Brad Cenko

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Brad Cenko

  • RESEARCH AST, FIELDS AND PARTICLES
  • 301.286.4678
  • NASA/GSFC
  • Mail Code: 661
  • Greenbelt , MD 20771
  • Employer: NASA
  • Brief Bio

    Astrophysicist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (June 2013 - Present)

    Adjunct Professor, Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD (June 2013 - Present)

    Adjunct Professor, Department of Physics, George Washington University, Washington, DC (June 2017 - Present)

    Principal Investigator, Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (February 2017 - Present)

    Research Interests

    Gamma-Ray Bursts

    Tidal Disruption Events

    Multi-Messenger Astronomy

    Current Projects

    Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory - Principal Investigator

    Zwicky Transient Facility - Chair of Science Steering Committee

    Large Synoptic Survey Telescope: Transients and Variable Stars Working Group

    Gravitational-wave Ultraviolet Counterpart Imager Concept - Principal Investigator

    Positions/Employment

    6/2013 - Present

    Research Astrophysicist

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
    6/2013 - Present

    Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Astronomy

    University of Maryland, College Park, MD
    6/2017 - Present

    Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Physics

    George Washington University, Washington, DC
    8/2008 - 6/2013

    Postdoctoral Scholar

    University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

    Education

    PhD (2008), Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology

    Thesis: "The Energetics and Environments of Swift Gamma-Ray Bursts"

    Advisors: Profs. Fiona Harrison and Shri Kulkarni

     

    BA (2002), Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Harvard University

    Thesis: "Multi-Layer Optics for the Next Generation of X-ray Missions"

    Advisor: Dr. Suzanne Romaine

    Awards

    Research Corporation Scialog Fellow: 2015-2016

    Robert H. Goddard Award, Scientific Achievement: 2015

    Junior Fellow, Joint Space-Science Institute: 2013-Present

    NASA Graduate Student Research Fellowship: 2005-2008

    Talks, Presentations and Posters

    Invited

    Recent Observational Puzzles from Tidal Disruption Flares

    2 / 2019

    University of Amsterdam Astronomy Colloquium

    What multi-messenger observations of GW170817 have told us

    12 / 2018

    Joint Space-Science Institute - GWPAW 2018

    Recent Observational Puzzles from Tidal Disruption Flares

    10 / 2018

    Caltech Astronomy Colloquium

    Optical Surveys

    10 / 2018

    Eighth Fermi Symposium

    Transients and MultiMessenger Astrophysics with HabEx

    10 / 2018

    HabEx 

    The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory: Status and Prospects

    9 / 2018

    Time-Domain Astrophysics with Swift III

    Kilonovae: An Observer's Perspective

    6 / 2018

    Neutron Star Merger Summer School

    The Zwicky Transient Facility

    5 / 2018

    Northwestern University Department of Physics and Astronomy Colloquium

    The Transient Universe as Seen by Swift

    2 / 2018

    Conference on the Transient Universe

    Other

    UV and Optical Spectroscopy of Tidal Disruption Flares

    8 / 2018

    FlipperFest: A 60th Birthday Celebration for Alex Filippenko

    Selected Publications

    Refereed

    Cenko, S. B., A. Cucchiara, N. Roth, et al. S. Veilleux, J. X. Prochaska, L. Yan, J. Guillochon, W. P. Maksym, I. Arcavi, N. R. Butler, A. V. Filippenko, A. S. Fruchter, S. Gezari, D. Kasen, A. J. Levan, J. M. Miller, D. R. Pasham, E. Ramirez-Ruiz, L. E. Strubbe, N. R. Tanvir, and F. Tombesi. 2016. "AN ULTRAVIOLET SPECTRUM OF THE TIDAL DISRUPTION FLARE ASASSN-14li." The Astrophysical Journal, 818 (2): L32 [10.3847/2041-8205/818/2/l32]

