Curriculum Vitae
BURCU GÜNAY, Ph.D.
burcu.gunay@ege.edu.tr
burcu.gunay@armagh.ac.uk
https://sites.google.com/view/burcugunay
+90 5384124837
Research Interest
Observational Astronomy: Spectroscopic and photometric observations of interstellar dust and ice.
Laboratory Astrophysics: Spectroscopic analysis of interstellar dust analogues.
Computational Chemistry: Computational analysis of interstellar dust and ice.
Research Experience
Armagh Observatory and Planetarium / NI - UK
Visiting Researcher: Observational studies of the chemistry of dust and ice in the ISM
February 2024 – current.
ICE / CSIC / Barcelona - Spain
ERC Advance Project (Pebbles): Spectroscopic signatures of grain growth and pebbles formation
01 September – 25 November 2024.
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) / Johns Hopkins University / MD - USA
Photometric method for mapping interstellar dust and ice with JWST
15 April 2022 – 01 September 2023.
TUBITAK – Project No: 117F497 - Ege University / Izmir – Türkiye
Spectroscopic chemical abundance analysis of selected Stars
May 2018 - August 2019.
Armagh Observatory and Planetarium / NI - UK
Data analysis (UKIRT) for photometric mapping of carbonaceous dust in the ISM
March 2018 – May 2018.
University of New South Wales – School of Chemistry / Sydney – Australia
Laboratory analogue production and spectroscopic analysis (IR – NMR – UV) of carbonaceous dust
August 2016 – July 2017.
University of New South Wales – School of Physics / Sydney – Australia
Data reduction (UKIRT) and analysis for photometric mapping of carbonaceous dust in the ISM
November 2015 – February 2016.
Professional Appointments
Armagh Observatory and Planetarium – UK / Visiting Researcher / 27 February 2024 - current.
ICE - CSIC (ERC) - Spain / Postdoctoral Researcher / 01 September – 25 November 2024.
JHU / Space Telescope Science Institute - USA / Postdoctoral Researcher / 15 April 2022 – 01 September 2023.
Postdoctoral Research Scholar - TUBITAK (STScI – USA) / 15 April 2022 – 14 April 2023.
PhD Research Scholar - TUBITAK (UNSW - Australia) / 15 July 2016 – 14 July 2017.
Ege University Observatory ARC – Türkiye / Public Outreach / 27 April 2015 – 15 April 2022.
Education
PhD in Astrophysics
2012 February – January 2019.
Ege University, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Science / Astronomy and Space Sciences
Advisors: Prof. Dr. Melike Afşar (Prof. Dr. Michael G. Burton, Prof. Dr. Timothy W. Schmidt)
MSc in Astronomy
2009 February – October 2011.
Ege University, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Science / Astronomy and Space Sciences
Advisor: Prof. Dr. Zeynel Tunca
BSc in Chemistry
October 1999 – June 2004.
Ege University, Faculty of Science - Chemistry Department
Advisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Sedat Çelebi
Awards
Visiting Grant / TÜBİTAK
Space Telescope Science Institute (USA) / 2022 – 2023 (12 months).
Visiting Graduate Research Associate
UNSW (Australia) / 2020 – 2021 (12 months).
PhD Student Scholarship / TÜBİTAK
UNSW (Australia) / 2016 – 2017 (12 months).
Practicum Research Student Scholarship
UNSW (Australia) / 2016 - 2017 / (12 months).
Research Fellowship
UNSW (Australia) / November 2015 - February 2016.
