The Department of Physics and Astronomy is a vibrant, fun and active place for students to be thriving through their academic path. We have a number of professors, instructors, and support staff as full-time Department members. We also have several affiliate faculty and lecturers, including astronomers and engineers from the observatories, working with the regular UH Hilo faculty and students on research and educational activities. We all share our passion for physics and astronomy!
Faculty
Nicole Drakos, Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Waterloo, 2019
Dr. Nicole Drakos is a computational astrophysicist, who studies structure formation in the Universe. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo in 2019, where she modelled how dark matter halos evolve during mergers. She then spent four years at the University of California, Santa Cruz as a postdoctoral fellow making simulated galaxy catalogs for future high-redshift surveys with the Nancy Grace Roman Space telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. She joined the Physics & Astronomy Department at the University of Hawai’i, Hilo in 2023."
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Heather Kaluna, Associate Professor
Ph.D., University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, 2015
Dr. Kaluna is an Associate Professor of Astronomy. She is an alumni of the Physics and Astronomy program at UH Hilo, where she obtained a BA in Mathematics and Physics in 2008. In 2015, she obtained her Ph.D. in Astronomy at UH Mānoa from the Institute for Astronomy. Prior to returning to UH Hilo as a faculty member, she spent 2 years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Hawaiʻi Institute of Geophysics and Planetology at UH Mānoa.
Dr. Kaluna was born and raised in Pāhoa on the island of Hawaiʻi, and has a strong connection to water that carries into her scientific interests. Her research combines observational astronomy with laboratory experiments to characterize water-related spectral features on various solar system bodies (e.g. the Moon, asteroids, comets). The goal of these observations and experiments are to understand how these spectral features vary in response to the harsh environment of space. In addition to teaching, Dr. Kaluna is developing a visible and near infrared wavelength spectral laboratory at UH Hilo. The lab will be used to characterize the spectral features of various minerals found in meteorites and to provide a basis for interpreting spectral data of asteroids and other solar system bodies.
UH Hilo Stories: UH Hilo alumna, working on her PhD in Australia, inspires high school students to study STEM
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R. Pierre Martin, Professor & Director of UH Hilo Educational Observatory
Ph.D., Université Laval, 1992
Dr. R. Pierre Martin is Professor of Astronomy and the Director of the UH Hilo Educational Observatory, and currently acts as the Department Chair. He earned his MS and PhD in astrophysics at Universite Laval in Quebec, Canada. He has held post-doctoral fellowship positions at Steward Observatory in Arizona, and with the European Southern Observatory New Technology Telescope in Chile. Between 1997 and 2008, Dr. Martin was a resident astronomer at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, and its Director of Science Operations for six years. Prior to joining UH Hilo, he was the Executive Director of the WIYN 3.5m telescope on Kitt Peak (Arizona) and also a consultant for the Giant Magellan Telescope project. Asteroid 59964 has been named in his honor in 2021.
Dr. Martin fields of research include the evolution of the Milky Way, massive star formation in galaxies, galaxy morphology, planetary nebulae, telescopes and instrumentation, astronomy from the Moon, and the optimization of the observational process for professional observatories. Outside of work, he is a rock music drummer and an amateur historian, and he enjoys time at home with his wife and cats.
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Marianne Takamiya, Professor
Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1998
UH Hilo Professor of Astronomy. Dr. Takamiya obtained her B.Sc. in Physics and M.Sc. in Astronomy from the Universidad de Chile in 1990 and 1991, respectively, and her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics, from the University of Chicago, in 1992 and 1998, respectively. She carried out post-doctoral research as a Gemini Science Fellow at Gemini Observatory and subsequently as a Research Associate, with the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, at UH Hilo.
Her teaching responsibilities at UH Hilo are General Physics, General Astronomy, and Stellar Astronomy.
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Dan O’Connor, Instructor
Ph.D., University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, 1990
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Lecturers
Catherine Ishida, Lecturer
Ph.D., University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, 2004
Dr. Catherine Ishida moved to Hilo in 2002 to work at Subaru Telescope. As a researcher, she studied how interactions among galaxies contribute to the evolution of galaxies over time, and completed a Ph. D. in Astronomy from UH Mānoa in 2004. Having grown up in Tokyo, New York, and London, Dr. Ishida was able to contribute fluency in English, Japanese and Astronomy to the observatory’s public relations and information efforts with a specific focus on expanding the observatories' local outreach. In 2007 Ishida interrupted her work in astronomy to become an ordained minister in the Unitarian Universalist tradition, a multi-religious humanist faith. Since returning to Hilo in 2011, Dr. Ishida has been teaching at the UH Hilo Physics and Astronomy Department and consulting with local congregations “teaching practical philosophy and impractical physics.” She loves to examine the “Big Picture,” including the contexts of astronomical inquiry in Hawaiʻi and the world, past and present, and encourages students to consider taking the course “Cosmos and Culture!"