    Cenko, S. B., A. L. Urban, D. A. Perley, et al. A. Horesh, A. Corsi, D. B. Fox, Y. Cao, M. M. Kasliwal, A. Lien, I. Arcavi, J. S. Bloom, N. R. Butler, A. Cucchiara, J. A. Diego, A. V. Filippenko, A. Gal-Yam, N. Gehrels, L. Georgiev, J. J. González, J. F. Graham, J. Greiner, D. A. Kann, C. R. Klein, F. Knust, S. R. Kulkarni, A. Kutyrev, R. Laher, W. H. Lee, P. E. Nugent, J. Xavier Prochaska, E. Ramirez-Ruiz, M. G. Richer, A. Rubin, Y. Urata, K. Varela, A. M. Watson, and P. R. Wozniak. 2015. "iPTF14yb: THE FIRST DISCOVERY OF A GAMMA-RAY BURST AFTERGLOW INDEPENDENT OF A HIGH-ENERGY TRIGGER." The Astrophysical Journal, 803 (2): L24 [10.1088/2041-8205/803/2/l24]

    Bradley Cenko, S., H. A. Krimm, A. Horesh, et al. A. Rau, D. A. Frail, J. A. Kennea, A. J. Levan, S. T. Holland, N. R. Butler, R. M. Quimby, J. S. Bloom, A. V. Filippenko, A. Gal-Yam, J. Greiner, S. R. Kulkarni, E. O. Ofek, F. Olivares E., P. Schady, J. M. Silverman, N. R. Tanvir, and D. Xu. 2012. "SWIFT J2058.4+0516: DISCOVERY OF A POSSIBLE SECOND RELATIVISTIC TIDAL DISRUPTION FLARE?" The Astrophysical Journal, 753 (1): 77 [10.1088/0004-637x/753/1/77]

    Nugent, P. E., M. Sullivan, S. B. Cenko, et al. R. C. Thomas, D. Kasen, D. A. Howell, D. Bersier, J. S. Bloom, S. R. Kulkarni, M. T. Kandrashoff, A. V. Filippenko, J. M. Silverman, G. W. Marcy, A. W. Howard, H. T. Isaacson, K. Maguire, N. Suzuki, J. E. Tarlton, Y.-C. Pan, L. Bildsten, B. J. Fulton, J. T. Parrent, D. Sand, P. Podsiadlowski, F. B. Bianco, B. Dilday, M. L. Graham, J. Lyman, P. James, M. M. Kasliwal, N. M. Law, R. M. Quimby, I. M. Hook, E. S. Walker, P. Mazzali, E. Pian, E. O. Ofek, A. Gal-Yam, and D. Poznanski. 2011. "Supernova SN 2011fe from an exploding carbon–oxygen white dwarf star." Nature, 480 (7377): 344-347 [10.1038/nature10644]

    Bloom, J. S., D. Giannios, B. D. Metzger, et al. S. B. Cenko, D. A. Perley, N. R. Butler, N. R. Tanvir, A. J. Levan, P. T. O' Brien, L. E. Strubbe, F. De Colle, E. Ramirez-Ruiz, W. H. Lee, S. Nayakshin, E. Quataert, A. R. King, A. Cucchiara, J. Guillochon, G. C. Bower, A. S. Fruchter, A. N. Morgan, and A. J. van der Horst. 2011. "A Possible Relativistic Jetted Outburst from a Massive Black Hole Fed by a Tidally Disrupted Star." Science, 333 (6039): 203-206 [10.1126/science.1207150]

    Cenko, S. B., D. A. Frail, F. A. Harrison, et al. J. B. Haislip, D. E. Reichart, N. R. Butler, B. E. Cobb, A. Cucchiara, E. Berger, J. S. Bloom, P. Chandra, D. B. Fox, D. A. Perley, J. X. Prochaska, A. V. Filippenko, K. Glazebrook, K. M. Ivarsen, M. M. Kasliwal, S. R. Kulkarni, A. P. LaCluyze, S. Lopez, A. N. Morgan, M. Pettini, and V. R. Rana. 2011. "AFTERGLOW OBSERVATIONS OFFERMILARGE AREA TELESCOPE GAMMA-RAY BURSTS AND THE EMERGING CLASS OF HYPER-ENERGETIC EVENTS." The Astrophysical Journal, 732 (1): 29 [10.1088/0004-637x/732/1/29]

