Present PositionChief, Gravitational Astrophysics LaboratoryBrief BioJoan Centrella received her PhD from Cambridge University, where she was a student at the Institute of Astronomy. Following postdoctoral appointments at the University of Texas and the University of Illinois, she joined the faculty of Drexel University in the Physics Department. In 2001, she moved to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to join their newly-formed gravitational wave astrophysics group, where she leads their source modeling and numerical relativity effort in support of LISA. In 2004 she became head of the Gravitational Astrophysics Laboratory, which encompasses the gravitational wave and theoretical astrophysics groups at Goddard. Her research interests include black hole mergers, gravitational waves, numerical relativity, structure formation, and cosmology. In May 2007, she was awarded the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for ground-breaking work in the simulation of gravitational wave signals from merging black holes. In May 2008, she and John Baker were awarded the John C. Lindsay Memorial Award for Space Science by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center; this is the center's highest honor for outstanding contributions in space science.Educational BackgroundB.S. University of MassachusettsPh.D. Cambridge University Research Interestsblack hole mergers; gravitational waves; numerical relativity; structure formation; cosmologyCurrent ProjectsMember, LISA International Science Team, 2005 - presentMember of the Executive Committee, Division of Astrophysics, American Physical Society, 2005 - present Panelist, Einstein Seminar, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, May 2005 Panelist, Science Panel Discussion, Physics for the Third Millenium Conference, Huntsville, AL, April 2005 AstroGravS (Astrophysical Gravitational-wave Sources Archive), overseer, 2002 - present Commentator in Space Science Update, Two Supermassive Black Holes in Same Galaxy, Nov. 2002 Interviewee for Einstein's Legacy Exhibit, American Museum of Natural History, NY, Fall 2002 Selected PublicationsWave zone extraction of gravitational radiation in three-dimensional numerical relativity, D. Fiske, J. Baker, J. van Meter, D. Choi, and J. Centrella, 2005, Phys. Rev. D, 71,104036Impact of LISA's low frequency sensitivity on observations of massive black hole mergers, J. Baker and J. Centrella, 2005, Classical and Quantum Gravity, 22, S355 Evolving a puncture black hole with fixed mesh refinement, B. Imbirba, J. Baker, D. Choi, J. Centrella, D. Fiske, J. D. Brown, J. van Meter, and K. Olson, 2004, Phys. Rev. D, 70, 124025 Interface Conditions for Wave Propagation Through Mesh Refinement Boundaries, D. Choi, J. D. Brown, B. Imbiriba, J. Centrella, P. MacNeice, 2004, J. Comp. Phys., 193, 398 Resource Letter GrW-1: Gravitational Waves, Joan Centrella, 2003, Am. J .Phys. 71, 520 Dynamical Rotational Instability at Low T/W, J. Centrella, K. New, L. Lowe, and J. D. Brown, 2001, Ap. J. Lett., 550, L193 Three-Dimensional Adaptive Evolutions of Gravitational Waves in Numerical Relativity, K. New, D. Choi, J. Centrella, P. MacNeice, M. Huq, and K. Olson, 2000, Phys. Rev. D, 62, 084039 Gravitational Waves from Long-Duration Simulations of the Dynamical Bar Instability, K. New, J. Centrella, and J. Tohline, 2000, Phys. Rev. D, 62, 064019 Stable 3-Level Integration in Numerical Relativity, K. New, K. Watt, C. Watt, and J. Centrella, 1998, Phys. Rev. D, 58, 064022 Gravitational Radiation from Rotational Instabilites in Compact Stellar Cores with Stiff Equations of State, Janet L. Houser and Joan M. Centrella, 1996, Phys. Rev. D, 54, 7278 Gravitational Radiation from the Coalescence of Binary Neutron Stars: Effects Due to the Equation of State, Spin, and Mass Ratio'', Xing Zhuge, Joan M. Centrella, and Stephen L. W. McMillan, 1996, Phys. Rev. D, 54, 7261 Simulations of Nonaxisymmetric Instability in a Rotating Star: A Comparison between Eulerian and Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics, Scott Smith, Janet Houser, and Joan Centrella, 1996, Ap. J., 458, 236 Gravitational Radiation from Nonaxisymmetric Instability in a Rotating Star, Janet Houser, Joan Centrella, and Scott Smith, 1994, Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 1314 Gravitational Radiation from Coalescing Binary Neutron Stars, Xing Zhuge, Joan M. Centrella, and Stephen L. W. McMillan, 1994, Phys. Rev. D, 50, 6247 Nonlinear Wave Solutions to the Planar Vacuum Einstein Equations, Peter Anninos, Joan Centrella, and Richard Matzner, 1991, Phys. Rev. D, 43, 1825 Numerical Methods for Solving the Planar Vacuum Einstein Equations, Peter Anninos, Joan Centrella, and Richard Matzner, 1991, Phys. Rev. D, 43, 1808 Nonlinear Solutions for Initial Data in the Vacuum Einstein Equations in Plane Symmetry, Peter Anninos, Joan Centrella and Richard Matzner, 1989, Phys. Rev. D., 39, 2155 A Case Study of Large Scale Structure in a 'Hot' Model Universe, Joan Centrella, John S. Gallagher, Adrian Melott and Howard A. Bushouse, 1988, Ap. J., 333, 24 Three-Dimensional Simulation of Large-Scale Structure in the Universe, Joan Centrella and Adrian L. Melott, 1983, Nature, 305, 196 Planar Numerical Cosmology II: The Difference Equations and Numerical Tests, Joan Centrella and James R. Wilson, 1984, Ap. J. Suppl., 54, 229 Planar Numerical Cosmology I: The Differential Equations, Joan Centrella and James R. Wilson, 1983, Ap. J., 273, 428 Colliding Gravitational Waves in Expanding Cosmologies, Joan Centrella and Richard A. Matzner, 1982, Phys. Rev. D, 21, 930 Interacting Gravitational Shocks in Vacuum Plane-Symmetric Cosmologies, Joan Centrella, 1980, Ap. J., 241, 875 Gravitational Wave Perturbations and Gauge Conditions, Joan Centrella, 1980, Phys. Rev. D, 21, 2776 Publications at the ADS website.
| |||
|
A service of the
Astrophysics Science Division (ASD) at
NASA's
GSFC
|
