Tamás Szalai, PhD

Curriculum vitae

Born: 30 May 1985, Sopron, Hungary

Citizenship: Hungarian

Family status: married

Current workplace: University of Szeged, Institute of Physics, Department of Experimental Physics

H-6720 Dóm tér 9., Szeged, HUNGARY

Position: assistant professor

E-mail: szaszi@titan.physx.u-szeged.hu

Qualifications and titles:

• 2024: Habilitation (in physics), University of Szeged (Hungary)

• 2013: PhD in Physics, University of Szeged, thesis work: Final stages of massive stars: dust-forming supernovae and the gamma-ray binary system LS 5039

• 2008: MSc in astronomy, University of Szeged, thesis work: Physical parameters, surface and chromospheric activity of close binary stars

Education:

• 1995-2003: Dániel Berzsenyi Lutheran High School, Sopron

• 2003- 2008: Student of astronomy, University of Szeged

• 2008-2011: PhD student in Astrophysics, University of Szeged

Command of languages:

• English – advanced (TOEFL iBT and state language exams)

• German – advanced (DSD and state language exams)

Workplaces:

University of Szeged (Hungary), Institute of Physics, Department of Experimental Physics

• assistant professor (2022- )

University of Szeged (Hungary), Institute of Physics, Department of Optics & Quantum Electronics

• research fellow (2014-2021)

• junior research fellow (2013-2014)

• predoctoral fellow (2011-2013)

Research fields:

• Astrophysics of supernova explosions; circumstellar interaction and dust formation in supernova environments

• Eclipsing binary stars and compact binaries

Skills:

• Reduction and analysis of optical and infrared photometric and spectroscopic data

• IRAF, digital image processing

• Modeling of light curves and spectra, radial velocity analysis

• Applying data analyzing softwares of space telescopes (Spitzer, Swift, HST)

• Writing shell-scripts in UNIX, programming in C and Python, using LaTeX

Professional visits:

• University of Texas, (Austin, TX), 2012-2014, 3 weeks

• University of Sydney (Sydney, Australia), 2009, 1.5 months

• Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (Cambridge, MA, USA) as a visiting student (supervisors: Andrea K. Dupree, Szabolcs Mészáros), 2006, 2 months

Professional practices:

• Photometric observations:

  • Piszkesteto Mountain Station of the Konkoly Observatory (Hungary), 0.6m and 1.0m telescopes (2004 - , ~60 nights to date)

  • McDonald Observatory (Texas, USA), 2.7m Harlan J. Smith Telescope, (2014, 2 nights)

• Spectroscopic observations:

  • Siding Spring Observatory (Australia, 2.3m ANU Telescope + echelle spectrograph, 14 nights)

• Workshops:

  • “First summer school on disentangling of spectra”, Ondrejov (Czech Republic), 2008

  • “Using Python for Astronomical Data Analysis”, AAS 227 (Kissimmee, USA), 2016

  • "Preparing for SN science in the LSST era", Pittsburgh (USA), 2016

Participation at international conferences:

• “SuperVirtual 2021 - From common to exotic transients” (online, 2021.11.15-19) - contributed talk

• “The extragalactic explosive Universe: the new era of transient surveys and data-driven discovery” (Garching, bei München, Germany, 2019.09.16-19) - contributed talk

• “Shocking Supernovae: surrounding interactions and unusual events” (Stockholm, Sweden, 2018.05.28-06.01) - poster

• “Supernovae - From Simulations to Observations and Nucleosynthetic Fingerprints” (Bad Honnef, Germany, 2018.01.21-24) - poster

• “Deciphering the violent Universe” (Playa del Carmen, Mexico, 2017.12.11-15) - contributed talk

• „The AGB-Supernovae Mass Transition” (Rome, Italy, 27-31 March 2017) – poster

• “The Supernovae Through the Ages” (Easter Island, Chile, 8–13 August 2016) – contributed talk & poster

• 227^th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (Kissimmee, FL, USA, January 4-8, 2016) - poster

• “Type Ia Supernovae: progenitors, explosions, and cosmology"” (Chicago, USA, September 15-19, 2014) - poster

• “Nuclei in the Cosmos XIII.” (Debrecen, Hungary, July 7-11, 2014) - poster

• “Supernovae Illuminating the Universe: from Individuals to Populations” (Garching, Germany, September 10-14, 2012) - 2 posters

• “6th Workshop of Young Researchers in Astronomy and Astrophysics – The Multi-wavelength Universe from Starbirth to Star Death” (Budapest, Hungary, September 3-6, 2012) – contributed talk