    Law, N. M., S. R. Kulkarni, R. G. Dekany, et al. E. O. Ofek, R. M. Quimby, P. E. Nugent, J. Surace, C. C. Grillmair, J. S. Bloom, M. M. Kasliwal, L. Bildsten, T. Brown, S. B. Cenko, D. Ciardi, E. Croner, S. G. Djorgovski, J. van Eyken, A. V. Filippenko, D. B. Fox, A. Gal-Yam, D. Hale, N. Hamam, G. Helou, J. Henning, D. A. Howell, J. Jacobsen, R. Laher, S. Mattingly, D. McKenna, A. Pickles, D. Poznanski, G. Rahmer, A. Rau, W. Rosing, M. Shara, R. Smith, D. Starr, M. Sullivan, V. Velur, R. Walters, and J. Zolkower. 2009. "The Palomar Transient Factory: System Overview, Performance, and First Results." Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 121 (886): 1395-1408 [10.1086/648598]

    Perley, D. A., S. B. Cenko, J. S. Bloom, et al. H.-W. Chen, N. R. Butler, D. Kocevski, J. X. Prochaska, M. Brodwin, K. Glazebrook, M. M. Kasliwal, S. R. Kulkarni, S. Lopez, E. O. Ofek, M. Pettini, A. M. Soderberg, and D. Starr. 2009. "THE HOST GALAXIES OFSWIFTDARK GAMMA-RAY BURSTS: OBSERVATIONAL CONSTRAINTS ON HIGHLY OBSCURED AND VERY HIGH REDSHIFT GRBs." The Astronomical Journal, 138 (6): 1690-1708 [10.1088/0004-6256/138/6/1690]

    Tanvir, N. R., D. B. Fox, A. J. Levan, et al. E. Berger, K. Wiersema, J. P. Fynbo, A. Cucchiara, T. Krühler, N. Gehrels, J. S. Bloom, J. Greiner, P. A. Evans, E. Rol, F. Olivares, J. Hjorth, P. Jakobsson, J. Farihi, R. Willingale, R. L. Starling, S. B. Cenko, D. Perley, J. R. Maund, J. Duke, R. A. Wijers, A. J. Adamson, A. Allan, M. N. Bremer, D. N. Burrows, A. J. Castro-Tirado, B. Cavanagh, A. de Ugarte Postigo, M. A. Dopita, T. A. Fatkhullin, A. S. Fruchter, R. J. Foley, J. Gorosabel, J. Kennea, T. Kerr, S. Klose, H. A. Krimm, V. N. Komarova, S. R. Kulkarni, A. S. Moskvitin, C. G. Mundell, T. Naylor, K. Page, B. E. Penprase, M. Perri, P. Podsiadlowski, K. Roth, R. E. Rutledge, T. Sakamoto, P. Schady, B. P. Schmidt, A. M. Soderberg, J. Sollerman, A. W. Stephens, G. Stratta, T. N. Ukwatta, D. Watson, E. Westra, T. Wold, and C. Wolf. 2009. "A γ-ray burst at a redshift of z ≈ 8.2." Nature, 461 (7268): 1254-1257 [10.1038/nature08459]

    Soderberg, A. M., E. Berger, K. L. Page, et al. P. Schady, J. Parrent, D. Pooley, X. Wang, E. O. Ofek, A. Cucchiara, A. Rau, E. Waxman, J. D. Simon, D. C. Bock, P. A. Milne, M. J. Page, J. C. Barentine, S. D. Barthelmy, A. P. Beardmore, M. F. Bietenholz, P. Brown, A. Burrows, D. N. Burrows, G. Byrngelson, S. B. Cenko, P. Chandra, J. R. Cummings, D. B. Fox, A. Gal-Yam, N. Gehrels, S. Immler, M. Kasliwal, A. K. Kong, H. A. Krimm, S. R. Kulkarni, T. J. Maccarone, P. Mészáros, E. Nakar, P. T. O'Brien, R. A. Overzier, M. de Pasquale, J. Racusin, N. Rea, and D. G. York. 2008. "An extremely luminous X-ray outburst at the birth of a supernova." Nature, 453: 469 [Full Text (Link)] [10.1038/nature06997]

