Dr Edward Gomez

(he/him)

FRAS MPhys PhD

Publication

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Research

I am interested in Exoplanets and Near-Earth Objects. Because of my expertise in astronomy education, robotic telescopes and data analysis, I am often involved in a wide variety of astronomy research topics.

Teaching

One of the enjoyably parts of this position is supervising BSc. and MPhys. level undergraduate projects.

This year I had 4 project students investigating extrasolar planets. I am very proud that 2 of my former project students have gone on to do PhDs. In addition, I am part of the Schools Engagement Team here and assist with the outreach of the University.

We have recently been awarded funding by the Welsh Government's National Science Academy to run the programme Universe in the Classroom, inspiring children and teachers with Universe in a Box kits and stellar role models, across Wales.

Universe in the Classrom is run in partnership with the international project Universe Awareness. I co-chair the IAU task force for children and schools, under the guidance of the Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD). Our aim is to help people in astronomically developing countries to engage with and inspire children and teachers.

Biography

Since childhood I have been fascinated by astronomy. When I realised that I could use maths and computers to do fun things with astronomy, I knew I was hooked for life. I never grew out of it and now I am lucky enough to be a professional astrophysicist. As part of my role with Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) I try to find novel ways to engage the public in science by using astronomy. This has taken the form of creating citizen science projects like Asteroid Tracker, interactive educational web apps like Star in a Box, and online celebrity events like Show Me Stars and an award winning education programme, Global Sky Partners.

I am immensely proud to have been awarded the IOP's 2020 Lise Meitner Silver Subject Medal for "distinguished contributions to science engagement".

The global education hub for LCO is based in Cardiff University where I am an honorary lecturer/adjunct faculty in the School of Physics and Astronomy. One of the enjoyably parts of this position is supervising BSc. and MPhys. level undergraduate projects. I am very proud that 4 of my former project students have gone on to do PhDs. My students have studied transiting exoplanets and made physics games in Python using the PyGame library. I have also co-supervised 1 successful PhD student.

Together with Haley Gomez, I ran the Universe in the Classroom programme inspiring children and teachers in Wales with Universe in a Box kits, stellar role models and using the LCO robotic telescopes.

I am vice-president of IAU Division C - Education, Outreach and Heritage. I also co-chair the IAU task force for children and schools, under the guidance of the Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD). Our aim is to help people in astronomically developing countries to engage with and inspire children and teachers.

Good science communication is very important, especially providing the most up-to-date news and discoveries in an easy to understand way. I was education content editor for Space Scoop between 2014 - 2019 which delivers the latest news about space in a language which is appropriate for children (and non-specialist adults too!). I am an astrophysics associate editor for Frontiers for Young Minds a journal where the authors are scientists, but the reviewers are kids.

What particularly concerns me is using the power of astronomy to inspire people who would not normally be interested in science. With LCO we have a unique opportunity to use cutting edge web technology to reach an audience who would not normally engage with science. To address this goal, I started the Global Sky Partners programme in 2017 which supports innovative projects around the world, using LCO.

Being a life long fan of Doctor Who, I've been delighted to give Science of Doctor Who talks in St Louis Science Center, National Museum of Wales (Cardiff) and to a variety of amateur science and science fiction societies across UK.

I love comic books and had the fantastic opportunity to work with a Cardiff based artist, Laura Sorvala, to produce Ada's Adventures in Science. The main aim is to show kids that science is about being curious, no matter who you are, what your background is, or what you look like. We've given out over 15,000 copies of this comic book to kids and adults in 20 countries around the world, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2018.

I occasionally appear on the BBC radio wales programmes, Science Cafe. I have served as guest judge for the national Debating Matters competition, and I am a mentor in the 1 Million Mentors project. Engaging with the public is fun and I have been lucky enough to do it in several pubs with Ignite Cardiff and Bright Club.

I love music and play the lute. Part of me thinks that makes me closer to a renaissance astronomer, like Galileo.

You can find my blog over at Dark Matter Sheep, where I talk about science, coding, gender equity, music, films, and some other things that interest me.

For more details about my public talks, conference talks, workshop and project involved with, look at my professional CV/Resumé.

