Western Faculty Profile: Dr. Jan Cami

Abstract

Questions for Dr. CamiCould you tell us a bit more about your path to become a scientist at Western today? I am originally from Belgium, and completed an undergraduate physics degree there in 1995. I wanted to go down the academic route, but there were no PhD options at the universities there. Instead, I decided to complete a European M.Sc program in astronomy that allowed participants to study and carry out research at various locations in Europe. I spent 6 months in Portugal, and then 6 months at the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands. It was a very stressful time academically, but also a great learning experience. I then obtained my PhD in astronomy from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and after that I held a post-doctoral research position at the NASA Ames Research Center and at the SETI Institute in California. Those were so-called "soft money" positions -meaning that I had to constantly apply for grants. To compound this, there was a lot of competition everywhere at the time. However, in 2004, formerPresident George W. Bush unveiled his ambitious plan to send Americans back to the moon by 2020, and to use that mission as a stepping stone for future Mars exploration. Thus, many research funds and the public eye were redirected to these projects, leaving not much for fundamental scientific research. This was one of the main reasons that drove me to look for other positions, which is how I ended up coming to Western in December 2006.My main research interests include molecular spectroscopy, molecules and dust mineralogy in the surroundings of evolved stars, and the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). It involves observations with ground-based, as well as spaceborne telescopes, but I also do some theoretical and computational work to compare the observations.