From today, the nation-wide ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics has a new director, Professor Elaine Sadler, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Sydney.

She succeeds Professor Bryan Gaensler, also at the School of Physics at the University, who has led CAASTRO since its inception in 2011.

Professor Sadler has a distinguished record in optical and radio astronomy, with more than 150 refereed publications to her name.

"My interest in astronomy began when I was about eight and was given a book with pictures of telescopes and the Universe which got me thinking about big questions. By eleven I wasthe youngest member of the local amateur astronomical society in Guildford, (England) whose members were bemused but welcoming. My path was set."

After obtaining her PhD from the Australian National University in 1983, Professor Sadler held positions at the European Southern Observatory and at Kitt Peak National Observatory in the USA, before returning to Australia to join what is now the Australian Astronomical Observatory.

She moved to the University of Sydney in 1993.

"I held three ARC Fellowships back to back so I had time to carry out research projects with a broad scope. Over eight years, with my colleagues here in Sydney, I used the University's Molonglo radio telescopes to make a radio atlas of the entire southern sky which is used by astronomers all over the world. "

That work started Professor's Sadler's continuing involvement with wide-field astronomy and the interpretation of big data sets, both of which CAASTRO excels in. A focus of her research has been the changing nature of galaxies over cosmic time and the symbiotic relationship between black holes and galaxies.

In 2011 she became Professor of Astrophysics and a Chief Investigator in CAASTRO.

"I was involved in the foundation and funding of CAASTRO so I'm very happy to be in a position now to advance the organisation, especially through wider national and international networks."

Continued here:

A new director for the all-sky astronomers