Erika Hamden

Erika Tobiason Hamden is an American

astrophysicist and associate professor at the University Erika Hamden
of Arizona and Steward Observatory. Her research
focuses on developing ultraviolet (UV) detector
technology, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV/VIS)
instrumentation and spectroscopy, and galaxy
evolution.[1] She served as the project scientist and
project manager of a UV multi-object spectrograph,
FIREBall-2, that is designed to observe the
circumgalactic medium (CGM).[2] She is a 2019 TED
fellow.[3]

Early life and education

Hamden was born in Montclair, New Jersey. Hamden
studied astrophysics at Harvard College and graduated Born Erika Tobiason Hamden
in 2006.[4] Hamden worked at the Harvard Center for Montclair, New Jersey
Astrophysics, completing a senior thesis under Andrew Alma mater Harvard College (AB)
Szentgyorgyi.[4] After graduating, she completed a Le Cordon Bleu (Dip.)
diploma at Le Cordon Bleu in London, before working Columbia University (MPhil, MA,
as a chef in New Jersey. She joined Columbia PhD)
University for her doctoral studies in 2007, earning a Awards TED Fellow (2019)
PhD supervised by David Schiminovich in 2014.[5]
Scientific career
She worked on the diffuse galactic far UV background
using archival GALEX data, far UV bright galactic Fields Astrophysics
clouds, UV detector development, and ultraviolet Institutions California Institute of Technology
instrumentation.[6][4] She held a NASA Earth and University of Arizona
Space Science fellowship from 2011 to 2014. Thesis FIREBall, CHAS, and the
Diffuse Universe (https://doi.org/
10.7916/D8Z31WZF) (2014)
Career and research Doctoral David Schiminovich
advisor
Hamden joined California Institute of Technology as a
Website ehamden.org (http://ehamden.or
postdoctoral researcher, working with Christopher
g)
Martin. Here she developed an ultraviolet telescope for
a high-altitude balloon, the "Faint Intergalactic
medium Redshifted Emission Balloon" (FIREBall-2).[4][7] FIREBall-2 will observe circumgalactic media
(CGM) emission in the ultraviolet.[8] She appeared on the podcast 365 Days of Astronomy.[9] She was a
National Science Foundation Astronomy and Astrophysics postdoctoral fellow in 2014.[10] The
fellowship allowed her to develop instrumentation to study galaxies in the Keck Cosmic Web Imager
redshift range.[11] In 2016 she was the first woman to be awarded a NASA Nancy Roman technology
fellowship for her work in detectors.[12] She was made a Robert Andrews Millikan fellow in 2017.

Hamden joined the faculty at the University of Arizona and Steward Observatory in 2018.[13] Here she is
building a UV detector lab and continuing work on FIREBall-2 and as the project scientist for the Keck
Cosmic Reionization Mapper.

She is interested in silicon detector technologies and Lyman-alpha emission from the circumgalactic
media.[14] She has worked on anti-reflective coatings for delta-doped CCDs, helping to improve their
efficiency in the ultraviolet.[15][16][17] FIREBall-2 was designed to test this new technology.[8] The
electron multiplying charge-coupled devices (EMCCDs) can suffer from clock-induced charge and
spurious signals and require carefully designed shaped pixel clocks to minimize noise.[18][19] She has
worked as US lead on FIREBall-2 from 2014 to its launch on September 22, 2018. Hamden was present
during integration of FIREBall-2 at Fort Sumner in 2018, when a falcon landed in the telescope.[20]

Hamden is a member of the Goddard Space Flight Center Cosmic Origins Science Working Group.[21]
She is one of 20 people selected as TED fellow in 2019.[22][23] Her TED Talk was selected by TED as a
highlight of their April 2019 conference, and covered by Wired magazine.[24][25]

Awards and honors

Her awards and honors include

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers[26]

TED fellow in 2019.[27]
NASA Nancy Roman Technology Fellowship[12]
National Science Foundation (NSF) Astronomy and Astrophysics postdoctoral Fellow[28]
Robert Andrews Millikan Fellow in Experimental Physics
NASA Earth and Space Science Fellow[29]