• “Death of Massive Stars: Supernovae & Gamma-Ray Bursts” – IAU Symposium 279 (Nikko, Japan, March 12-16, 2012) - poster

• “From Interacting Binaries to Exoplanets: Essential Modeling Tools” – IAU Symposium 282 (Tatranska Lomnice, Slovakia, July 18-22, 2011) - poster

• “Konkoly Workshop: From Dust to Rocky Planets” (Budapest, Hungary, August 28, 2010) – contributed talk

Teaching activities:

• Lectures: Observational astronomy, Theoretical Astrophysics (for graduate and PhD students in Astronomy and Physics), Informatics in Physics, Introduction to Astronomy (for undergraduate students in Physics)

• Practices: Introduction to stellar and galactic astronomy, Introduction to extragalactic astronomy and cosmology (for undergraduate students in Physics), Mechanics (for undergraduate students in Physics, 2011), Physics for engineers (for undergraduate students, 2012-2016 )

• Other: Astronomical observations (for undergraduate students in Physics and in Physics teaching) Seminar practice (for graduate students in Astronomy and Physics), , Astronomical spectrosopy practice (for graduate students in Astronomy and Physics, 2013-2016), Physics-biophyiscs laboratory practices (for undergraduate students in Pharmaceutics, 2006-2008)

• Students under supervision:

  • PhD student: 1 (successful defense in 2024)

  • MSc thesis work: 5 (+ 3 as consultant)

  • BSc thesis work: 11 (+ 3 as consultant)

  • Project work (National Young Scientists' Conference): 8 (+ 4 as consultant)

Grants:

• 2020-2023: Bolyai Research Fellowship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences + New National Excellence Program (Bolyai+), ~11.5M HUF

• 2020-2024: Hungarian OTKA Grant FK134432, PI, ~40M HUF

• New National Excellence Program (2017/18, postgraduate I. Category), ~1.5M HUF

• 2015-2017: Hungarian OTKA Grant PD112325, PI, ~20M HUF

• 2013-2014: Hungarian OTKA Grant NN107637, Co-I

• 2009-2013: Hungarian OTKA Grant K76816, Co-I

Approved observational programs:

As PI:

• JWST: 1 (GO 6049)

• VLT: 2

As Co-PI:

• JWST: 1 (GO 2666)

As CoI:

• JWST: 14 (GO 1860, 2072, 2348, 4217, 4516, 5232, 5290, 6580, 6583; SURVEY 3921; DD 4436, 4520, 6213; AR 6356)

• HST: 3 (PID 15834, 16683, 17195)

• Spitzer: 1 (PID 14098)

• Chandra-NRAO: 1 (PID 20500421)

• Gemini: 4

Scholarships, awards:

• Junior Prima Award in Hungarian Science (2017)

• Scientific Prize of Faculty of Science and Informatics at University of Szeged (2017)

• I. prize of the The Regional Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences at Szeged for the work „Dust formation in the ejecta of SN 2004dj” (2010)

• National Young Scientists' Conference (OTDK), II. place in Physics, Earth Sciences and Mathematics section, Astronomy II. (Astrophysics) subsection (2007)

• Young Scientists' Conference at University of Szeged (TDK), I. place in Physics section (2006)

• Competition of the “Természet Világa” Hungarian journal for students, “Astronomy” category: 2004 - II. prize, 2003 - I. prize, 2002 - II. prize

• “Excellent student of Faculty of Science and Informatics, Univ. of Szeged” (2008)

• Scholarship of József Sófi Foundation (2007, 2008)

• “Young talent of Sopron” - award of the city council of Sopron (2007)

• Scholarship of the Hungarian Republic (2004/05, 2006/07, 2007/08 - 6 semesters)

• Scholarship of the city council of Szeged (2004/05, 2005/06; 2007/08 - 6 semesters)

Other activities:

• Member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU)

• Member of the European Astronomical Society (EAS)

• Board member of the Astronomical and Space Physics Scientific Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

• Member of Hungarian Astronomical Association (HAA)

• Member of Roland Eötvös Physical Society

• Member of the editorial board of Meteor (journal of HAA)

• Member of Faculty Board, Faculty of Science and Informatics, University of Szeged (2020- )

• PR specialist, Institute of Physics, University of Szeged (2010-2017, 2020- )

• Participation in the selection and training of the Hungarian team delegated to the International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) (2011-)

• Regular telescopic presentations and lectures at the Observatory of Szeged

• Popular scientific lectures on the meetings of HAA, in teacher trainings and at school classes

• Regular author of “www.csillagaszat.hu” astronomical news website

Last update: January 31, 2025