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Kathy Malone, Lecturer
Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University
Dr. Kathy Malone received her PhD in Instruction and Cognition with a specialization in Physics Education and a MA in Instructional Science from Carnegie Mellon University. Her bachelor’s degrees and an MA in Science Teaching were awarded from the University of New Orleans. She had the honor of serving as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at the National Science Foundation for 2 years in the Directorate of Education and Human Resources. Her postdoctoral study occurred at the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning Research and Development Center. She was an Assistant Professor of STEM education at The Ohio State University and most recently served as an Associate Professor of STEM/STEAM education at Nazarbayev University in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Dr. Malone has participated in several astronomy projects with groups such as NOAO and CAPER including data collection on Kitt’s Peak. Her research focuses on the implementation of STEM and STEAM education from primary to college. Her grant funded projects have spanned the spectrum from transitioning UG STEM teaching towards more authentic practices as well as implementing physics and engineering projects at the primary school level, both in the US and abroad.
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Cicero Lu, Lecturer
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, 2023
Dr. Cicero X. Lu obtained her PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 2023. She currently works at the Gemini-North Observatory, part of NSF's NOIRLab as a science fellow, where she conducts independent research and contributes to telescope science operations.
Dr. Lu is an observational astronomer specializing in exoplanets and planet formation, using a wide range of competitive ground- and space-based facilities. Her research focuses on the physical and chemical conditions that enable the formation of potentially habitable planets around young stars.Her expertise includes near- and mid-infrared spectroscopy and integral-field spectroscopy, and she uses facilities such as JWST, HST, Gemini, NASA/IRTF, and ESO/VLT to study archetypal young planetary systems. She also develops interpretable machine-learning and AI tools for astronomical data analysis using data from large astronomy surveys. Dr. Lu has secured funding and mentored undergraduate researchers through multiple University of Hawaiʻi programs (such as HSGC, SCIPE, and Akamai Workforce initiative). Prospective students interested in joining a research project are encouraged to contact her directly.
Rae Stanley, Lecturer
M.S., San Francisco State University, 2022
After obtaining her Master's degree in physics and teaching many courses in astronomy and physics, Rae recently joined our cohort of lecturers in astronomy and physics at UH Hilo. Rae works as a telescope operator at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on Maunakea so she brings not only experience in teaching but also with real "hands-on" applications!
Benito T. "Ben" Szapiro, Lecturer
- Ph. D. in Physics. University of Buenos Aires, R. Argentina (1985) “Numerical simulations of implosions of thick shell ICF targets irradiated by lasers”
- M.S. in Physics. University of Buenos Aires, R. Argentina (1980). “Cold cathode electron beam controlled CO2 laser amplifiers”
Dr. Szapiro was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is married with two children and two grandchildren and currently resides in Hilo, HI.
Research Background
Gas Lasers, Optics, Physics of Fluids, Plasma Diagnostic Techniques, Controlled Nuclear Fusion, High Voltage Discharges, Pulsed Power Generation, Secondary Electron Emission, Electron Beam Generation, Recombination Lasers, X-Ray Lasers, Spectroscopy, Digital Video Techniques, Nonlinear Science, Laser Materials Processing..
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Adjunct and Affiliate Faculty
Al Conrad, Affiliate Faculty
Ph.D., University of California at Santa Cruz, 1994
Dr. Conrad received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1994. He then worked as software engineer and support astronomer at both Lick and Keck Observatories before moving to the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy to lead the development of a next generation adaptive optics system. Currently, as staff scientist at the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory, he develops systems for high angular resolution and conducts research in planetary science.
Al teaches Software Systems for Astronomy (ASTR 385 ) which is based on the Springer Brief he authored in 2014. As both an astronomer and a software developer, Dr. Albert Conrad has developed and used software systems for all phases of observing: from planning the observation, to taking the data, to analyzing the data in preparation for publication.
Possible future courses Dr. Conrad may teach include Computational Physics and Astronomy (ASTR 260 ), Observational Astronomy (ASTR 250 ), and a potential new experimental course that covers spacecraft mission support from ground-based telescopes.
Dr. Conrad’s research interests include asteroid systems and developing novel techniques to study comets, planets, and the moons of planets, in particular Jupiter’s moon Io. His complete bibliography includes over 100 publications including 30 articles in refereed journals. These include his early software designs for the Keck Observatory, his discovery of a small moon orbiting the asteroid 41 Daphne, and applying the resolution of a 23 meter telescope (LBT) to detect variation in a lake of lava on Jupiter's volcanic moon Io.
Al’s overall mission in astronomy is to contribute to the exploration, and eventual habitation, of the nearby Solar System. He enjoys cycling, sailing, Frisbee, and outrigger canoe paddling.