References
1. Arnaud, Monique; Milliard, Bruno; Murray, Stephen S.; Martin, D. Christopher; Schiminovich,
David; Takahashi, Tadayuki; Evrard, Jean; Matuszewski, Matt; Rahman, Shahinur; Tuttle,
Sarah; McLean, Ryan; Deharveng, Jean-Michel; Mirc, Frederi; Grange, Robert; Chave,
Robert (2010). "FIREBALL: The Faint Intergalactic medium Redshifted Emission Balloon:
Overview and first science flight results" (https://authors.library.caltech.edu/71624/1/773205
_1.pdf) (PDF). In Arnaud, Monique; Murray, Stephen S.; Takahashi, Tadayuki (eds.). Space
Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray (https://resolver.caltech.ed
u/CaltechAUTHORS:20161031-112536885). Vol. 7732. Society of Photo-Optical
Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). p. 773205. doi:10.1117/12.857850 (https://doi.org/10.111
7%2F12.857850). ISBN 9780819482228. ISSN 0277-786X (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/
0277-786X). S2CID 8060117 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:8060117).
 2. Hamden, Erika (August 2019). "Observing hydrogen from the stratosphere" (https://doi.org/1
0.1038%2Fs41550-019-0866-0). Nature Astronomy. 3 (8): 783.
Bibcode:2019NatAs...3..783H (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019NatAs...3..783H).
doi:10.1038/s41550-019-0866-0 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs41550-019-0866-0).
ISSN 2397-3366 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/2397-3366). S2CID 201248061 (https://ap
i.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:201248061).
3. "Prof. Erika Hamden" (https://www.ehamden.org/). Ehamdeb.org. Retrieved 7 February
2019.
4. "Erika Hamden '06" (http://alumni.harvard.edu/stories/erika-hamden). Alumni.harvard.edu.
Harvard University. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
5. Hamden, Erika Tobiason (2014). FIREBall, CHAS, and the diffuse universe (PhD thesis).
Columbia University. doi:10.7916/D8Z31WZF (https://doi.org/10.7916%2FD8Z31WZF).
OCLC 1004780751 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/1004780751).
6. Hamden, Erika T.; Schiminovich, David; Seibert, Mark (2013). "The Diffuse Galactic Far-
Ultraviolet Sky". The Astrophysical Journal. 779 (2): 180. arXiv:1311.0875 (https://arxiv.org/a
bs/1311.0875). Bibcode:2013ApJ...779..180H (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ApJ...
779..180H). doi:10.1088/0004-637X/779/2/180 (https://doi.org/10.1088%2F0004-637X%2F7
79%2F2%2F180). ISSN 0004-637X (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0004-637X).
S2CID 119285683 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:119285683).
7. "The Faint Intergalactic-medium Redshifted Emission Balloon" (https://web.archive.org/web/
20190127035041/http://www.mpia.de/homes/igm16/Slides/Hamden.pdf) (PDF). Mpia.de.
Archived from the original (http://www.mpia.de/homes/igm16/Slides/Hamden.pdf) (PDF) on
2019-01-27. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
8. "FIREBall: future UV observations of the circumgalactic medium" (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20190127035448/https://obs.carnegiescience.edu/content/fireball-future-uv-observations-
circumgalactic-medium). Carnegie Observatories. 2016-02-05. Archived from the original (ht
tps://obs.carnegiescience.edu/content/fireball-future-uv-observations-circumgalactic-mediu
m) on 2019-01-27. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
9. "Citizen Science" (https://cosmoquest.org/x/365daysofastronomy). 365 Days of Astronomy.
Retrieved 2019-01-26.
10. "Erika Hamden | NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellows" (https://aapf-fellow
s.org/biography/Erika_Hamden). Aapf-fellows.org. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
11. "NSF Award Search: Award#1402206 - Understanding galaxy growth and history through
innovative instruments" (https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1402206).
Nsf.gov. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
12. "Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowships in Astrophysics for Early Career Researchers
| Science Mission Directorate" (https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/fellowship-progra
ms/nancy-grace-roman-technology-fellowships-astrophysics-early-career-researchers).
Science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
13. "Dr. Erika Hamden to Join Astronomy/Steward in Fall 2018" (https://www.as.arizona.edu/feat
ured-articles/dr-erika-hamden-join-astronomysteward-fall-2018). University of Arizona.
Retrieved 2019-01-26.
14. "Astronomy Colloquium Series Presents: Dr. Erika Hamden, Assistant Professor, The
