Dr. Michael Salz

Study of planetary atmospheres. Collaboration with LUVOIR working group to compute a theoretical transmission spectrum of the Earth in UV. Developed a large program to observe exoplanet transits in UV with the Swift-Telescope. Principle investigator on research projects with the Very Large Telescope and the space based X-ray telescope XMM-Newton.

Course instructor for school classes of all levels covering topics from the solar system to modern astronomy. -- Public outreach / Teaching / Simple explanations of complex topics

Thesis: "Escaping atmospheres of hot extrasolar gas planets" / Developed and validated and interface between an MHD and a plasma simulation code (C/C++). Simulated atmospheres of extrasolar planets and published results. Principle investigator on several observational research projects on international facilities (Hubble Space Telescope, XMM-Newton, Chandra X-ray Observatory).

Cycling and traveling through Asian countries (e.g., Mongolia, Nepal, Tibet, Southeast Asia). -- Experiencing countries / Meeting locals / Managing all kinds of difficulties / Photography

Simulations: Hydrodynamics, plasma simulation, radiative transfer / Observations: UV-photometry (Swift-Telescope), VIS-IR Spectroscopy (Very Large Telescope), X-ray imaging (XMM-Newton) / Topics: Atmospheres of extrasolar planets, activity of host stars

Thesis: "Simulation of stellar flares"