston Big Data Workshop, 10/4/2013

“Exploding Stars and the Accelerating Cosmos,” Maria Mitchell Observatory, Nantucket Island, 6/19/2013

“High Performance Computing in Computational Astrophysics,” High Performance Computing in Computational Science & Engineering Seminar, UMass Amherst, 9/28/2012

“Turbulence in Type Ia Supernovae Simulations,” New England Numerical Analysis Day (NENAD), UMass Amherst, 4/21/2012

“Turbulence in Type Ia Supernovae Simulations,” American Physical Society April Meeting, Invited Session on Advancements in Computational Physics Using NSF’s TeraGrid/XSEDE Resources, Atlanta, 4/1/2012

“Turbulence in Star Formation,” Harvard Center for Astrophysics, Institute for Theory and Computation Seminar Pizza Lunch, 2/22/2012

“Simulating the Single And Double Degenerate Channels of Type Ia Supernovae,” Harvard Center for Astrophysics, Institute for Theory and Computation, 2/7/2012

Publications

See my publication list.

Leadership Departmental, College, and University Service Roles

Founding Faculty Member of Center for Scientific Computing and Visualization Research (CSCVR)

Co-Lead Developer and Founding Faculty Member of Computational Science and Engineering Ph.D. Program

M.S. Physics Graduate Program Director (2014 – )

Chair College Academic Council (2018 – 2019)

Chair College Curriculum Committee (2019 – )

NASA Massachusetts Space Grant Faculty Liaison (2009 – )

Service to Field

Reviewer for NSF, DOE, and NASA panels. Reviewer for Nature, Science, Astrophysical Journal, Physical Review Journals, and the Journal of Open Source Software.

Professional Memberships

American Physical Society (APS), International Astronomical Union (IAU), American Astronomical Society (AAS), National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP), and Society of Physics Students (SPS).