LOFAR EoR team

The EoR key science project is run by a team centered at the Kapteyn Institute of the University of Groningen and ASTRON Dwingeloo.  The project had its formal kick-off meeting in April 2004 in Groningen where the initial team and tasks and activities for the future were defined.  These tasks were subsequently delegated to three Working Groups: WG1 - Signal Modelling and Extraction, WG2 - Observational Strategies and Pilot Observations and WG3 - Calibration and Reprocessing.  However, in the current phase of the project most of the activities of the working groups have developed strong overlap and the distinction is less effective.

The team has both core and associate members. Currently the EoR project team consists of the following 15 core members: Ger de Bruyn (PI),  Michiel Brentjens (co-PI), Leon Koopmans (co-PI) and Saleem Zaroubi (co-PI); these four together form the Management Team.  Additional core members are Benedetta Ciardi (MPIfA, Munich) , Garrelt Mellema (University of Stockholm), Joop Schaye (Leiden Observatory). Postdoctoral fellows at the Kapteyn Institute, largely  involved with calibration and data analysis, are: Gianni Bernardi, Sarod Yatawatta, Vishambhar Pandey and Geraint Harker. Several of them spend significant fractions of their time at ASTRON. PhD students at the Kapteyn Institute are Rajat Thomas (from April 2009 onwards a postdoc at IMPU, Japan), Vibor Jelic, Panos Lambropoulos and Andre Offringa. They are all working full-time on aspects of the the LOFAR EoR KSP. The ASTRON/Groningen team members meet weekly, the MT typically meets once a month. Face-to-face plenary meetings are held every 6 months, usually in Groningen.

Funding for new personnel is continually being sought. Recent funding was obtained from various sources (NWO, NOVA and Kapten Institute) and several new students, programmers, data analysts and postdocs are expected to join the project in the near future. 

In addition to the core members, who spend a significant fraction (>20%) of their time on the project, the following persons are associate members:  Filipe Abdallah (University College London), Wim Brouw, Michiel van Haarlem, Jan Noordam, Corina Vogt, Rene Vermeulen, Stefan Wijnholds  (all ASTRON), Peter Katgert (Leiden Observatory), Thijs van der Hulst, Marc Verheyen and Edwin Valentijn (all Kapteyn Institute) , Antonella Maselli (MPIfA, Munich) and Nabila Aghanim, Hiroyuki Tashiro (both IAS, Paris).
The EoR project remains open to (core or associate) membership for persons that contribute to the core activities in a meaningful way.  

The EoR KSP  has a web site at the University of Groningen (http://www.astro.rug.nl/~LofarEoR).