Thomas L. Roellig

Affiliation: NASA Ames Research Center

Email: Thomas.L.Roellig@nasa.gov

Phone: 408-368-5871

Professional Biography

Dr. Thomas L. Roellig worked in the NASA civil service as an astrophysicist at the NASA Ames Research Center from September, 1980, until September, 2023 and is currently holding a position as an Ames Associate. His scientific research interests have spanned a wide range of infrared astronomy, astronomical instrumentation development, and NASA science mission management. He has conducted research and published papers in infrared instrument development, solar science, solar system science, star formation, interstellar medium, and brown dwarf astronomy.

Education

Stanford University, B.S., Physics, 1975

Cornell University, M.S. Applied Physics, 1979

Cornell University, Ph.D., Applied Physics, 1981

Research Interests

Observational infrared astronomy, astronomical instrument development, flight mission science management

Selected Publications

NIRCam Performance on JWST In Flight  Marcia J. Rieke,  Douglas M. Kelly, Karl Misselt, John Stansberry, Martha Boyer, Thomas Beatty, Eiichi Egami, Michael Florian, Thomas P. Greene, Kevin Hainline, Jarron Leisenring, Thomas Roellig, Everett Schlawin, Fengwu Sun, Lee Tinnin, Christina Williams,Christopher N. A. Willmer, Debra Wilson, Charles R. Clark, Scott Rohrbach, Brian Brooks, Alicia Canipe, Matteo Correnti, Audrey DiFelice, Mario Gennaro, Julian Girard, George Hartig, Bryan Hilbert, Anton Koekemoer, Nikolay K. Nikolov, Norbert Pirzkal, Armin Rest, Massimo Robberto, Ben Sunnquist, Randal Telfer, Ray Wu, Malcolm Ferry, Dan Lewis, Stefi Baum, Charles Beichman, Rene ́ Doyon, Alan Dressler, Daniel Eisenstein, Laura Ferrarese, Klaus Hodapp, Scott Horner, Daniel T. Jaffe, Doug Johnstone, John Krist, Peter Martin, Donald W. McCarthy, Michael Meyer, George H. Rieke, John Trauger, and Erick T. Young , PASP, 135, 028001, 2022 DOI: 10.1088/1538-3873/acac53

JWST/NIRCam discovery of the first Y+Y brown dwarf binary: WISE J033605.05−014350.4, Per Calissendorff , Matthew De Furio, Michael Meyer, Lo ̈ıc Albert, Christian Aganze, Mohamad Ali-Dib, Daniella C. Bardalez Gagliuffi, Frederique Baron, Charles A. Beichman, Adam J. Burgasser, Michael C. Cushing, Jacqueline Kelly Faherty, Cle ́mence Fontanive, Christopher R. Gelino, John E. Gizis, Alexandra Z. Greenbaum, J. Davy Kirkpatrick, Sandy K. Leggett, Frantz Martinache, David Mary, Mamadou N’Diaye, Benjamin J. S. Pope, Thomas L Roellig, Johannes Sahlmann, Anand Sivaramakrishnan , Daniel Peter Thorngren, Marie Ygouf, and Thomas Vandal, Ap.J. Lett.,  947, 30, 2023 doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/acc86d

Mid-infrared detector development for the Origins Space Telescope, Thomas L. Roellig, Craig McMurtry, Thomas Greene, Taro Matsuo, Itsuki Sakon, Johannes Staguhn, J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst. 6(4), 041503 (2020), doi: 10.1117/1.JATIS.6.4.041503

The Mid-Infrared Imager/Spectrometer/Coronagraph Instrument (MISC) for the Concept 2 Origins Space Telescope, Thomas L. Roellig, Itsuki Sakon, Kimberly Ennico, and the MISC Instrument Study Team, COSPAR meeting, July 2018

Studies of the Coldest Brown Dwarfs with the James Webb Space Telescope, Thomas L. Roellig, Thomas P. Greene, Charles Beichman, Michael Meyer, Marcia Rieke, The 19th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun, Uppsala, Sweden, July 2016

The Physical Properties of Four ~600K T Dwarfs, Leggett, S. K.; Cushing, M. C.; Saumon, D.; Marley, M. S.; Roellig, T. L.; Warren, S. J.; Burningham, B.; Jones, H. R. A.; Kirkpatrick, J. D.; Lodieu, N.; Lucas, P. W.; Mainzer, A. K.; Martin, E. L.; McCaughrean, M. J.; Pinfield, D. J.; Sloan, G. C.; Smart, R. L.; Tamura, M.; Van Cleve, J., ApJ, 695, 1517, 2009.

Ammonia as a tracer of chemical equilibrium in the T7.5 dwarf Gliese 570D, Saumon D., Marley, M. S., Cushing, M. C., Leggett, S. K., Roellig, T. L., Lodders, K., and Freedman, R. S., ApJ, 647, 552, 2006

A Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) Spectral Sequence of M, L, and T Dwarfs, ApJ, Cushing, M. C., Roellig, T. L., Marley, M. S., Saumon, D., Leggett, S.K., Kirkpatrick, J. D., Wilson, J. C., Sloan, G. C., Mainzer, A. K., Van Cleve, J. E., and Houck, J. R., ApJ, 648, 614, 2006.

Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph Observations of M, L, and T Dwarfs, Roellig,T. L., Van Cleve, J. E., Sloan,G. C., Wilson, J. C., Saumon,D., Leggett, S. K., Marley,M. S., Cushing, M. C., Kirkpatrick,J. D., Mainzer,A. K., and Houck, J. R., ApJ Suppl., 154, 418, 2004.

Select Accepted Proposals

(current only)

“NIRCam for NGST: Probing Origins,” JWST Instrument proposal, M. Rieke PI, T. Roellig co-I

NASA Missions

2002-present     Co-I, JWST NIRCam instrument

2016-2020        Origins Space Telescope Science and Technology Definition Team

2005-2021        Project Scientist, Deputy Project Scientist, SOFIA

1996-2019        Facility Scientist, Spitzer Space Telescope

1983-2019        IRS instrument Deputy-PI/Co-I, Spitzer Space Telescope

1988-1998        U.S. Project Scientist, NASA/Japanese Space Agency Infrared Telescope in Space

1988-1998       U.S. PI, Infrared Telescope in Space Mid-Infrared Spectrometer instrument

Awards & Others

SOFIA Certificate of Congressional Recognition 2023

Spitzer End of Mission Science Operations Team NASA Award 2022

NASA GSFC Robert H. Goddard Award, 2020

NASA Public Service Award, 2007

One-NASA Peer Award, 2005

NASA Group Achievement Awards (20+), 2004-2022

NASA Acquisition Improvement Award, 2000

NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, 1997

Creative Development of a Technical Innovation Award, 1984 Ames Honor Award – Scientist, 1995

NASA Special Achievement awards, 1982 and 1985