Dr. Tomomi Otaniis an assistant professor of Astronomy in the Physical Science Department.
Dr. Otani holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Space Sciences from the Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne. Before her academic career, she was a Project Assistant Professor at Wakayama University, Japan and served as a lead engineer for a ground station supporting the Japanese microsatellite UNIFORM-1 [NORAD ID: 39697].
Dr. Otani's expertise is the observational study of binary evolution. About half to 85% of stars in the universe are known as binary or multiple-star systems. She and her students look for binary or multiple-star systems and find their orbital information. Instead of checking radial velocity, which is a common method of searching for binary systems, they check the radial 'distance' variation of stars due to the orbital motion. Their method is more sensitive to searching longer orbital period systems compared with other common methods. The orbital information of binary or multiple star systems is important to constrain the current binary and multiple star evolution theories, which also helps to understand the evolution of our universe.
Over the past five years, Dr. Otanihas successfully secured a total of about 1.2 million dollars in external funding from NASA and NSF, serving in roles as both Principal Investigator (PI) and co-PI.
Ph.D. - Doctor of Philosophy in Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology
M.S. - Master of Science in Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology
[Research Grants - External]
2024:National Aeronautics and Space Administration, TESS Guest Investigator(Cycle 6) [PI] ($60,000)
80NSSC24K0494: “Searching for Subdwarf B Long Orbital Period Binary Systems and Single Stars Using the Light Time Delay Method”
2021: National Science Foundation,Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Grants[PI] ($232,410)
AST2108975: "Orbital solutions study of Subdwarf B wide binary systems"
2020: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, TESS Guest Investigator(Cycle 3) [PI] ($40,000)
80NSSC21K0245: “Searching Long Period Subdwarf B Binary Systems Using the Light Time Delay Method”
2019: National Science Foundation,Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Grants[Co-PI] ($395,048)
AST1910396: "Confronting the Stellar Gyrochronology Paradigm Using Wide Binaries"
2018: American Astronomical Society,IAU General Assembly travel grant($2100)
2018: American Astronomical Society,International Travel Grant 2018-1($1500)
2018: International Astronomical Union,IAU XXIX General Assembly Grant(750 €)
[Research Grants - Internal]
2026: Faculty Innovation Research in Science and Technology (FIRST)($11,108)
"Observational Constraints on Binary Stellar Evolution"
[Teaching Grants]
2023: ݮƵ, IGNITE Mini-Grant ($500)
2021: ݮƵ, IGNITEMini-Grant($500)
2017: ݮƵ, IGNITECourse Redesign Grant($1000)
2016: ݮƵ, IGNITECourse Redesign Grant($1000)
2016: ݮƵ, IGNITEDigital Literacies Grant($500)