Honours and awards

• Lise Meitner Medal from Institute of Physics, in 2020. This Silver Subject medal is awarded for distinguished contributions to public engagement in physics. The complete citation can be found on the IOP website
• HundrED 2021 Global Collection - Inclusion of Global Sky Partners in the 100 most inspiring innovations in education.
• Scientix Award for Best Resources in Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering - Star in a Box in 2015. This was a joint effort by many people, particularly myself, Stuart Lowe, Megan Davies, Chris North, Jon Yardley and Haley Gomez. It was also awarded to astroEDU for improving the activity through peer-review.
• HundrED 2019 Global Collection - Inclusion of astroEDU in the 100 most inspiring innovations in education.

Professional memberships

• Royal Astronomical Society
• International Astronomical Union

Speaking engagements

Invited Talks

• 2021 Oct - IAU Shaw Meeting, "Create better interactive apps"
• 2017 Feb - Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University - Smithsonian Institute, "Las Cumbres Observatory"
• 2014 Apr - Italian National Astronomy Meeting, Milan, "astroEDU: open access and peer-review for astronomy education".
• 2014 Mar - Queen Mary College, London - "Las Cumbres Observatory: a robotic telescope network for education and science".
• 2013 Oct - Copernicus Centre, Warsaw - "Exoplanets: Exploring new worlds"
• 2013 Jan - Dunlap Institute, Toronto - "Las Cumbres Observatory: a robotic telescope network for education and science"
• 2012 May - Leiden Observatory Science Communication seminar - "Creating an open network of robotic telescopes"

Selected Public Talks

• 2020 Oct - Swansea Science Festival - "Only a Matter of time". An interview with comedian, David Baddiel and science of time travel talk.
• 2020 Feb - Cardiff Science Festival - "Science of Time Travel"
• 2020 Jan - Royal Astronomical Society, London - "Science of Time Travel"
• 2016 December - IoP Science Storytelling - "Jack Photon: a story of light"
• 2016 December - St Louis Science Centre - "Science of Doctor Who: Time Travel and the Master"
• 2015 July - Institute of Physics and National Museum of Wales, Cardiff - "Science of Doctor Who: Time Travel and Alien Worlds".
• 2014 Sept - St Louis Science Centre - "Science of Doctor Who: Space Travel and Alien Worlds".
• 2014 Mar - TEDxCardiff, "Intelligent robots and the story of light".

Contributed Conference Talks

• 2023 July - National Astronomy Meeting - "Ada's Adventures in Science"
• 2022 June - Communicating Astronomy to the Public - "Ada's Adventures in Science"
• 2020 Sept - The Future of Meetings - "Robotic telescopes don't have eyepieces"
• 2016 Jun - National Astronomy Meeting - "There is no such thing as a stupid question"
• 2016 April - TEMI conference - "Big Questions in Science"
• 2015 Jun - National Astronomy Meeting - "Universe in the Classroom"
• 2014 Jun - National Astronomy Meeting - "astroEDU: open access and peer-review for astronomy education"
• 2012 Aug - IAU GA - Special Session: Communicating Astronomy to the Public
• 2012 Aug - IAU GA - Office of Astronomy for Development
• 2011 April - .Astronomy 3 - "Creating an open network of robotic telescopes"
• 2009 Sept - .Astronomy 1 - "Social media: An astronomers field guide"
• 2009 Jan - International Year of Astronomy Cultural Heritage conference

Committees and reviewing

• 2021 - present - Vice-president of IAU Division C for Education, Outreach and Heritage
• 2023 - Local Organising Committee for National Astronomy Meeting, Cardiff
• 2015 - present - Founder of Ada's Adventures in Science comic book series
• 2017 - present - Director of Global Sky Partners, providing educational opportunities to use robotic telescopes, through Las Cumbres Observatory
• 2018 - present - Associate editor for Frontiers for Young Minds
• 2011- present - Chair of the International Astronomical Union Office for Astronomy Development Task Force for children and schools.
• 2013 - present Co-founder of astroEDU, an open access, peer-review platform for reviewing and sharing astronomy education activities, endorsed by International Astronomical Union.
• 2014 - 2019 - Education and Science Editor for Space Scoop (a Universe Awareness project), astronomy press-releases rewritten for children 
• 2016 - Local Organising Committee for .Astronomy 8 conference in Oxford.
• 2016 - Local Organising Committee for National Astronomy Meeting conference in Nottingham.
• 2014 - 2015 - Chair of National Astronomy Meeting (UK) education and outreach session organising committee.