    Cenko, S., D. Fox, D. Moon, et al. F. Harrison, S. Kulkarni, J. Henning, C. Guzman, M. Bonati, R. Smith, R. Thicksten, M. Doyle, H. Petrie, A. Gal‐Yam, A. Soderberg, N. Anagnostou, and A. Laity. 2006. "The Automated Palomar 60 Inch Telescope." Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 118 (848): 1396-1406 [10.1086/508366]

    Fox, D. B., D. A. Frail, P. A. Price, et al. S. R. Kulkarni, E. Berger, T. Piran, A. M. Soderberg, S. B. Cenko, P. B. Cameron, A. Gal-Yam, M. M. Kasliwal, D.-S. Moon, F. A. Harrison, E. Nakar, B. P. Schmidt, B. Penprase, R. A. Chevalier, P. Kumar, K. Roth, D. Watson, B. L. Lee, S. Shectman, M. M. Phillips, M. Roth, P. J. McCarthy, M. Rauch, L. Cowie, B. A. Peterson, J. Rich, N. Kawai, K. Aoki, G. Kosugi, T. Totani, H.-S. Park, A. MacFadyen, and K. C. Hurley. 2005. "The afterglow of GRB 050709 and the nature of the short-hard γ-ray bursts." Nature, 437 (7060): 845-850 [10.1038/nature04189]

    Brief Bio

    Astrophysicist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (June 2013 - Present)

    Adjunct Professor, Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD (June 2013 - Present)

    Adjunct Professor, Department of Physics, George Washington University, Washington, DC (June 2017 - Present)

    Principal Investigator, Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (February 2017 - Present)

    Selected Publications

    Refereed

    Cenko, S. B., A. Cucchiara, N. Roth, et al. S. Veilleux, J. X. Prochaska, L. Yan, J. Guillochon, W. P. Maksym, I. Arcavi, N. R. Butler, A. V. Filippenko, A. S. Fruchter, S. Gezari, D. Kasen, A. J. Levan, J. M. Miller, D. R. Pasham, E. Ramirez-Ruiz, L. E. Strubbe, N. R. Tanvir, and F. Tombesi. 2016. "AN ULTRAVIOLET SPECTRUM OF THE TIDAL DISRUPTION FLARE ASASSN-14li." The Astrophysical Journal 818 (2): L32 [10.3847/2041-8205/818/2/l32]

    Cenko, S. B., A. L. Urban, D. A. Perley, et al. A. Horesh, A. Corsi, D. B. Fox, Y. Cao, M. M. Kasliwal, A. Lien, I. Arcavi, J. S. Bloom, N. R. Butler, A. Cucchiara, J. A. Diego, A. V. Filippenko, A. Gal-Yam, N. Gehrels, L. Georgiev, J. J. González, J. F. Graham, J. Greiner, D. A. Kann, C. R. Klein, F. Knust, S. R. Kulkarni, A. Kutyrev, R. Laher, W. H. Lee, P. E. Nugent, J. Xavier Prochaska, E. Ramirez-Ruiz, M. G. Richer, A. Rubin, Y. Urata, K. Varela, A. M. Watson, and P. R. Wozniak. 2015. "iPTF14yb: THE FIRST DISCOVERY OF A GAMMA-RAY BURST AFTERGLOW INDEPENDENT OF A HIGH-ENERGY TRIGGER." The Astrophysical Journal 803 (2): L24 [10.1088/2041-8205/803/2/l24]

    Bradley Cenko, S., H. A. Krimm, A. Horesh, et al. A. Rau, D. A. Frail, J. A. Kennea, A. J. Levan, S. T. Holland, N. R. Butler, R. M. Quimby, J. S. Bloom, A. V. Filippenko, A. Gal-Yam, J. Greiner, S. R. Kulkarni, E. O. Ofek, F. Olivares E., P. Schady, J. M. Silverman, N. R. Tanvir, and D. Xu. 2012. "SWIFT J2058.4+0516: DISCOVERY OF A POSSIBLE SECOND RELATIVISTIC TIDAL DISRUPTION FLARE?" The Astrophysical Journal 753 (1): 77 [10.1088/0004-637x/753/1/77]

