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Andrew Francis Ptak

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Andrew Francis Ptak

  • RESEARCH AST, FIELDS AND PARTICLES
  • 301.286.1154
  • NASA/GSFC
  • Mail Code: 662
  • Greenbelt , MD 20771
  • Employer: NASA

    • Brief Bio

    I received a PhD in Physics from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1997, working at NASA/GSFC with Pete Serlemitsos and Rich Mushotzky on X-ray observations of starburst galaxies and low-luminosity active galactic nuclei. I am a member of the LSST galaxy and astrostatistics science teams. I am currently a member of the NuSTAR starburst and ULX teams, and am working on future strategic and explorer X-ray missions. Prior to coming to GSFC I worked as a post-doc under Prof. Richard Griffiths at Carnegie-Mellon University (1997-2001) and as a research scientist at the Johns Hopkins University (2001-2010).

    Research Interests

    Extragalatic X-ray Astrophysics

    My main research interests are in the X-ray properties of starburst galaxies, particularly hot gas and ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs), and in active galactic nuclei. I am also interested in wide-area surveys and following up unusual sources with X-ray observations. I have a strong interest in astrophysics software development, having written an automated analysis program for Chandra and XMM-Newton data that produced one of the first serendipitous source catalogs for Chandra and XMM-Newton (http://www.xassist.org).

    Positions/Employment

    9/1992 - 9/1997

    Graduate Student in Physics

    University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD Thesis title: X-ray Constraints on Accretion and Starburst Processes in Galatic Nuclei
    10/1997 - 7/2001

    Postdoctoral Research Scientist

    Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
    7/2001 - 3/2010

    Associate Research Scientist

    The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
    3/2010 - Present

    Research Astrophysicist

    NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD

    Brief Bio

    I received a PhD in Physics from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1997, working at NASA/GSFC with Pete Serlemitsos and Rich Mushotzky on X-ray observations of starburst galaxies and low-luminosity active galactic nuclei. I am a member of the LSST galaxy and astrostatistics science teams. I am currently a member of the NuSTAR starburst and ULX teams, and am working on future strategic and explorer X-ray missions. Prior to coming to GSFC I worked as a post-doc under Prof. Richard Griffiths at Carnegie-Mellon University (1997-2001) and as a research scientist at the Johns Hopkins University (2001-2010).

                                                                                                                                                                                            
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    • Last Updated: 06/02/2023