Telescope Observing Proposals (Granted)
Unique insights into the chemical composition of interstellar silicate dust grains in the Milky Way
JWST Proposal. Cycle 4, ID. \#7715 PI: M. Decleir
https://www.stsci.edu/jwst-program-info/download/jwst/pdf/7715/
Combining Swift & JWST to Benchmark the Interplay Between Radiation and the ISM, Across 1 Dex in Metallicity
NASA Swift UVOT Proposal. Cycle 21, ID. \#2124203 PI: C. Clark
https://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/proposals/c21_acceptarg.html
First Direct Measurements of Interstellar Silicate Dust in the Magellanic Clouds
JWST Proposal. Cycle 3, ID. \#5168
2024jwst.prop.5168G PI: K. D. Gordon
https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/phase2-public/5168.pdf
Tracing the evolution of circumstellar and protoplanetary disks at low metallicity
JWST Proposal. Cycle 3, ID. \# 5114
2024jwst.prop.5114S PI: Dr. Elena Sabbi
https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/phase2-public/5114.pdf
Dust extinction at its extremes - from the smallest to the largest dust grains
HST Proposal. Cycle 31, ID. \#17516 PI: M. Decleir
https://www.stsci.edu/hst-program-info/download/hst/pdf/17516/
One-Stop Shopping: Pan-Metallicity PAH Benchmarking in M101
JWST Proposal. Cycle 2, ID. \#3429
2023jwst.prop.3429C PI: C. Clark
https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/phase2-public/3429.pdf
MIR Extinction for ice sightlines with measured UV extinction
JWST Proposal. Cycle 3, ID. \#4551
2023jwst.prop.4551G PI: K. D. Gordon
UKIRT / Project: U/15B/D01 - September 2015 (PI).
UKIRT / Project: U/16B/D01 - September 2016 (PI).
Oral Presentations
Observational and Laboratory Studies of Carbonaceous Dust / Pebbles Workshop
IRAP – Toulouse / 16 – 17 October 2024.
Observational and Experimental Research in Astrochemistry
Interdisciplinary Astronomy - 100. Anniversary (Invited Speaker)
Ege University – Izmir / 23 October 2023.
From the Interstellar Medium to Meteorites: Aliphatic Hydrocarbons / Meteorite Workshop
Ankara University – Ankara / 12 - 13 June 2023.
Quantifying The Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Content of Interstellar Dust
IAU Symposia: Laboratory Astrophysics: from Observations to Interpretation
Cambridge / 14-19 April 2019.
Observational Studies on Carbonaceous Interstellar Dust
Ege University - Izmir / June 2019.
Laboratory Studies on Carbonaceous Interstellar Dust
Ege University – Izmir / April 2019.
Distribution of Carbonaceous Dust Towards Galactic Centre
21. National Astronomy Congress
Erciyes University – Kayseri / 03 – 07 September 2018.
Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Content of The Interstellar Dust
RACI Physical Chemistry Student Conference 25th
Sydney / 25 - 27 September 2016.
Mapping Solid Carbon Across the Galaxy - School of Chemistry
UNSW – Sydney / 14 July 2016.
Workshops
ANYE Workshop - Structure and Evolution of Astronomical Objects
01 – 03 December 2025 / Izmir - Türkiye.
Disks and Planetary Formation in the JWST and ELT Era / The Evry Schatzman School
30 September – 04 October 2024 / Roscoff – France.
Webb Investigations of Carbon, Silicates, and Ices Workshop II
19 - 23 February 2024 / STScI - Baltimore Maryland – USA.
Poster Presentations
Photometric Mapping of Carbonaceous/Siliceous Dust and Water Ice in the ISM with JWST
The Dusty Universe Conference 2025 - University of Arizona / 10 – 14 November 2025.
Mapping the interstellar dust and ice with JWST
Cosmic Dust Meeting – Gothenburg / 25 – 29 September 2023.
Mapping the Interstellar Ice and Dust Towards to Galactic Centre
American Astronomical Society Meeting - Seattle, USA / 08 – 12 January 2023.
Mapping Solid Carbon Across the Galaxy
RACI Centenary Congress Melbourne / 23 - 28 July 2017.
Public Talks
Organic Molecules in Space EU Observatory ARC / 18 May 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVNSl99ihj8 / 11 May 2021.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChxMsb3li6g (03:02:30) / 08 December 2021.
Reviewing Activities
Nature Astronomy
American Astronomical Society Journals
The Open Journal of Astrophysics
Computer Skills / Laboratory Methods
Operating Systems: OS X – Windows– Linux.
Programming Languages: Python, MATLAB, LaTeX.
Software: Gaussian / Gauss View, Origin, STARLINK, IRAF.
Spectroscopic Methods: IR Spectroscopy, UV and Visible Spectroscopy.
Catalogs: VizieR Online Data Catalog: Aliphatic hydrocarbon within interstellar dust (Gunay+, 2020) (2023yCat..74931109G).
PhD Thesis: Investigation of Interstellar Carbonaceous Dust Distribution in the Direction of Galactic Centre (2018PhDT.......171G).