    Nugent, P. E., M. Sullivan, S. B. Cenko, et al. R. C. Thomas, D. Kasen, D. A. Howell, D. Bersier, J. S. Bloom, S. R. Kulkarni, M. T. Kandrashoff, A. V. Filippenko, J. M. Silverman, G. W. Marcy, A. W. Howard, H. T. Isaacson, K. Maguire, N. Suzuki, J. E. Tarlton, Y.-C. Pan, L. Bildsten, B. J. Fulton, J. T. Parrent, D. Sand, P. Podsiadlowski, F. B. Bianco, B. Dilday, M. L. Graham, J. Lyman, P. James, M. M. Kasliwal, N. M. Law, R. M. Quimby, I. M. Hook, E. S. Walker, P. Mazzali, E. Pian, E. O. Ofek, A. Gal-Yam, and D. Poznanski. 2011. "Supernova SN 2011fe from an exploding carbon–oxygen white dwarf star." Nature 480 (7377): 344-347 [10.1038/nature10644]

    Bloom, J. S., D. Giannios, B. D. Metzger, et al. S. B. Cenko, D. A. Perley, N. R. Butler, N. R. Tanvir, A. J. Levan, P. T. O' Brien, L. E. Strubbe, F. De Colle, E. Ramirez-Ruiz, W. H. Lee, S. Nayakshin, E. Quataert, A. R. King, A. Cucchiara, J. Guillochon, G. C. Bower, A. S. Fruchter, A. N. Morgan, and A. J. van der Horst. 2011. "A Possible Relativistic Jetted Outburst from a Massive Black Hole Fed by a Tidally Disrupted Star." Science 333 (6039): 203-206 [10.1126/science.1207150]

    Cenko, S. B., D. A. Frail, F. A. Harrison, et al. J. B. Haislip, D. E. Reichart, N. R. Butler, B. E. Cobb, A. Cucchiara, E. Berger, J. S. Bloom, P. Chandra, D. B. Fox, D. A. Perley, J. X. Prochaska, A. V. Filippenko, K. Glazebrook, K. M. Ivarsen, M. M. Kasliwal, S. R. Kulkarni, A. P. LaCluyze, S. Lopez, A. N. Morgan, M. Pettini, and V. R. Rana. 2011. "AFTERGLOW OBSERVATIONS OFFERMILARGE AREA TELESCOPE GAMMA-RAY BURSTS AND THE EMERGING CLASS OF HYPER-ENERGETIC EVENTS." The Astrophysical Journal 732 (1): 29 [10.1088/0004-637x/732/1/29]

    Law, N. M., S. R. Kulkarni, R. G. Dekany, et al. E. O. Ofek, R. M. Quimby, P. E. Nugent, J. Surace, C. C. Grillmair, J. S. Bloom, M. M. Kasliwal, L. Bildsten, T. Brown, S. B. Cenko, D. Ciardi, E. Croner, S. G. Djorgovski, J. van Eyken, A. V. Filippenko, D. B. Fox, A. Gal-Yam, D. Hale, N. Hamam, G. Helou, J. Henning, D. A. Howell, J. Jacobsen, R. Laher, S. Mattingly, D. McKenna, A. Pickles, D. Poznanski, G. Rahmer, A. Rau, W. Rosing, M. Shara, R. Smith, D. Starr, M. Sullivan, V. Velur, R. Walters, and J. Zolkower. 2009. "The Palomar Transient Factory: System Overview, Performance, and First Results." Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 121 (886): 1395-1408 [10.1086/648598]

    Perley, D. A., S. B. Cenko, J. S. Bloom, et al. H.-W. Chen, N. R. Butler, D. Kocevski, J. X. Prochaska, M. Brodwin, K. Glazebrook, M. M. Kasliwal, S. R. Kulkarni, S. Lopez, E. O. Ofek, M. Pettini, A. M. Soderberg, and D. Starr. 2009. "THE HOST GALAXIES OFSWIFTDARK GAMMA-RAY BURSTS: OBSERVATIONAL CONSTRAINTS ON HIGHLY OBSCURED AND VERY HIGH REDSHIFT GRBs." The Astronomical Journal 138 (6): 1690-1708 [10.1088/0004-6256/138/6/1690]