University of Arizona | U-M LSA Michigan Institute for Research in Astrophysics" (https://lsa.
umich.edu/mira/news-events/all-events.detail.html/55854-13780075.html). Lsa.umich.edu.
Retrieved 2019-01-26.
15. "Advanced Detectors, Systems, & Nanoscience | Capabilities | Microdevices Laboratory |
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology" (https://microdevices.jpl.
nasa.gov/capabilities/advanced-detectors/). Microdevices.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved
2019-01-26.
16. "Next Generation UV Instrument Technologies" (http://kiss.caltech.edu/techdev/uv/KISS_Re
port.pdf) (PDF). Kiss.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
17. Schiminovich, David; Nikzad, Shouleh; Dickie, Matt; Hoenk, Michael; Jones, Todd; Jacquot,
Blake; Blacksberg, Jordana; Hamden, Erika (2010). Anti-Reflection Coatings for Silicon
Ultraviolet Detectors. Optical Society of America. pp. MD6. doi:10.1364/OIC.2010.MD6 (http
s://doi.org/10.1364%2FOIC.2010.MD6). ISBN 978-1-55752-891-9. {{cite book}}:
|journal= ignored (help)
18. Hamden, Erika T.; Lingner, Nicole; Kyne, Gillian; Morrissey, Patrick; Martin, D. Christopher
(2015). Siegmund, Oswald H. (ed.). "Noise and dark performance for FIREBall-2 EMCCD
delta-doped CCD detector" (https://authors.library.caltech.edu/63327/). UV, X-Ray, and
Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XIX. 9601: 96010O.
Bibcode:2015SPIE.9601E..0OH (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015SPIE.9601E..0OH).
doi:10.1117/12.2190679 (https://doi.org/10.1117%2F12.2190679). S2CID 38993182 (http
s://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:38993182).
19. Nikzad, Shouleh; Hoenk, Michael; Jewell, April; Hennessy, John; Carver, Alexander; Jones,
Todd; Goodsall, Timothy; Hamden, Erika; Suvarna, Puneet (2016). "Single Photon Counting
UV Solar-Blind Detectors Using Silicon and III-Nitride Materials" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.g
ov/pmc/articles/PMC4934352). Sensors. 16 (6): 927. Bibcode:2016Senso..16..927N (https://
ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016Senso..16..927N). doi:10.3390/s16060927 (https://doi.org/1
0.3390%2Fs16060927). ISSN 1424-8220 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1424-8220).
PMC 4934352 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4934352). PMID 27338399
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27338399).
20. Letzter, Rafi; June 12, Staff Writer |; ET, 2018 06:05pm (12 June 2018). "Confused Baby
Falcon Rescued from Inside Balloon Telescope" (https://www.livescience.com/62803-fireball
-telescope-balloon-hawk-bird.html). Live Science. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
21. "LUVOIR" (https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/luvoir/participate/tech_wg.html). Asd.gsfc.nasa.gov.
Retrieved 2019-01-26.
22. "Meet the 2019 TED Fellows and Senior Fellows" (https://blog.ted.com/meet-the-2019-ted-fe
llows-and-senior-fellows/). Blog.ted.com. 2019-01-23. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
23. Anzilotti, Eillie (2019-01-23). "Meet this year's 20 inspiring, creative TED Fellows" (https://w
ww.fastcompany.com/90295067/meet-this-years-20-inspiring-creative-ted-fellows).
Fastcompany.com. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
24. Dreyfuss, Emily (2019-04-25). "Scientists Need to Talk More About Failure" (https://www.wir
ed.com/story/scientists-need-more-failure-talk/). Wired. ISSN 1059-1028 (https://search.worl
dcat.org/issn/1059-1028). Retrieved 2019-04-27.
25. "In Case You Missed It: Highlights from TED2019" (https://blog.ted.com/in-case-you-missed-
it-highlights-from-ted2019/). TED Blog. 2019-04-20. Retrieved 2019-04-27.
26. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award
for Scientists and Engineers" (https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/pr
esident-donald-j-trump-announces-recipients-presidential-early-career-award-scientists-engi
neers/). whitehouse.gov. 2019-07-02. Retrieved 2019-08-03 – via National Archives.
27. "Meet the 2019 TED Fellows and Senior Fellows" (https://blog.ted.com/meet-the-2019-ted-fe
llows-and-senior-fellows/). Blog.ted.com. 2019-01-23. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
28. "NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellows" (https://aapf-fellows.org/).
Retrieved 2019-05-03.
29. "NESSF Astrophysics Selections 2011" (https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/viewrepository
document/cmdocumentid=274487/solicitationId=%7B6803E463-A6EF-3164-F103-A1E4178
E430D%7D/viewSolicitationDocument=1/Astro11F%20NESSF%20Selections.pdf) (PDF).
Retrieved 2019-05-03.

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