Willeke Mulder

PhD researcher in the field of Astronomy • Leiden, Netherlands • (+31) 06 31 97 4440 • wmulder@strw.leidenuniv.nl

I am a PhD student working at the Leiden Observatory. At this moment I devote my time to my research project being part of the instrumentation group.

As a researcher, I am searching for signatures of life. In order to observe these so-called bio-signals, we first need to build an instrument, LSDpol, that can detect them. LSDpol uses of all characteristics of light; the intensity, wavelength as well as polarisation. To start our search, we will first look at the reflection of light on the Earth's surface from moderate heights, e.g. hot-air balloon. Once we have a better understanding of the signals of life we can find on Earth, we aim to send LSDpol into space to look for life on Earth, as if it were an exoplanet. With that, we can start our journey into building an dedicated instrument, made to detect life outside our Solar System.

In my spare time, I like to develop, organize and assist with astronomical outreach activities. Furthermore, I also want to improve my soft skills like writing content, drawing, composing and creating videos.

You can find some of my animation videos and my research blog HERE

Education

PhD Astronomy - Leiden Observatory

LEIDEN OBSERVATORY, LEIDEN UNIVERSITY, Leiden, Netherlands

SPECTROLPOLARIMETRY: TOOL TO UNABMBIGUOUSLY DETECT LIFE ON EARTH
SUPERVISED BY PROF. DR. C. H. (CHRISTOPH) KELLER

• Collaboration with university of Florida, Bern and Delft, Naturalis Biodiversity Center and Museum.
• Organising meetings MERMOZ team: organizing field trips where we measure life from a hot-air balloon
• Supervision of MSc student research project: "The temperature dependence on the performance of a FLC"
• Teaching assistent High Contrast Imaging (MSc course in 2021, 2022, 2024) & Observational Astronomy (BSc course in 2023).

September 2020 - to date

Graduate Research, Kapteyn Astronomical Institute & OmegaCEN

Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Groningen, Netherlands

DESIGNING, PROTOTYPE OF AN EVOLVING ASTROMETRIC REFERENCE SYSTEM,
SUPERVISED BY DR. G. A. (GIJS) VERDOES KLEIJN

• Understanding the theory behind and the importance of astrometry in future space missions.
• Research for existing astrometric reference systems.
• Designing an evolving reference system using SQL databasing to obtain a system that can deal with updates of future Gaia releases (and eventually Euclid VIS data).

July 2019 - August 2020

Undergraduate Research, Kapteyn Astronomical Institute & SRON

Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Groningen, Netherlands

DESIGNING, BUILDING, TESTING OF THE KAPTEYN RADIO TELESCOPE,
SUPERVISED BY DR. J.P. (JOHN) MCKEAN

• Investigating and determining the required parameters for our system to allow the measuring of the CMB temperature.
• Supporting the building of the horn antenna, back-end and software of the telescope.
• Designing the program turning measures values of the telescope to system temperature plots using Python.

April 2015 - July 2015

Research experience

Participant in Alpbach summer school 2023

Alpbach, Austria

"EXOPLANETS: UNDERSTANDING ALIEN WORLDS IN DIVERSE ENVIRONMENTS"

• Collaborate in and with a team of astronomers and engineers.
• Design an ESA space mission from science case to final satelite requirements in one week.
• "ARISTOTLE - Astrophysical Research Initiative for Space Telescopic Observations of Transiting Large Exoplanets"

July 2023

Internship in the field of Machine Learning at ASTRON

ASTRON, Dwingeloo, Netherlands

INTERNSHIP IN COLLABORATION WITH ESCIENCE CENTER AMSTERDAM,
SUPERVISED BY DR. IR. A.J. (ALBERT-JAN) BOONSTRA

• Studying of the LOFAR Radio Telescope design in order to understand the data pipelines and monitor relevant Meta information.
• Examining the application of several machine learning techniques to support the LOFAR System Health Management system.
• Application of an ’Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering’ algorithm to a LOFAR test dataset using Python.

February 2016 - August 2016

Outreach Experience

Editorial staffmember (student & general member)

Amsterdam, Netherlands

NTVN (DUTCH MAGAZINE OF PHYSICS), CIRCULATION: ~4400, EVERY MONTH

• Starting with the student editorial, I continued in the magazine's main editorial. • Reviewing of articles that are written for the NTvN. • Write articles for the editorial column every year & participation in editorial meetings

Juli 2019 - to date

Board member Leidse Weer en Sterrenkunde Kring

Leiden, Netherlands

LWSK, TARGET AUDIENCE: ~15-20 ATTENDEES, ONCE A MONTH

• Responsible for the colloquium schedule: inviting, connecting, and informing speakers.
• Main contact between Leiden Observatory and the LWSK.

November 2021 - January 2024

[co-founder] Treasurer & Designer promotional material

Groningen, Netherlands

ASTRONOMY ON TAP GRONINGEN, TARGET AUDIENCE: ~30 ATTENDEES, ONCE A MONTH

• Responsible for creating, collecting, and up-dating the budget of the organisation, provided by three external sponsors
• Designing, managing and ordering of the promotional material of Astronomy on Tap Groningen

July 2019 - July 2020

Event organizer & coordinator of Discovery club

Burgum, Netherlands

UNIVERSE AWARENESS (UNAWE), TARGET AUDIENCE: ~117 CHILDREN AGE 6-16, FOR 2 VISITS

• UNAWE aims to inspire, educate and entertain children in (emergency) refugee centres and to provide them with a sense of much needed normalcy and skills in global citizenship and intercultural awareness.
• Design of day-program to inspire children in Dutch refugee centres implementing astronomy, using crafting & interactive activities.

