Jason Aufdenberg

Title
Associate Professor and Program Coordinator for B.S. in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Email
Department
Physical Sciences Department
College
College of Arts & Sciences

Office Hours

MWF 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM, TTh 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM, or by appointment.
Jason Aufdenberg

Dr. Jason Aufdenberg is an associate professor of physics and
astronomy in the Daytona Beach Physical Sciences Department and
program coordinator of the B.S. Astronomy & Astrophysics Program.

Dr. Aufdenberg holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Arizona State University
and an M.S. Physics from the University of Toledo. Prior to his
academic career, he was awarded the Michelson Postdoctoral Fellowship
at the National Optical Astronomy Observatories and the CfA
Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics.

Dr. Aufdenberg specializes in stellar astrophysics, in particular
stellar spectroscopy, stellar interferometry and stellar atmospheres.
For the last 30 years he has been developing and using the PHOENIX
general stellar atmosphere code to produce models for many of the
brightest stars in the night sky: Sirius, Deneb, Mirzam, Adhara, Vega,
Spica and Merak, to name a few. Dr. Aufdenberg successfully modeled
the extreme ultraviolet spectral energy distribution of Adhara
(epsilon Canis Majoris), the brightest star in the night sky at a
wavelength of 50 nanometers. He also participated in one
of the first interferometric limb-darkening measurements and modeling
of Vega (alpha Lyrae), confirming it to be a pole-on rapidly rotating
star.  Dr. Aufdenberg recently joined the VERITAS collaboration for stellar
intensity interferometry and has co-authored a paper constraining the
temperature and age of Merak (beta Ursa Majoris), a star in the
Ursa Major moving group.

With over 40 peer-reviewed publications in astrophysics journals,
Dr. Aufdenberg continues to pursue new tests for stellar atmosphere
models and new constraints on fundamental stellar parameters. He is 
a member of the American Astronomical Society, the International
Astronomical Union and Sigma Xi (Scientific Research Honor Society).

Beyond his scholarly achievements, Dr. Aufdenberg is passionate about
public outreach in astronomy and has participated in over 100
astronomy open house events at ERAU and has been presented many
astronomy programs in public schools and public libraries. He is a
non-driver who is passionate about bicycles for transportation.  He
has served on the Volusia-Flager Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory
Committee, representing Volusia at Large, since 2012, for two years as
the BPAC chair.

  • Ph.D. - Doctor of Philosophy in Physics, Arizona State University
  • AA 345: Astrophysics Seminar
  • PS 405: Atomic Nuclear Physics
  • AA 101: Current Topics in Astrophysics
  • EP 492: Senior Project
  • EP 345: Space Science Seminar

PS 150 Physics for Engineers I with Calculus 

PS 301 Astronomy

PS 318 Introductory Astronomy & Astrophysics Laboratory 

PS 401 Astrophysics I

PS 405 Atomic and Nuclear Physics
PS 408 Astrophysics II

EP 345 Space Sciences Seminar 

EP 393 Spaceflight Dynamics

EP 420 Planetary Science 
EP 425 Observational Astronomy 

EP 492 Senior Thesis

HON 350 History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy

HON 350 The Moon in Science, History and Culture.