Christophe Dumas Curriculum Vitae

Name:	Christophe Dumas
Nationality	French, US permanent resident
Work Address:	European Southern Observatory Alonso de Cordova 3107 Casilla 19001 Santiago 19, Chile	Tel: +56 (2) 463 3060 Fax: +56 (2) 463 3001 E-Mail: cdumas@eso.org URL : http://www.sc.eso.org/~cdumas

Work history

2008	Head Sciences Operations Department, ESO Very Large Telescope, Paranal, Chile
2004-2008	Associate Astronomer, European Southern Observatory, Santiago, Chile
1998-2004	Research Scientist, NASA-JPL, Caltech, Pasadena, CA, USA
1998-1998	Caltech Postdoctoral Scholar (NICMOS postdoc), NASA-JPL, Pasadena, CA, USA
1994-1998	Junior Visiting Scientist, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA
1993-1994	Research Assistant, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

Education

1994-1997	PhD in Astrophysics - University of Paris Jussieu, France
1992-1993	Master of Sciences in Astrophysics - University of Paris (Jussieu), France
1990-1992	Engineer Diploma in Electronics and Electricity, specialization in Electronics of Semiconductors - Ecole Supérieure d'Electricité (Supélec), France
1986-1990	Bachelor of Sciences in Fundamental Physics - Université des Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, Montpellier, France
1986	High-School diploma (Science and Technology) at Lycée d'Etat Dhûoda, Nîmes, France

Scientific Society Membership

American Astronomical Society - Division for Planetary Science, 1995 - present

American Geophysical Union, 1996 - present

Selected Professional Activities

Head for Sciences Operations, Very Large Telescope, ESO-Paranal Observatory. 2008-present.
Deputy Head for Sciences Operations, Very Large Telescope, ESO-Paranal Observatory. 2007-2008.
Instrument Scientist for SINFONI (Adaptive Optics and Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrograph), Very Large Telescope, ESO-Paranal Observatory. 2004-2008.
Principal Investigator, NASA Planetary Astronomy Program, "An Adaptive Optics Study of Small Solar System Bodies". 2002-2007
Group leader, "Training and Documentations", Very Large Telescope, ESO-Paranal Observatory. 2006-2007.
Science Group leader, "Planetary Sciences Research Group", ESO-Vitacura. 2006-present.
Organizer ESO-Workshop "Observing Planetary Systems", Santiago de Chile, March 2007.
Member ESO Director Discretionary Time Program selection committee. 2006 - present.
Member ESO-Chile Visiting Scientist Committee. 2004-2006.
Recipient NASA-JPL Lew Allen Award for Excellence. 2004.
Project Scientist and Co-Investigator, Astrobiology Explorer MIDEX Mission, 2002-2003
Deputy Instrument Scientist, Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronagraph, 2003-2004
Chair, JPL Palomar Time Allocation Committee, 2002-2004. Committee member 1999-2002.
Lead Scientist, Instrumentation for JPL 5m-Palomar Telescope, 2002-2004
Member NSF Adaptive Optics Review Panel, 2002

Brief Biography

Dr. Dumas is an expert in using diffraction limited imaging techniques and near-infrared spectroscopy to characterize the properties of small, primitive, planetary objects (satellites, asteroids) and substellar companions to nearby young stars. He is acting Head for Sciences Operations at the ESO Very Large Telescope Observatory and the instrument scientist for SINFONI, the new adaptive optics integral field spectrograph. Using high-contrast imaging techniques, he obtained the first direct detection of a planetary mass object (5M_Jup) orbiting a young brown dwarf and made the first detection of an asteroidal moon. Using the Hubble Space Telescope he also imaged the ring-arcs of Neptune with a higher contrast than obtained by the 1989 Voyager images, which provided important insights on their gravitational confinement.