Dries Van De Putte

Dr. Dries Van De Putte joined STScI in 2021 to work on observations and modeling of dust and the interstellar medium with Dr. Karl Gordon, and is part of the ISM*@ST research group. He is part of the extended core team of the PDRs4All Early Release Science (ERS) program (pdrs4all.org), and a co-investigator of a Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO) program for the Webb Space Telescope. These programs will observe nearby photodissociation regions (PDRs), and Dr. Van De Putte is preparing and testing several tools that will be used to reduce these data.

Dr. Van De Putte completed his PhD at Ghent University in December, 2020, under supervision of Prof. Maarten Baes, and in collaboration with Dr. Gordon. He worked on the 3D dust radiative transfer code SKIRT, and developed an extension called RADAGAST, which enables a consistent treatment of interstellar gas on top of the existing dust and radiation treatment.

Currently, Dr. Van De Putte is continuing development of SKIRT and RADAGAST, with the goal of modeling the radiative transfer and ISM physics of photodissociation regions in 3D.

Education:

PhD in Astronomy, Ghent University
MS in Physics and Astronomy, Ghent University
BA in Physics and Astronomy, Ghent University

Research Topics:  Interstellar medium; Dust

ORCHID ID: 0000-0002-5895-8268