Dr Sarah Pearce1
1SKA-Low Telescope Director, SKA Observatory (SKAO)
Biography:
Dr. Sarah Pearce joined SKAO in July 2021 as Director of the SKA-Low Telescope. There she leads a growing team in Australia preparing for deployment, commissioning, and operations of the world’s largest low-frequency telescope, to be built at CSIRO’s Murchison Radio-astronomy. Observatory in Western Australia, on Wajarri Yamaji country. Before joining SKAO, Dr Pearce was with CSIRO for 10 years as the Deputy Director of CSIRO Space & Astronomy and was Acting CSIRO Chief Scientist from January 2021 until her move to SKAO. Dr Pearce led CSIRO’s engagement in the SKA and was Australia’s science representative on the negotiating team for the SKA Treaty. She also established CSIRO’s Space research program, as well as the cross-organisational Centre for Earth Observation. Her previous roles included senior science advisor in the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, and project manager of the UK’s computing for particle physics program. She has a PhD from the University of Leicester and an undergraduate degree in physics from the University of Oxford.
In 2020, Dr Pearce was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering. She was also named NSW Business Woman of the Year, and Executive of the Year at the 2020 Australian Space Awards. Dr Pearce is a strong advocate for diversity in science and engineering and was selected as one of Science and Technology Australia’s Superstars of STEM.
Abstract:
Next-generation radio astronomy: how the SKA telescopes will revolutionise our understanding of the Universe
The SKA Observatory (SKAO) is a next‐generation, data-driven radio astronomy facility that will revolutionise our understanding of the Universe and the laws of fundamental physics.
The SKAO is an intergovernmental organisation brings together 16 member and partner countries from five continents. It is building two of the most advanced radio telescopes on Earth – SKA-Low in Australia and SKA-Mid in South Africa.
The SKA telescopes represent an exa-scale science and computing project that will push the boundaries of scientific endeavour, computational innovation and engineering capability for decades to come.
The SKA project is the ultimate Big Data challenge. The processing and storage requirements of this telescope are so vast that the technology that we require doesn’t exist in a form that we can afford.
In this keynote speech, SKA-Low Telescope Director Dr Sarah Pearce will talk about the data and power intensive nature of modern astronomy, why cutting-edge software and computing technologies are essential for the SKA telescopes’ success and how the boom in Big Data and high-performance computing for big science projects like the SKA will drive a revolution, fostering links with industry, creating jobs and generating growth globally.