Dr. Jason Aufdenberg is an associate professor of physics and astronomy in the Physical Sciences Department and program coordinator of the B.S. Astronomy & Astrophysics Program.
Dr. Aufdenberg holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Arizona State University and an M.S. Physics from the University of Toledo. Prior to his academic career, he was awarded the Michelson Postdoctoral Fellowship at the National Optical Astronomy Observatories and the CfA Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Dr. Aufdenberg specializes in stellar astrophysics, in particular stellar spectroscopy, stellar interferometry and stellar atmospheres. For the last 30 years he has been developing and using the PHOENIX general stellar atmosphere code to produce models for many of the brightest stars in the night sky: Sirius, Deneb, Mirzam, Adhara, Vega, Spica and Merak, to name a few. Dr. Aufdenberg successfully modeled the extreme ultraviolet spectral energy distribution of Adhara (epsilon Canis Majoris), the brightest star in the night sky at a
wavelength of 50 nanometers. He also participated in one of the first interferometric limb-darkening measurements and modeling of Vega (alpha Lyrae), confirming it to be a pole-on rapidly rotating star. Dr. Aufdenberg recently joined the VERITAS collaboration for stellar intensity interferometry and has co-authored a paper constraining the temperature and age of Merak (beta Ursa Majoris), a star in the Ursa Major moving group.
With over 40 peer-reviewed publications in astrophysics journals, Dr. Aufdenberg continues to pursue new tests for stellar atmosphere models and new constraints on fundamental stellar parameters. He is a member of the American Astronomical Society, the International Astronomical Union and Sigma Xi (Scientific Research Honor Society).
Beyond his scholarly achievements, Dr. Aufdenberg is passionate about public outreach in astronomy and has participated in over 100 astronomy open house events at Embry-Riddle and has been presented many astronomy programs in public schools and public libraries. He is a non-driver who is passionate about bicycles for transportation. He has served on the Volusia-Flager Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee, representing Volusia at Large, since 2012, for two years as the BPAC chair.
Ph.D. - Doctor of Philosophy in Physics, Arizona State University