Jan Cami, Professor

I use astronomical (spectroscopic) observations to study the surroundings of dying stars and the interstellar medium. In those environments, we see a rich mixture of molecular gas and various dust grains. The aim of my research is to figure out the physical processes and chemical pathways that lead to these species. Since our discovery of "buckyballs" in planetary nebulae, much work has focused on understanding how these large and stable species form and evolve, and what other, related molecules may exist in space. A second large research program is the study of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands (DIBs), a set of hundreds of mysterious interstellar absorption lines that are unidentified to date. We can derive a lot about the molecules responsible for these DIBs by careful analyses of astronomical observations.

Most of my research is based on observations from the UV to the radio with ground-based, airborne or space telescopes, but generally includes some theoretical work or a comparison with theoretical models as well, or uses advanced statistics or computational methods. A typical research project will combine astronomy, physics, chemistry and computer science. All research is part of large international collaborations, including with researchers from NASA.

1. De Marco, O., et al. “The messy death of a multiple star system and the resulting planetary nebula as observed by JWST”, Nature Astronomy, vol. 6, pp. 1421–1432, 2022. doi:10.1038/s41550-022-01845-2.
2. Roy, A., et al. “Shock processing of amorphous carbon nanodust”, Advances in Space Research, vol. 70, no. 8, pp. 2571–2581, 2022. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2022.06.068.
3. Sidhu, A., Tielens, A. G. G. M., Peeters, E., and Cami, J., “Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon emission model in photodissociation regions - I. Application to the 3.3, 6.2, and 11.2 μm bands”, MNRAS, vol. 514, no. 1, pp. 342–369, 2022. doi:10.1093/mnras/stac1255.
4. MacIsaac, H., et al., “The EDIBLES survey. V. Line profile variations in the λλ5797, 6379, and 6614 diffuse interstellar bands as a tool to constrain carrier sizes”, Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 662, 2022. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202142225.

Complete List of Publications (Scopus)

Complete List of Publications (NASA ADS)

Complete List of Publications (Google Scholar)

• STEAM Big! Award for Science Rendezvous at Western, 2022
• Qilak Award for Astronomy Communications, Public Education and Outreach, Canadian Astronomical Society, 2019
• Faculty of Science Outreach Award, 2018
• Faculty of Science Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 2016.
• Faculty Scholar 2012–2014 
• NASA Group Achievement Award, 2011 (awarded to the NASA Ames PAH database team)
• Science and Technology Innovation Award, Belgian-American Chamber of Commerce / Flanders Investment and Trade, 2010 
• Faculty of Science Outreach Award 2010 (awarded to entire Astronomy group)
• NASA Certificate of Appreciation for outstanding contributions in Information Security at NASA Ames Research Center from 2004 through 2005

• Director of the Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory, 2010-present.
• Faculty Lead for Science Rendezvous at Western
• Associate Director of the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration (2019-2022)
• International Scientific Coordinator, COST Action CA211126 "Carbon molecular nanostructures in space"; Regional Coordinator (Canada) for the Nearby Evolved Star Survey (NESS)
• Principal Investigator of the ESO Diffuse Interstellar Bands Large Exploration Survey (EDIBLES)
• Co-Investigator on “Radiative Feedback from Massive Stars as Traced by Multiband Imaging and Spectroscopic Mosaics”, approved Early Release Science proposal (PI: Berne, Habart, Peeters) for the James Webb Space Telescope.
• Member, CASCA Education & Public Outreach Committee, 2008-present.