About

I work as an Astrophysicist (Principal Investigator) at Eureka Scientific, Inc. from 2022. Before, I worked as a Research Fellow in Astronomy at the University of Michigan (2019–2021) and as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (2015–2018). For my PhD research, I investigated the physical and kinematic properties of planetary nebulae around WR stars at Macquarie University (2010–2014). For my MSc research, I also studied the thermal effects of suprethermal electrons on electron-acoustic waves using numerical methods at Queen’s University Belfast (2008-2009). I worked as an early-stage researcher at the University of Craiova in 2008, where I mathematically studied BRST coupling between a dual formulation of linearized gravity and a topological background field.

Ashkbiz Danehkar, PhD
Contact:
Eureka Scientific Inc
2452 Delmer St Suite 100
Oakland, CA 94602
Research Experience

2022 - present

Black Hole
Spin measurement via Reflection Modeling

Astrophysicist, Eureka Scientific

• Performed X-ray spectral analysis of black hole spins in radio-quiet AGN.
• Wrote programs in CIAO/Sherpa to fit relativistic reflection models.
• Employed Bayesian MCMC-based statistic methods in Python to perform spectral model fitting.

2019 - 2021

Starburst
Hydrodynamic Simulations and Photoionization Modeling

Research Fellow, University of Michigan

• Performed hydrodynamic simulations of superwinds in starbursts using the FLASH hydrodynamics code.
• Performed photoionization modeling with CLOUDY and synthesis modeling with Starburst99.

2015 - 2018

AGN
X-ray Photoionization Modeling and Data Analysis

Postdoc Fellow, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA

• Performed X-ray spectral analysis of warm absorbers in AGN.
• Developed S-Lang codes for X-ray data analysis in the Interactive Spectral Interpretation System.
• Developed C++ codes for MPI-based parallelization of multiple runs of XSTAR program.
• Developed Python codes in CIAO/Sherpa to reproduce X-ray spectra of a hard X-ray emitting symbiotic star.
• Used the Bayesian Low-Count X-ray Spectral Analysis in Python to conduct MCMC-based Bayesian analysis.

2010 - 2014

Nebulae
Plasma Diagnostics and 3D Photoionization Modeling

PhD Student, Macquarie University

• Performed observations and theoretical studies of ionized nebulae around WR-type central stars.
• Developed IDL and Python codes for plasma diagnostics and abundance analysis.
• Performed astronomical data reduction using IRAF.
• Constructed 3D kinematic models using the interactive morpho-kinematic modeling tool SHAPE.

Education

2014

Ph.D.
Physics and Astronomy

Macquarie University

Conducted research on physical and chemical properties of ionized nebulae through plasma diagnostics, abundance analysis, 3D photoionization, and 3D morpho-kinematic modeling.

2009

M.Sc.
Plasma Physics

Queen's University Belfast

Studied theoretical and computational plasma physics, and conducted research on electron-acoustic waves in suprathermal plasmas using numerical methods.

2007

M.Sc.
Computational Electrical Engineering

University of Rostock

Studied computational electromagnetics, data science, applied mathematics, software engineering, parallel computing, integrated circuit design, controller design, and microcontrollers.

Computing Skills
C/C++
80%
Python
85%
IDL/GDL
80%
Fortran
70%
IRAF/PyRAF
75%
Mathematica
70%
Publications and Talks
Computing Packages
Contact Me
Feel free to contact me

Address

Eureka Scientific
2452 Delmer St Suite 100
Oakland, CA 94602

Phone

+1-617-955-0606

Email

ashkbiz [at] gmail [dot] com