Biography:Anna Scaife

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Short description: Radio astronomer
Anna Scaife
Anna Scaife for World Economic Forum.jpg
Anna Scaife discusses the Square Kilometre Array for the World Economic Forum in 2017
Born
Anna Margaret Mahala Scaife

(1981-05-20) May 20, 1981 (age 42)
EducationLoreto Grammar School
Alma materUniversity of Bristol (MPhys)
University of Cambridge (PhD)
Known forBig data astrophysics
AwardsJackson-Gwilt Medal (2018)
Scientific career
FieldsRadio astronomy
InstitutionsUniversity of Manchester
University of Cambridge
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
University of Southampton
ThesisObserving the cosmic microwave background with the Very Small Array (2007)
Doctoral advisorKeith Grainge
Websitewww.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/anna.scaife.html

Anna Margaret Mahala Scaife (born 20 May 1981) is a Professor of Radio Astronomy at the University of Manchester and Head of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics Interferometry Centre of Excellence.[1] She is the co-director of Policy@Manchester.[2] She was awarded the 2019 Royal Astronomical Society Jackson-Gwilt Medal in recognition of her contributions to astrophysical instrumentation.

Education and early life

Scaife wanted to be an archaeologist as a child.[3] She attended school at Loreto Grammar School in Altrincham.[4] She earned her master's degree in physics at the University of Bristol in 2003. For her doctoral studies, Scaife joined the University of Cambridge where she was supervised by Keith Grainge ({{{2}}}).[5] After graduating in 2007, Scaife stayed at Cambridge as a postdoctoral research associate at the Cavendish Laboratory and was a Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge.[6]

Research and career

Her research considers the origin and evolution of large-scale cosmic magnetic fields.[7] She was a research scientist at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, where she was involved in testing for the James Webb Space Telescope.[4] Scaife joined the University of Southampton as an associate professor in Radio Astronomy.[8] Here she worked on Bayesian data analysis, the Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect and radio astronomy instrumentation.[8] She identified anomalous microwave emission coming from regions of star formation.[9] She was part of the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Large Array (AMI-LA), using which she observed young stellar objects in the Perseus molecular cloud.[10]

She moved to the University of Manchester where she was appointed Head of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics Interferometry Centre of Excellence.[11] Her research was funded by a European Research Council Starting Grant fellowship from 2013 to 2018.[12] From 2016, Scaife led the imaging pipeline group for the Square Kilometre Array science data processor consortium.[13] She was the Principal Investigator for the LOFAR magnetism key science project. She was part of the commissioning team for the LOFAR telescope, which was a pathfinder instrument for the Square Kilometre Array. At Jodrell Bank, Scaife leads the design of the computing for the European SKA Regional Centre, through the big data project AENEAS.[14][15] She runs two Science and Technology Facilities Council Newton Fund programs that offer bursaries for scientists from Southern Africa and Latin America.[16][17] She has established a UK - South Africa program that develops capacity in big data and data science in South Africa .[18] Scaife is interested in using deep learning to study astronomically big data.[19]

Scaife was part of a team of astrophysicists, including Jane Greaves, who identified nanodiamonds in three infant star systems, V892 Tau, HD 97048 and MWC 297 in the Milky Way.[20][21][22][23] She found that the anomalous microwave emission (AME) from the Milky Way might be due to hydrogenated nanodiamonds.[21][24] Scaife had previously observed AME from circumstellar discs when working with Dave Green at the University of Cambridge.[25][22]

Scaife also holds the 2017 Blaauw Chair at the University of Groningen.[26][27] She contributed to the textbook Optical and Digital Image Processing: Fundamentals and Applications.[28]

Awards and honours

Her awards and honours include:

