Alexandros Maragkoudakis

Affiliation: NASA Ames Research Center

Email: alexandros.maragkoudakis@nasa.gov

Phone: 650-604-2903

Professional Biography

Dr. Alexandros Maragkoudakis is a Research Scientist in The Astrophysics & Astrochemistry Laboratory Group at NASA Ames Research Center, employed through a contract with the Bay Area Environment Research Institute. Dr. Maragkoudakis received his PhD in Astronomy (thesis) in 2017 at the University of Crete, under the supervision of Prof.Dr. Andreas Zezas. In 2011 he obtained his M.Sc. in Advanced Physics at the same university. Between 2017 and 2020 he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Western Ontario with Prof. Dr. Els Peeters. In 2020 he was awarded the NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) fellowship and worked as an NPP fellow at the The Astrophysics & Astrochemistry Laboratory until 2022, where he continued to his current position.

Dr. Alexandros Maragkoudakis’s research focuses on the multi-wavelength study of nearby galaxies. He is particular interested in understanding the role of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in different galactic environments, in an effort to fully utilize PAHs as tools to probe the integrated and spatially-resolved properties of galaxies. The NASA Ames PAH IR Spectroscopic Database (PAHdb) is an essential asset in his research, providing a unique collection of laboratory measured and quantum chemically calculated PAH spectra for the characterization of PAH molecules in astrophysical environments. At Ames, Alexandros is working on the analysis and interpretation of JWST observations in various astronomical environments, and is involved in the development and expansion of the PAHdb suite of tools.

Education

Ph.D. Astrophysics, University of Crete, Greece

M.Sc. Advanced Physics, University of Crete, Greece.

B.Sc. Physics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Research Interests

Mid-IR, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Main Sequence of galaxies, Starburst-AGN connection, Star formation histories

Select Publications

Maragkoudakis, A. Peeters, E. Ricca, A., Boersma, C., Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon size tracers, 2023, MNRAS, 524, 3429

Maragkoudakis, A. Peeters, E. Ricca, A., Spectral variations among different scenarios of PAH processing or formation, 2023, MNRAS, 520, 5354

Maragkoudakis, A., Boersma, C., Temi, P., Bregman, J.D., Allamandola, A.L., Linking Characteristics of the Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Population with Galaxy Properties: A Quantitative Approach Using the NASA Ames PAH IR Spectroscopic Database, 2022, Astrophys. J., 931, 38

Maragkoudakis, A., Peeters, E., Ricca, A., Probing the size and charge of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, 2020, MNRAS, 494, 642

Maragkoudakis, A., Ivkovich, N., Peeters, E., Stock, D.J., Hemachandra, D., Tielens, A.G.G.M., PAHs and star formation in the H II regions of nearby galaxies M83 and M33, 2018, MNRAS, 481, 5370

Maragkoudakis, A., Zezas, A., Ashby, M.L.N., Willner, S.P., The Star Formation Reference Survey – II. Activity demographics and host-galaxy properties for infrared-selected galaxies, 2018, MNRAS, 475, 1485

Maragkoudakis, A., Zezas, A., Ashby, M.L.N., Willner, S.P., The sub-galactic and nuclear main sequences for local star-forming galaxies, 2017, MNRAS, 466, 1192

Maragkoudakis, A., Zezas, A., Ashby, M.L.N., Willner, S.P., Aperture effects on spectroscopic galaxy activity classification, 2014, MNRAS, 441, 2296

Select Accepted Proposals

“A New-Generation of Synthetic Stellar Population Spectral Models Containing Stellar Binaries”, 2023, James Webb Space Telescope ‐ General Observer (GO) Program (GO 4369, Co‐I)

“NASA Direct Work Package”, 2022, The NASA Ames Laboratory Astrophysics Work Package, (22-A22ISFM-0009, Co-I)

“NIRSPEC IFU: DEUTERATED PAHS, PAH‐NITRILES, AND PAH OVERTONE AND COMBINATION BANDS”, 2021, James Webb Space Telescope ‐ General Observer (GO) Program (GO 1591, Co‐I)

“PAH Emission Bands As Astrophysical Probes In The JWST Era”, 2020, NASA Postdoctoral Program.

“Radiative Feedback from Massive Stars as Traced by Multiband Imaging and Spectroscopic Mosaics”, 2017, James Webb Space Telescope ‐ Early Release Science (ERS) Program Title (ID: 1288)

“Optical Nuclear Spectroscopy of a Representative Sample of Nearby Galaxies”, 2012-2014, FLWO 1.5m telescope ‐ FAST spectrograph (Co‐I)

NASA Missions

JWST, Spitzer

Awards & Others

NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow (2020)

Maria Michail Manasaki Fellowship for academic excellence (2013)