Meet the Instructor

We continue our series of Meet the Instructors. This edition we meet Dr Jarrod Hurley who has instructed HET617 and will instruct it again in 2008.

Jarrod is a native of Australia who studied at Monash University in the early 1990s and obtained a B.Sc.(Hons) in Applied Mathematics. He then moved offshore to do a Ph.D. at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge where he was a member of Trinity College. After a failed attempt at a soccer career, followed by a slightly more successful contribution to the college cricket circuit, he completed his Ph.D. in early 2000.

After crossing the Atlantic Jarrod took up a postdoctoral position at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. There he was part of a relatively new Department of Astrophysics housed in the fascinating Hayden Planetarium. While in New York Jarrod successfully applied for a Hubble Fellowship (also at the Museum) and then in 2003 he moved back to Monash University on an Australian Postdoctoral Fellowhip. In 2006, Jarrod joined Swinburne as a lecturer in the Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing where he manages the supercomputer amongst finding time to do research.

Jarrod works mostly in the area of computational astrophysics, focussing on the evolution of stars, binaries and star clusters. Specifically he is interested in the link between these areas and performs N-body simulations on special-purpose GRAPE computers and supercomputers. These simulations show how star clusters evolve and look at the exotic stars and binaries that can be produced along the way. They also facilitate using star clusters to improve our knowledge of galaxy formation and evoloution. Jarrod has also looked at the consequences for planetary evolution in the dense environment of a star cluster and been involved in Hubble Space Telescope and Gemini observing programs.

For more information you can take a look at: Jarrod's webpage or the following papers:

Hurley 2007, Hurley & Shara 2002a or Hurley & Shara 2002b

In his "spare" time, Jarrod can be found renovating his dilapidated house, looking after his young children or wasting time following the various football teams to which he has gathered allegiances on his travels (Western Bulldogs, Arsenal & New York Jets).

Dr Jarrod Hurley