Daniel Perley

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

Research Interests:

• Gamma-ray bursts (afterglows, progenitors, and environments)
  
• Interstellar extinction; high-redshift dust properties
  
• Star formation in high-redshift galaxies
  
• Massive stellar evolution and supernovae
  
• Data processing software development
  

Education:

• B.A. in Physics (Magna cum Laude), Cornell University (2004)
  
• M.A. in Astrophysics, UC Berkeley (2006)
  

Awards:

• 2006: Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award
• 2006: Teaching Effectiveness Award
• 2009: AAS International Travel Grant
  
• 2010: Roger Doxsey Prize
  

Refereed Publications:

• First-author papers:
• Perley et al. 2010 - Monster in the Dark: The Ultraluminous GRB 080607 and its Dusty Environment
• Perley et al. 2010 - Evidence of Supernova-Synthesized Dust from the Afterglow of GRB 071025 at z=5
• 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?
• Second-author papers:
• Chen, Perley et al. 2010 - A Mature Dusty Star-Forming Galaxy Hosting GRB 080607 at z=3.036
• Bloom, Perley et al. 2009 - Observations of the Naked-Eye GRB 080319B: Implications of Nature's Brightest Explosion
• Chen, Perley et al. 2009 - High-Redshift Starbursting Dwarf Galaxies Revealed by Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows
• Bloom, Perley et al. 2007 - A Putative Early-Type Host Galaxy for GRB 060502B: Implications for the Progenitors of Short-Duration Hard-Spectrum Bursts
• Foley, Perley et al. 2006 - GRB 050408: A Bright Gamma-Ray Burst Probing an Atypical Galactic Environment
• Third- or fourth-author papers:
• Cobb, Bloom, Perley et al. 2010 - Discovery of SN 2009nz Associated with GRB 091127
• Cenko, Butler, Ofek, Perley et al. 2010 - Unveiling the Origin of GRB 090709A: Lack of Periodicity in a Reddened Cosmological Long-Duration Gamma-Ray Burst
• Pandey, Swenson, Perley et al. 2010 - GRB 090902B: Afterglow Observations and Implications
• Hurley, Rowlinson, Bellm, Perley et al. 2010 - A new analysis of the short-duration, hard-spectrum GRB 051103, a possible extragalactic soft gamma repeater giant flare
• Levesque, Bloom, Butler, Perley et al. 2010 - GRB090426: the environment of a rest-frame 0.35-s gamma-ray burst at a redshift of 2.609
• Sheffer, Prochaska, Draine, Perley et al. 2009 - The Discovery of Vibrationally Excited H2 in the Molecular Cloud Near GRB 080607
• Prochaska, Sheffer, Perley et al. 2009 - The First Positive Detection of Molecular Gas in a GRB Host Galaxy
• Miller, Chornock, Perley et al. 2009 - The Exceptionally Luminous Type II-Linear Supernova 2008es
• Covino, D'Avanzo, Klotz, Perley et al. 2009 - The complex light curve of the afterglow of GRB071010A
• Butler, Li, Perley et al. 2006 - When Do Internal Shocks End and External Shocks Begin? Early-Time Broadband Modeling of GRB 051111
• Other notable papers:
• Tanvir et al. 2009 - A Gamma-ray burst at a redshift of z~8.2
• Modjaz et al. 2009 - From Shock Breakout to Peak and Beyond: Extensive Panchromatic Observations of the Type Ib Supernova 2008D Associated with Swift X-ray Transient 080109
• Fynbo et al. 2006 - No supernovae associated with two long-duration gamma-ray bursts

Accepted Proposals:

• As PI:
• Spitzer Space Telescope (27 hours) - The Host Galaxies of Dust-Obscured Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (2 nights) - Sub-Millimeter Observations of Heavily Dust-Obscured GRB Host Galaxies
• Lick 40-inch Nickel Telescope (10 nights) - Field Calibrations for Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxy Imaging
• As co-I:
• Keck Observatory (30+ nights) - GRB Diversity in a Cosmological Context
• Keck Observatory (ToO) - ToO Observations of GRB Sources
• Gemini Observatories (200+ hours) - Exceptional Swift and Fermi GRBs: Gemini Targets of Opportunity
• Hubble Space Telescope (8 orbits) - When degenerate stars collide: Understanding A New Explosion Phenomenon
• Hubble Space Telescope (4 orbits) - Unveiling the Dusty Starburst Galaxy Hosting GRB080607
• Hubble Space Telescope (16 orbits) - Identifying and studying gamma-ray bursts at very high redshifts
• Hubble Space Telescope (87 targets) - A public SNAPSHOT survey of gamma-ray burst host galaxies

Teaching and Outreach:

• Six semesters of teaching experience as a graduate student instructor. Developed many labs, worksheets and teaching materials still in extensive use in these classes.
• Three semesters as head graduate student instructor for very large classes (200-800 students).
• One semester as co-instructor of Astro 300, a class for first-year students on teaching methods.
• Volunteered as a judge at several high school science fairs, from the regional to international level.
• Assisted at telescope-viewing "star parties" both on campus and at a middle school in minority districts in Oakland.
• Wrote GRB information page for Google Sky.
• Assisted an Iraqi astronomy PhD student by providing computer code and advice.
• Dated (using a proper-motion astrometric technique) a series of old (c.1900) astronomical photographs to verify their authenticity for a San Francisco Museum of Modern Art special exhibition.
• Gave several public lectures to amateur astronomical organizations (e.g., East Bay Astronomical Society).
• 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, PHP, Python, C and C++. Some limited experience with IRAF, AIPS and AIPS++. Familiar with both Linux/UNIX and Windows-based operating systems.