Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil

Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil is a Turkish-American astrophysicist, and Assistant Professor at Dartmouth College. She formerly served as a National Science Foundation (NSF) and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics (KICP) Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago. Her research led to a discovery of an extremely rare galaxy with a unique double-ringed elliptical structure, which is now commonly referred to as Burcin's Galaxy.[1] She was also a 2018 TED Fellow, and a 2020 TED Senior Fellow.

Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil
NationalityTurkish
EducationUniversity of Minnesota (Ph.D.)
Texas Tech University (M. Sc.)
Bilkent University (B. Sc.)
Scientific career
InstitutionsDartmouth College
University of Arizona
University of Chicago
ThesisTesting supermassive black hole scaling relations using cosmological simulations and optical/near-IR imaging data (2018)
Doctoral advisorMarc Seigar
Websitehttps://www.burcinmutlupakdil.net/

Education

Mutlu-Pakdil grew up in Turkey, where she loved physics and the night sky.[2] She attended Beşiktaş Atatürk Anatolian High School and was the first generation of her family to attend college.[3] She completed her undergraduate studies in physics at Bilkent University in 2009.[4] She moved to Texas Tech University for her graduate studies, gaining a master's degree in physics in 2012.[4] In 2017 she earned her PhD in astrophysics with the dissertation Testing Supermassive Black Hole Scaling Relations Using Cosmological Simulations and Optical/Near-IR Imaging Data from University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.[4][5]

Research and career
Burçins Galaxy (right)

In 2017, Mutlu-Pakdil was appointed a postdoctoral research associate at University of Arizona. She worked at the Steward Observatory looking at the structure and dynamics of astrophysical objects, including dwarf galaxies, galactic rings and supermassive black holes.[2] She used telescopes in Chile and Hawaii.[6] At UA, she co-chaired the Women in Astronomy group.[7] She was an American Astronomical Society ambassador.[8]

During her doctoral studies, Mutlu-Pakdil discovered the galaxy PGC 1000714, which has been nicknamed "Burçin's galaxy".[6] It is an extremely rare double ringed elliptical galaxy, and her discovery generated extensive media coverage.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]

She worked with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences to create a series of short scientific films for the general public.[9] In January 2018, Mutlu-Pakdil was announced as a TED Fellow.[18] She gave a lecture[19] at TED Vancouver in April, 2018.[6][2] She is a campaigner for the increased representation of Muslim women in science.[6]

In 2019, Mutlu-Pakdil was announced an AAAS IF/THEN Ambassador[20] and in 2020 she became a TED Senior Fellow.[21]

Burcin Mutlu-Pakdil is searching for the most peculiar objects in the Universe.[1] In her own words, Mutlu-Pakdil uses "both large photometric surveys from ground-based and space telescopes in order to discover and characterize the smallest and faintest galaxies in the universe, and the role of dark matter in their formation."[22]

Awards and honours

References
  1. "KICP People | Burcin Mutlu-Pakdil". kicp.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  2. Gardner, Jeff. "Burçin's Galaxy". Tucson Weekly. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  3. "Burcin Mutlu-Pakdil – Physics at Minnesota". 2017-03-12. Archived from the original on 2017-03-12. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  4. "Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil | Astrophysicist". Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil | Astrophysicist. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  5. Burcin, Mutlu Pakdil; S., Seigar, Marc; L., Davis, Benjamin; M., Treuthardt, Patrick; Joel, Berrier (January 2017). "Testing SMBH scaling relations using cosmological simulations and optical/near-IR imaging data". American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #229. 229: 107.01. Bibcode:2017AAS...22910701M.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Tucson, Johanna Willett | This Is. "This UA astrophysicist has a galaxy named after her". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  7. "Tucson Women in Astronomy – Home". lavinia.as.arizona.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  8. "The AAS Astronomy Ambassadors Program | American Astronomical Society". aas.org. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  9. Ant Lab (2017-01-03), Burcin's Galaxy, retrieved 2018-04-22
  10. Mutlu Pakdil, Burçin; Mangedarage, Mithila; Seigar, Marc S.; Treuthardt, Patrick (2017-04-01). "A photometric study of the peculiar and potentially double ringed, non-barred galaxy: PGC 1000714". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 466 (1): 355–368. arXiv:1701.03530. Bibcode:2017MNRAS.466..355M. doi:10.1093/mnras/stw3107. ISSN 0035-8711. S2CID 119426507.
  11. "Röportaj: Burçin'in Galaksisi, Fizik Aşkı, Karadeliklere Zaafı". 5Harfliler.com. 2017-03-29. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  12. "Ultra-rare galaxy could be 'one of a kind' – CNN.com". CNN. 2017-03-12. Archived from the original on 2017-03-12. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  13. "Astronomers get their first look at a mysterious galaxy with an unknown past | Astronomy.com". 2017-03-12. Archived from the original on 2017-03-12. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  14. "UMD Researches Find New Type of Galaxy – Fox21Online". 2017-03-12. Archived from the original on 2017-03-12. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  15. "UMD student publishes paper about out-of-this-world discovery". Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  16. "Rare galaxy spotted over 359 million light-years away". The Indian Express. 2017-01-04. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  17. "Scientists spot galaxy unlike any ever seen before". The Independent. 2017-01-04. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  18. "Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil | Astrophysicist". Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil | Astrophysicist. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  19. "Her TED Talk". 28 August 2018.
  20. "125 Women in STEM Selected as AAAS IF/THEN Ambassadors | American Association for the Advancement of Science". www.aaas.org. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  21. "Meet the 2020 class of TED Fellows and Senior Fellows | TED Blog". 23 January 2020. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  22. "Burcin Mutlu Pakdil | Bio". bmutlupakdil. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  23. "NSF Award Search: Award # 2001663 - Testing the Lambda Cold Dark Matter Model with Dwarf Galaxies around the Milky Way and beyond". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  24. "KICP People | KICP Members & Students". kicp.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  25. "Meet the TED Fellows". www.ted.com. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  26. "Announcing the 2018 JCI TOYP Honorees".
  27. "Woman Physicist of the Month". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  28. lmelton (2017-04-18). "Inspiration Times Three". News. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  29. "Dr. Nancy "Rusty" Barceló Scholarship | Women's Center". diversity.umn.edu. Archived from the original on 2018-11-29. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
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