References

  1. Anna Scaife's Entry at ORCID
  2. "People - Policy@Manchester". https://www.policy.manchester.ac.uk/about/people/. 
  3. "Anna Scaife". https://www.skatelescope.org/skapeople/anna-scaife/. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Profile". https://bigdatan14.imascientist.org.uk/profile/. 
  5. Scaife, Anna (2007). Observing the cosmic microwave background with the Very Small Array (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 890155792. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.613275. Archived from the original on 20 February 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  6. "2016 Keynote Speakers". https://chpcconf.co.za/index.php/9-plenary-speakers/62-2016-keynote-speakers. 
  7. "Anna Scaife – Bluedot Festival". https://www.discoverthebluedot.com/profile/anna-scaife. 
  8. 8.0 8.1 "Astronomy Group". http://www.astro.soton.ac.uk/people/as.html. 
  9. Scaife, Anna M. M. (2013). "Anomalous Microwave Emission from Star Forming Regions". Advances in Astronomy 2013: 390287. doi:10.1155/2013/390287. Bibcode2013AdAst2013E..14S. 
  10. Waldram, Elizabeth; Titterington, David; Shimwell, Timothy; Scott, Paul F.; Schammel, Michel P.; Saunders, Richard D. E.; Rodríguez-Gonzálvez, Carmen; Pooley, Guy G. et al. (2011). "AMI-LA radio continuum observations of Spitzer c2d small clouds and cores: Perseus region". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 415 (1): 893–910. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18755.x. ISSN 0035-8711. Bibcode2011MNRAS.415..893A. 
  11. "People | The University of Manchester | Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics". http://www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk/research/research-centres/ska-project/people/?section=SKA&sortfield=posttitle&sortorder=ascending&sorttype=text. 
  12. 12.0 12.1 "Dark Forces in the Invisible Universe | Studium Generale Groningen". http://www.sggroningen.nl/nl/evenement/dark-forces-invisible-universe. 
  13. 13.0 13.1 "RAS Medals 2018". https://ras.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2019-01/awards/Jackson-Gwilt%20Medal%20-%20Anna%20Scaife.pdf. 
  14. "AMIGA : SKA-Link: combining knowledge to pioneer Big-Data solutions for SKA Data Centres". http://amiga.iaa.es/p/330-SKA-Link.htm. 
  15. "Contact". https://www.aeneas2020.eu/contact/. 
  16. "Programme | EuroScience Open Forum - Programme dynamique v2.0". https://programme.esof.eu/index.php?onglet=1&idUser=2091519. 
  17. "Newton RCUK-SEA -- Capacity Building in STEM to ensure a sustainable community development and a successful astronomical observatory in Timor". https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST/P006957/1. 
  18. "A UK-Africa Data Science Network: Capturing the SKA-Driven Data Transformation". https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST/R001898/1. 
  19. "Deep Learning for Astronomically Big Data". https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2112505. 
  20. "VARIOUS INTERNATIONAL MEDIA: Astronomers discover diamond dust shimmering around distant stars | Research Explorer | The University of Manchester". https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/media/various-international-media-astronomers-discover-diamond-dust-shimmering-around-distant-stars(cf1bec0d-c1da-43ee-a7df-0d8c5cc2fbb9).html. 
  21. 21.0 21.1 "Astronomers discover diamond dust shimmering around distant stars". https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/astronomers-discover-diamond-dust-shimmering-around-distant-stars/. 
  22. 22.0 22.1 Solly, Meilan. "Space Nanodiamonds Found to Be Source of Some Cosmic Microwave Radiation". https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/space-nanodiamonds-found-source-microwave-radiation-180969305/. 
  23. "Astronomers Find Rapidly Spinning Nanodiamonds in Dust Disks around Young Stars | Astronomy | Sci-News.com". http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/nanodiamonds-dust-disks-young-stars-06087.html. 
  24. Smith, A. M. S.; Mason, B. S.; Green, D. A.; Frayer, D. T.; Scaife, A. M. M.; Greaves, J. S. (2018). "Anomalous microwave emission from spinning nanodiamonds around stars". Nature Astronomy 2 (8): 662–667. doi:10.1038/s41550-018-0495-z. ISSN 2397-3366. Bibcode2018NatAs...2..662G. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/112208/1/AME-diamonds-NatAstron-maintext-formatted.pdf. Retrieved 19 July 2019. 
  25. Community, Nature Research Astronomy (2018-06-11). "AME In The Sky With Diamonds". https://astronomycommunity.nature.com/users/113306-jane-greaves/posts/34056-ame-in-the-sky-with-diamonds. 
  26. "Anna Scaife – Bluedot Festival". https://www.discoverthebluedot.com/profile/anna-scaife-1. 
  27. "Studium Generale | Blaauw Lecture: Dark Forces in the Invisible Universe - Anna Scaife | Events and open days | News and Events | About us | University of Groningen". 2017-09-13. https://www.rug.nl/about-us/news-and-events/events/calendar/2017/studium/studium-generale-_-blaauw-lecture_-dark-forces-in-the-invisible-universe---anna-scaife?lang=en. 
  28. Scaife, Anna (2011), "Aperture Synthesis and Astronomical Image Formation", Optical and Digital Image Processing, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 323–344, doi:10.1002/9783527635245.ch15, ISBN 9783527635245 
  29. "World Economic Forum honours Southampton scientist | STAG Research Centre | University of Southampton". https://www.southampton.ac.uk/stag/news/2014/09/12_world_economic_forum_honours_southampton_scientist.page. 
  30. "Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2014 - "Summer Davos"". 2014-07-16. https://erc.europa.eu/event/annual-meeting-new-champions-2014-%E2%80%9Csummer-davos%E2%80%9D.