July 2018

Teacher Robotics department, De Jonge Onderzoekers

Groningen, Netherlands

DJOG (YOUNG SCIENTISTS GRONINGEN), TARGET AUDIENCE: ~25 CHILDREN AGE 8-18, EVERY WED & SAT

•'De Jonge Onderzoekers Groningen' offers children a.o. technology and science workshops.
• Designing an educational program based on Lego Mindstorms Education by using Adobe Illustrator. Tasks are explained on 'instruction cards' and exercises are presented on worksheets. The attendee receives a certificate after successfully finishin an exercise.

July 2018

Website and Assistent Outreach coordinator

Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Groningen, Netherlands

• ASSISTANT OUTREACH COORDINATOR: Blaauw Observatory event organiser: e.g. Star gazing nights, mobile planetarium, e.g. weekendschool, collaboration with UNAWE, organising exhibitions and updating institute website
• RUG WEBSITE COORDINATOR KAPTEYN ASTRONOMICAL INSTITUTE: Updating the website of the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute and creating English version of the Blaauw Observatory website. Translating existing articles from Dutch to English, implementing requests from staff members and design a new layout with renewed articles.

May 2018 - July 2020

Secretary & Commissioner of Education 2016-2017

University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

STUDY ASSOCIATION T.F.V. 'PROFESSOR FRANCKEN', TARGET AUDIENCE: ~1100 MEMBERS

• Responsible for the planning and organising education related activities and events
• Scheduling meetings & events, writing weekly newsletter and website articles
• Translating association website from Dutch to English

June 2016 - June 2017

Employee of the Astronomy promotion team

Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen

• ASTRONOMY PROMOTION TEAM: Event coordinator open days for BSc & MSc degree Astronomy. Responsible for arranging the speakers, presentations and smooth running of the day. Design lecture material (high school level) for exoplanet and black hole course
• EMPLOYEE / EDUCATOR SCIENCE TRUCK: Tutoring and assistance of Physics courses to students at several elementary and high schools in the Netherlands and Germany, creating enthusiasm for Natural sciences

September 2014 - December 2018

Writing Experience

Scientific Writing

FIRST AUTHOR

• Spectropolarimetry: tool to unambiguously detect life on Earth, Willeke Mulder, et al.; (PhD thesis in prep.)
• The ESO SupJup Survey III: 12C/13C comparison of three L-type BDs, Willeke Mulder, et al.; (Astronomy & Astrophysics, in prep.)
• Spectropolarimetry of life: airborne measurements from a hot air balloon, Willeke Mulder, et al.; 2022, SPIE proceedings
• Spatial polarization modulators: distinguishing diffraction effects from spatial polarization modulation, Willeke Mulder, et al.; 2021, SPIE proceedings
• The astrometric calibration software system for Euclid’s External Surveys, Willeke Mulder et al.; 2019, Proceedings ADASS XXIX

CO-AUTHOR

• Polarized Signatures of a Habitable World, Kenneth E. Gordon, et al.; 2023, the Astrophysical Journal
• Bio-signatures of the Earth, C. H. Lucas Patty, et al.; 2021; Astronomy & Astrophysics
• Comparing models of an exoplanet-earth to earthshine observations, Kenneth E. Gordon, et al.; 2021, Bulletin of the AAS
• The 2019 ADASS/Kapteyn Youth Hackathon, Jake Noel–Storr et al.; 2019, Proceedings ADASS XXIX

Online

FIRST AUTHOR

• 2023: James Webb ruimtetelescoop : article at www.natuurkunde.nl regarding the James Webb Space Telescope [NL]
• 2021-2022: Science blog: various blogs on www.willekemulder.com [NL/EN]

Press-work

FIRST AUTHOR

• 2024: Editorial NTvN October: To be published in the Dutch magazine of physics: Edition October 2024 [NL]
• 2024: Piece of text for the new Scientist tear-off calendar: Published in the official tear-off calender 2024 [NL]
• 2023: Editorial NTvN August: Published in the Dutch magazine of physics: Edition August 2023 [NL]
• 2021: Inclusivity & diversity in the Dutch physics [NL]: Published in the Dutch magazine of physics: Edition February 2021 [NL]
• 2020: Explaining physics with edible products: Published in the Dutch magazine of physics: Edition July 2020 [NL]

Workshops

Participant

• 2023: Academic outreach: an introduction to sharing your research via social and conventional media given by Leiden University
• 2022: Blogging about your research given by Leiden University
• 2019: Summer School Science Communication [first edition] given by Leiden University

ADASS XXIX - Hackathon

2ND AUTHOR, Proceesings ADASS XXIX

• DATA SCIENCE & EDUCATION We organised a Youth Hackathon to attract students with an interest in data science and astronomy. The purpose was to show how important data science is in the field of astronomy, and vice versa. In addition, the students had the opportunity to engage with astronomical programming and data in a practical way. We describe the objectives, implementation, results, and evaluation.

October 2019 - November 2019

Teaching

High Contrast Imaging

Teaching Assistant, Leiden University, Netherlands

• The course teaches MSc students how to take high contrast imaging data, interpreted sensitivities, apply several different HCI algorithms in order to detect faint structures next to bright stars; from exoplanets to circumstellar disks. .

Feb - May '21 & Feb - May '22

Introduction to Programming and Computational Methods

Teaching Assistant, University of Groningen, Netherlands

• The course is an introduction to techniques which can be applied by a student to solve numerical problems related to astronomy.

February 2020 - May 2020

Mathematics & Physics

Science tutor, Discovery Truck, Netherlands

• Teaching children in elementary and students in high schools on awareness of renewable energy and technology. The main purpose of the lectures was to make young people enthusiastic about the natural sciences. Lectures were adapted depending on the level of the public and the preferable language (German, French or English).

September 2013 - September 2018