Eric Bellm

I am the current Survey Scientist (and founding Project Scientist) for the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), an optical time-domain survey based at Palomar Observatory. Using a new camera with a 47 square degree field of view and fast readout, ZTF surveys the Northern Sky with unprecedented survey speed. It is now conducting a high cadence, wide area survey using novel scheduling algorithms that I developed.

ZTF achieved first light in October 2017 and is now in routine survey operations. It is regularly discovering young supernovae, rare classes of transients, variable stars and compact binaries, and solar system objects.

Half of the ZTF observing time is used for public surveys. Since June 2018, UW is using Rubin Observatory tools to forward alerts from these surveys to community brokers in near real time. Bulk public access to these alerts is also available.

ZTF's Galactic Plane surveys provide fertile ground for identifying new compact binaries through their optical variability. These signatures include accretion-disk outbursts, ellipsoidal modulation, and gravitational self-lensing. I am conducting large-scale searches for these systems using powerful new data-mining tools.

I regularly mentor, co-mentor, and collaborate with undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs.

Current
Graduate students: Francisca Chabour Barra
Undergraduate students: Soren Logghe

Former
Postdoctoral Scholars: Rebecca Phillipson (2020-21; MPS ASCEND Fellow, 2021-22), now faculty, Villanova; Keaton Bell (NSF Fellow, 2019-22), now faculty, Queen's College, CUNY; K. Azalee Bostroem (DIRAC Fellow, 2021-22), now staff at IPAC

Graduate students: David Wang (PhD 2026); Andy Tzanidakis (PhD 2026, primary advisor, Jim Davenport), now DIRAC Fellow, UW; Tom Wagg (PhD 2025), now Flatiron Research Fellow, CCA; Myles McKay (2020); Mikhaela Gallardo (2019; summer project); Kellen Lawson (Univ. of Oklahoma, 2017; summer project)

Undergraduate students: Angelo Gomez (2025), Allison Crossland (2022-2024; now graduate school, Michigan State), Giovanni Gollotti (2023; now graduate school, CUNY), Rebecca Kyer (PreMAP 2019; 2019-21), now graduate school, Michigan State; Courtney Klein (with Jim Davenport; 2018-21), now graduate school, UC Irvine; AuDuyen Trinh (PreMAP, 2020); Simon Dawson (PreMAP, 2020); Abbas Jaffery (PreMAP, 2019); Konstantina Mason (PreMAP, 2019); Colton Peterson (PreMAP, 2019); Pricilla Dohrwardt (2019); Ryan Jackim (2018), now grad school at UBC; Franklin Marsh (2015, 2016), now at LinkedIn; Gandalf Saxe (2014); Talia Minear (2014); Rebecca Tang (2013)

My graduate and postdoctoral research included studies of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) as well as high-energy instrumentation. I was a member of the NuSTAR commissioning team and flew a gamma-ray Compton telescope on stratospheric balloons.

With NuSTAR, I discovered an unusual extra component in the late-time X-ray afterglow of the ultra-long GRB130925A. In contrast, NuSTAR data for the bright nearby GRB130427A was consistent with emission by a single mechanism. In my dissertation, I evaluated multi-component "quasi-thermal" spectral models of the GRB prompt emission using RHESSI and Swift.

I participated in two campaigns of the balloon-borne gamma-ray Nuclear Compton Telescope, a predecessor to the COSI telescope. I maintained the flight control software and calibrated its effective area and polarization response for future observations of GRBs. Our 2009 New Mexico flight yielded the first image of the Crab Nebula by a compact Compton telescope. I led our 2010 Alice Springs campaign, directing shipping logistics, field operations, and interfaces with NASA and the media.

My campaign blog chronicled these adventures.