    Tanvir, N. R., D. B. Fox, A. J. Levan, et al. E. Berger, K. Wiersema, J. P. Fynbo, A. Cucchiara, T. Krühler, N. Gehrels, J. S. Bloom, J. Greiner, P. A. Evans, E. Rol, F. Olivares, J. Hjorth, P. Jakobsson, J. Farihi, R. Willingale, R. L. Starling, S. B. Cenko, D. Perley, J. R. Maund, J. Duke, R. A. Wijers, A. J. Adamson, A. Allan, M. N. Bremer, D. N. Burrows, A. J. Castro-Tirado, B. Cavanagh, A. de Ugarte Postigo, M. A. Dopita, T. A. Fatkhullin, A. S. Fruchter, R. J. Foley, J. Gorosabel, J. Kennea, T. Kerr, S. Klose, H. A. Krimm, V. N. Komarova, S. R. Kulkarni, A. S. Moskvitin, C. G. Mundell, T. Naylor, K. Page, B. E. Penprase, M. Perri, P. Podsiadlowski, K. Roth, R. E. Rutledge, T. Sakamoto, P. Schady, B. P. Schmidt, A. M. Soderberg, J. Sollerman, A. W. Stephens, G. Stratta, T. N. Ukwatta, D. Watson, E. Westra, T. Wold, and C. Wolf. 2009. "A γ-ray burst at a redshift of z ≈ 8.2." Nature 461 (7268): 1254-1257 [10.1038/nature08459]

    Soderberg, A. M., E. Berger, K. L. Page, et al. P. Schady, J. Parrent, D. Pooley, X. Wang, E. O. Ofek, A. Cucchiara, A. Rau, E. Waxman, J. D. Simon, D. C. Bock, P. A. Milne, M. J. Page, J. C. Barentine, S. D. Barthelmy, A. P. Beardmore, M. F. Bietenholz, P. Brown, A. Burrows, D. N. Burrows, G. Byrngelson, S. B. Cenko, P. Chandra, J. R. Cummings, D. B. Fox, A. Gal-Yam, N. Gehrels, S. Immler, M. Kasliwal, A. K. Kong, H. A. Krimm, S. R. Kulkarni, T. J. Maccarone, P. Mészáros, E. Nakar, P. T. O'Brien, R. A. Overzier, M. de Pasquale, J. Racusin, N. Rea, and D. G. York. 2008. "An extremely luminous X-ray outburst at the birth of a supernova." Nature 453 469 [Full Text (Link)] [10.1038/nature06997]

    Cenko, S., D. Fox, D. Moon, et al. F. Harrison, S. Kulkarni, J. Henning, C. Guzman, M. Bonati, R. Smith, R. Thicksten, M. Doyle, H. Petrie, A. Gal‐Yam, A. Soderberg, N. Anagnostou, and A. Laity. 2006. "The Automated Palomar 60 Inch Telescope." Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 118 (848): 1396-1406 [10.1086/508366]

    Fox, D. B., D. A. Frail, P. A. Price, et al. S. R. Kulkarni, E. Berger, T. Piran, A. M. Soderberg, S. B. Cenko, P. B. Cameron, A. Gal-Yam, M. M. Kasliwal, D.-S. Moon, F. A. Harrison, E. Nakar, B. P. Schmidt, B. Penprase, R. A. Chevalier, P. Kumar, K. Roth, D. Watson, B. L. Lee, S. Shectman, M. M. Phillips, M. Roth, P. J. McCarthy, M. Rauch, L. Cowie, B. A. Peterson, J. Rich, N. Kawai, K. Aoki, G. Kosugi, T. Totani, H.-S. Park, A. MacFadyen, and K. C. Hurley. 2005. "The afterglow of GRB 050709 and the nature of the short-hard γ-ray bursts." Nature 437 (7060): 845-850 [10.1038/nature04189]

                                                                                                                                                                                            
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