Curriculum Vitae
Jason A. Surace
phone: by request
Mail Stop 220-6
Pasadena, CA 91125

 
Education and Academic Research
Ph.D., Astronomy, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 1998.
Institute for Astronomy, Professor D.B. Sanders. 
Dissertation: A High Spatial Resolution Optical/Near-Infrared Study of the Evolutionary Link Between Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies and Optical QSOs
Adaptive optics and advanced image reconstruction techniques were used to investigate the internal structure of ultraluminous infrared galaxies and quasar hosts over a wide range of wavelengths, extending from the ultraviolet to far-infrared. Spectral synthesis techniques were used to analyze the results, establishing similarities and a relative timeline between ULIRGs and at least some fraction of the QSO population.

M.S., Astronomy, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 1995. 
Adaptive optics imaging and near-infrared spectroscopy of T Tauri stars and other YSOs (with A. Tokunaga and F. Roddier). Design of optics for a near-infrared camera (J. Graves). Development of advanced image deconvolution algorithms (C. Roddier). Analysis of far-infrared data from IRAS of large samples of interacting galaxies (D.B. Sanders).

B.S., Astronomy with Honor, California Institute of Technology, 1992. 
Performed regular daily observations and photographic processing at Big Bear Solar Observatory. Wrote image processing and film recording software at the same (W. Marquette, J. Varsik). Helped develop IRAS image reconstruction software which was used to analyze the population of local infrared luminous galaxies (B.T. Soifer, J. Mazzarella, A. Wehrle) and the Taurus Molecular Region (S. Terebey). Studied nearby ULIRGs (L. Armus).

 
Professional
Experience
California Institute of Technology, Honolulu, HI (remote). NEO Surveyor Simulation Scientist, 2017-present.
 
Eureak Scientific, Honolulu, HI. Research Scientist, 2016-2019.
 
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. Senior Research Scientist, 2006-2016.
Palomar Transient Factory IPAC Operations Manager, 2009-2016. 
 
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. Member of the Professional Staff, 1999-2016.
 
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA. Visiting IRAC Liaison Scientist, 1999-2000.
 
Goddard Spaceflight Center, Green Belt, MD. Visiting IRAC Liaison Scientist, 1999-2000.
 
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. Associate Research Scientist, 1999-2006.
SWIRE Staff, 2003-2005. 
Infrared Array Camera Deputy Lead, 2001-present. 
 
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. WIRE Post-Doctoral Fellow, 1998-1999.
 
University of Hawai'i, Honolulu, HI. Research Assistant, 1994-1998.
 
University of Hawai'i, Honolulu, HI. Teaching Assistant, 1993.
 
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. Research Assistant, 1990-1993.
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, 1991-1993. 
Big Bear Solar Observatory Observation Staff, 1990. 
 
University of Texas, Austin, TX. Summer Intern, 1986.
Welch Summer Scholar Program in Chemical Synthesis and Analysis, 1986. 
 
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX. Summer Intern, 1985.
Microbiology Instrumentation Program, 1985. 
 
Research
Interests
Evolution of galaxies; dynamics of galaxy mergers.
Luminous infrared galaxies and active galactic nuclei. 
Detector and spacecraft design. 
High resolution imaging techniques; adaptive optics; deconvolution algorithms. 
Software architectures for advanced high performance computing; data pipelines. 
Large areal surveys. 
Variability and time domain astronomy. 
 
Science
Teams
SWIRE - Spitzer Wide-Field Extragalactic Survey.
IRAC GTO - InfraRed Array Camera Guaranteed Time Observer. 
IRAC Dark Field - not an acronym! 
COSMOS - Cosmic Evolution Survey. 
GOALS - Great Observatories All-Sky LIRG Survey. 
SpARCS - Spitzer Application of the Red Cluster Sequence. 
ORELSE - Observations of Redshift Evolution in Large-Scale Surveys. 
SERVS - Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey. 
PTF - Palomar Transient Factory. 
 
Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant, The University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 1993.
ASTR 110 - Introduction to Astronomy, a freshman course of 100 students; led recitation sections, graded papers and exams, and delivered occasional lectures. 
 
Advisees
Duncan Farrah; HST-STIS ULIRG spectroscopy.
Justin Howell; Spitzer observations of elliptical galaxies.
Jessica Krick; clusters in an ultradeep mid-IR field.
Sean Mattingly; Palomar Transient Factory algorithm development.
Mark Frost; search for Pop-III SNe.
Sebastian Haan; HST-NICMOS study of LIRGs.
Jean-Christophe Mauduit; large-scale structure around ULIRGs and AGN.
 
Professional
Activities
JPL Palomar TAC, 2005-present.  
NSF Grant Reviewer, 2011.  
Chandra TAC, 2007,2008.  
Frequent reviewer for AJ, ApJ, MNRAS, A&A, and PASJ.  
Greater IPAC Science Symposium Chair, 2010-present.  
Member of the American Astronomical Society.  
Member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.  
Member of the International Society for Optical Engineering (1995-2001).  
 
Awards and
Honors
ARCS Scholar of the Year
Helen Jones Farrar Award.
Kingsley Award.
Jesse H. Jones Scholarship for Men. 
Phi Beta Kappa Scholarship.

Selected Publications
HST/WFPC2 Observations of Warm Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies, Surace et al. 1998, ApJ, 492, 116. 
 
Optical and Near-Infrared Imaging of Infrared-Excess Palomar-Green Quasars, Surace et al., 2001, 122, 2791. 
 
An IRAS High Resolution Image Restoration (HIRES) Atlas of All Interacting Galaxies in the IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample, Surace et al., 2004, AJ, 127, 3235 . 
 
SWIRE ELAIS N1 Source Catalogs, Surace, J. A., et al. 2004, (Surace+, 2004), Cat, 2255, 0. 
 
The Infrared Array Camera Dark Field: Far-Infrared to X-ray Data, Krick, J. E., Surace, J.A., et al. 2009, ApJS, 185, 85. 
 
A Pilot Search for Population III Supernova Candidates in the Spitzer/IRAC Dark Field, Frost, M. I., Surace, J., Moustakas, L. A., & Krick, J. 2009, ApJ, 698, L68. 
 
The Nuclear Structure in Nearby Luminous Infrared Galaxies: Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS Imaging of the GOALS Sample, Haan, S., Surace, J.A., Armus, L., Evans, A.S., et al. 2011, AJ, 141, 100. 
 
More than 300 additional co-authored publications available via ADS. 
 
Revised: May 14, 2019.