Daniel Perley

Campbell Hall 601
U.C. Berkeley Department of Astronomy
Berkeley, CA 94720

Primary Interests:

• Gamma-ray bursts and transients
  
• Astrophysical computer modeling and simulation
  
• Data processing algorithms
  
• Stellar astronomy and supernovae
  
• Radio astronomy
  

Education:

• B.A. in Physics (Magna cum Laude; 3.93 GPA), Cornell University (2004)
  
• M.A. in Astrohysics, UC Berkeley (2006)
  

Research Experience:

• 1998: Conducted study of dark matter in a spiral galaxy using VLA HI data.
  
• 1999-2000: Wrote a C Newtonian gravitational simulator and successfully modeled three physical interacting galaxy systems, comparing to HI data from the VLA.
  
• 2001: Developed an automatic source extraction tool at NRAO, now implemented in AIPS++, to find and model sources in highly blended three-dimensional images.
  
• 2002: Researched outlier detection methods at NRAO for AIPS++ to eliminate radio interference in visibility data.
  
• 2003: Researched galaxy cluster detection in multiwavelength data as a summer intern at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
  
• 2005-2009: Worked on numerous aspects of observational study of gamma-ray bursts including early-time afterglow photometry and prompt-emission correlations, fitting dust models to photometric and spectroscopic SEDs, searches for afterglow color changes. .
  
• 2006-2009: Studies of gamma-ray burst host galaxies: measuring or constraining redshifts and fitting templates to determine properties.

Publications and Conferences:

• First-author papers:
  • Perley et al. 2009 - The Host Galaxies of Swift Dark Gamma-Ray Bursts: Observational Constraints on Highly Obscured and Very High-Redshift GRBs
  • Perley et al. 2009 - GRB 080503: Implications of a Naked Short Gamma-Ray Burst Dominated by Extended Emission
  • Perley et al. 2008 - GRB 071003: Broadband Follow-up Observations of a Very Bright Gamma-Ray Burst in a Galactic Halo
  • Perley et al. 2008 - The Troublesome Broadband Evolution of GRB 061126: Does a Gray Burst Imply Gray Dust?
• 7 additional publications as second or third author
• 9 additional publications as a later co-author
• 100+ GCN circulars

Teaching and Outreach:

• Six semesters of teaching experience as a graduate student instructor. Developed many labs, worksheets and teaching materials still in use in these classes.
• Three semesters as "head" GSI for very large classes (200-800 students).
• One semester as co-instructor of Astro 300, a class for first-year students on teaching methods.
• Assisted an Iraqi astronomy PhD student by providing computer code and advice.
• Gave public lectures to amateur astronomical organizations.
• Rewrote (essentially from scratch) the Wikipedia article on gamma-ray bursts in 2006 and again in 2009. It is now a featured article, a designation for "the best articles in Wikipedia, as determined by Wikipedia's editors".

Computer Experience:

• Extensive familiarity with HTML, XML, CSS, XSL, IDL, Python, C and C++. Some limited experience with IRAF, AIPS and AIPS++. Familiar with both Linux/UNIX and Windows-based operating systems.