David Pooley, Ph.D.
- Associate Professor , Physics and Astronomy
David Pooley was born and raised in New Orleans and spent a decade in Boston, a few years in San Francisco, and nearly a year in Madison.聽 Of all the places he鈥檚 lived, central Texas is his favorite.聽
Pooley鈥檚 research focuses on extreme and energetic astrophysical phenomena, studied primarily with the most energetic forms of light 鈥 X-rays and gamma rays 鈥 and supplemented by observations with radio, infrared, and optical light.聽 He enjoys working with undergraduate research students on the reduction and analysis of data from NASA鈥檚 premiere satellites, including the聽Hubble Space Telescope,听Chandra X-ray Observatory,听Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, and聽Swift Gamma-ray Burst Mission. 聽Pooley also goes on several observing runs each year at McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis, and he is in the process of refurbishing, automating, and roboticizing the 16鈥 telescope atop Marrs McLean.
Pooley has been PI 聽or Observing Co-I on 67 successful聽Chandra聽proposals, 4 successful聽Hubble聽proposals, 10 successful聽XMM-Newton聽proposals, 1 successful聽Fermi聽proposal, 7 successful McDonald Observatory proposals, and 2 successful Magellan proposals.聽 He has also received a NASA Astrophysics Data Analysis Program grant and a Cottrell College Science Award from the Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement.聽
These proposals and awards have resulted in over $4.2 million in funding to date.