Richard Griffiths, Affiliate Faculty
Ph.D., University of Leicester, 1972
Richard Griffiths obtained his bachelor’s degree in Physics from Imperial College of Science & Technology, University of London and his Ph.D. from the department of Physics at the University of Leicester in 1972 in the field of X-ray astronomy using rockets launched from Woomera in Australia and from the coast of Sardinia in the Mediterranean. After a year in Paris and four years on a research fellowship at Leicester, he came to the USA in 1976 to work in the High Energy Astrophysics group at the Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Ma. where he worked on the analysis of data from the X-ray instruments on the HEAO-A and HEAO-B (Einstein) Space Observatories. While at CfA, Prof. Griffiths also worked on the development of charge-coupled devices (digital imagers) for X-ray astronomy and later went on to become the Instrument Scientist for the Wide-Field and Planetary Cameras on the Hubble Space Telescope. Prof. Griffiths worked on the instruments and data from the Hubble from 1983 until 1996, initially at the Space Telescope Science Institute and then as Research Professor at the Johns Hopkins University across the street.
In 1996, Prof. Griffiths left JHU to take up a full Professorship at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he continued research using the Hubble, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the XMM-Newton Multi-Mirror X-ray Telescope, for which he was Mission Scientist from 1989 until 2012. While at CMU, Prof. Griffiths taught intro and advanced-level astronomy and astrophysics. He greatly expanded the undergraduate program in astronomy and also initiated a graduate course in astrophysics. In 2008, he took a leave of absence from CMU to work at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC, where he stayed until 2013. Prof. Griffiths’ research interests have always been primarily in X-ray astronomy (X-ray binaries, star-forming galaxies, active galactic nuclei) but he has also worked extensively on the results of deep surveys using the Hubble in visible light and these studies have concentrated on the evolution of galaxies with cosmic time. He continues to work on X-ray deep surveys and the ground-based identification and follow-up of X-ray sources. Prof. Griffiths has over 300 publications in referred journals.
John C. Hamilton, Affiliate Faculty
M.S., University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, 1980
Affiliate faculty with the Physics & Astronomy Dept. Univ. of Hawaiʻi-Hilo Currently Co-Investigator on two NASA Planetary Science & Technology from Analog Research (PSTAR) grants: BASALT-Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains, Conops Development for Future Human Exploration of Mars & SUBSEA-Subsea Ultramafic and Basaltic Science and Exploration Analog. He was directly responsible for the logistics & execution for 3 NASA In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) analog field tests operated by PISCES @ UHH: 2008 Resolve mission, 2010 International (NASA/CSA/ESA) Lunar Surface Operations ISRU Utilization Test & UHH PI for 2012 Resource Prospector Lunar Polar Mission field test. He has received 3 NASA Group Achievement Awards for this work and several NASA Certificates of Appreciation for Mars analog work on Mauna Kea and judging at the NASA KSC Robotic Mining Competition. He has also run field campaigns for several Google Lunar X-Prize teams.
He served successively as Research Manager, Deputy Director and acting Director of PISCES prior to its move into DBEDT. Hamilton had an experiment on the Skylab space station prior earning BS Physics & BA Astronomy degrees with honors at University of Texas-Austin Following his MS Astronomy degree from Univ. Hawaii Mānoa, he began a career in observational astronomy at Mees Solar Observatory and LURE Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment on Haleakalā, then moved to the premier high-altitude site of Mauna Kea. There he worked at the NASA InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF-3m), Canada-France-Hawaiʻi Telescope (4m) and Gemini Observatory (8m, Inc. Gemini South, Cerro Pachon, Chile). While at UH Hilo, Hamilton has taught over 27 distinct courses in Physics and Astronomy, including special topics on Space Exploration and served as department chair in 2006. He was awarded the UH system 2017 Frances Davis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. He is a founding member of the UH Hilo Planetary and Astrogeology & Robotics (PaAR) group, and he has proposed two sites for the Mars Human Landing/Exploration Zones workshop and has priority data from MRO.
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Staff
Joben Sasis, Educational Specialist
B.S., Computer Systems Engineering, University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), 2017
Joben Sasis was born in the Philippines and grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. Upon graduating from UAA in 2017, he worked as a senior firmware engineer at SRC, Inc., a New York-based research and development company. During his time at SRC, he contributed to the software and firmware development, full system integration, and live testing of several air surveillance and multi-mission radar systems and services. Joben brings years of experience in applied physics and engineering to the UH Hilo Physics and Astronomy Department, with the goal of helping students understand how their classroom concepts translate into practical, real-world applications.
Outside of work, Joben can be found either:
- Practicing hula as a member of the Hawaiʻi Community College & UH Hilo joint hula cohort, Kūkūʻena;
- Strategizing what the next strongest composition is in Teamfight Tactics; or
- Exploring the Big Island with his partner and two Shiba Inus, Riku and Yoshi.
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