Brief Bio

Naomi is a JWST GTO postdoctoral research associate at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center employed by University of Maryland College Park (CRESST II). She is a solar system ambassador for the JWST working with Dr Stefanie Milam and Dr Heidi Hammel. She obtained her PhD in 2021 from the University of Leicester working with supervisor Dr Leigh Fletcher. Her thesis used archived data from the Spitzer Space Telescope to study the thermal structure and composition of the middle atmospheres of the ice giants, Uranus and Neptune. She used the retrieval algorithm NEMESIS and built a consistent retrieval framework for the ice giant planets ahead of the launch of the JWST. Throughout the PhD, Naomi used her teaching experience to partake in significant outreach and public engagement work. Naomi also engaged in considerable equality, diversity and inclusion work and was an active member of university committees, as well as promoting science to underrepresented groups. The majority of the engagement work she focused on was for the JWST and promoting its use for looking at our own solar system, especially the giant planets.

For a more detailed and up-to-date CV please see Naomi's Homepage.

Research Interests

Teaching Experience

Lab Demonstrator (undergraduates), University of Leicester, UK (2018 - 2021)

Physics and Maths Tutor, self-employed, UK (2017 - 2020)

Physics Teacher, Ulink College of Shanghai, China (2015 - 2017)

• Educational responsibility for 150+ EAL students per year ages 14 – 19
• Development of syllabus and materials for new laboratory practical element in iGCSE revision sessions
• Implementation of new college-wide science communication competition
• Distinction achieved for on-the-job professional development qualification in teaching and learning

Physics, Maths, and Geography Tutor, Tutors in China, China (2014 - 2015)

Education

PhD Physics and Astronomy, September 2017 - October 2021: University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom. Advisors: Dr. Leigh Fletcher. Thesis: Ice Giant Stratospheres from the Spitzer Space Telescope’s Infrared Spectrometer 

MPhys Physics with Astrophysics, September 2008 - July 2012: University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom.

• 4th year advanced study topic: Sprites, Elves and Blue Jets; Lightning in the Upper Atmosphere
• 4th year advanced research project: Common Envelope Evolution and the Fate of Planetary Systems
• 3rd year pair research project: El Niño Years: Modification of Precipitation Patterns and Vertical Storm Structures in the Tropical Pacific Region
• 3rd year group research project: Atmospheric Spectroscopy 

Professional Societies

Awards

Hubble Space Telescope Cycle 30 GO Program grant recipient ($33,305)                             2023

DPS-NSBP Speaker Award winner ($10,000)                                                                           2022

DPS under-represented minority (URM) travel grant winner ($2000)                                     2022

European Research Council PhD Studentship Award (£57,000)                                             2017

Publications

Refereed

Roman, M. T., L. N. Fletcher, G. S. Orton, et al. T. K. Greathouse, J. I. Moses, N. Rowe-Gurney, P. G. Irwin, A. Antuñano, J. Sinclair, Y. Kasaba, T. Fujiyoshi, I. de Pater, and H. B. Hammel. 2022. "Subseasonal Variation in Neptune’s Mid-infrared Emission." The Planetary Science Journal, 3 (4): 78 [10.3847/psj/ac5aa4]

Rowe-Gurney, N., L. N. Fletcher, G. S. Orton, et al. M. T. Roman, A. Mainzer, J. I. Moses, I. de Pater, and P. G. Irwin. 2021. "Longitudinal variations in the stratosphere of Uranus from the Spitzer infrared spectrometer." Icarus, 365: 114506 [10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114506]

Trilling, D. E., C. Lisse, D. P. Cruikshank, et al. J. P. Emery, Y. Fernández, L. N. Fletcher, D. P. Hamilton, H. B. Hammel, A. W. Harris, M. Mueller, G. S. Orton, Y. J. Pendleton, W. T. Reach, N. Rowe-Gurney, M. Skrutskie, and A. Verbiscer. 2020. "Spitzer’s Solar System studies of asteroids, planets and the zodiacal cloud." Nature Astronomy, 4 (10): 940-946 [10.1038/s41550-020-01221-y]

Sinclair, J., G. Orton, L. Fletcher, et al. M. Roman, I. de Pater, T. Encrenaz, H. Hammel, R. Giles, T. Velusamy, J. Moses, P. Irwin, T. Momary, N. Rowe-Gurney, and F. Tabataba-Vakili. 2020. "Spatial structure in Neptune’s 7.90-μm stratospheric CH4 emission, as measured by VLT-VISIR." Icarus, 345: 113748 [10.1016/j.icarus.2020.113748]

Roman, M. T., L. N. Fletcher, G. S. Orton, N. Rowe-Gurney, and P. G. Irwin. 2020. "Uranus in Northern Midspring: Persistent Atmospheric Temperatures and Circulations Inferred from Thermal Imaging." The Astronomical Journal, 159 (2): 45 [10.3847/1538-3881/ab5dc7]

Antuñano, A., L. N. Fletcher, G. S. Orton, et al. H. Melin, J. H. Rogers, J. Harrington, P. T. Donnelly, N. Rowe‐Gurney, and J. S. Blake. 2018. "Infrared Characterization of Jupiter's Equatorial Disturbance Cycle." Geophysical Research Letters, 45 (20): [10.1029/2018gl080382]

Non-Refereed

Dahl, E. K., S. Brueshaber, R. G. Cosentino, et al. C. Palotai, N. Rowe-Gurney, R. Sankar, K. Sayanagi, S. Aslam, K. Baines, E. Barth, N. J. Chanover, L. N. Fletcher, S. Guerlet, H. Hammel, M. Hofstadter, A. Hyder, E. Leonard, T. A. Livengood, T. Momary, G. Orton, I. de Pater, K. Retherford, J. Sinclair, K. Soderlund, L. Spilker, L. Sromovsky, and M. H. Wong. 2021. "Ice Giant Atmospheric Science." BAAS 53 (4): e-id. 264 [10.3847/25c2cfeb.97316a54]