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IVS2008 Directing Board Elections

Candidates for Representative Positions

This page provides information about the candidates for representative positions on the IVS Directing Board. Within each category candidates are listed alphabetically by their family names. The Representatives will be elected by the Associate Members.

Candidates for Networks Representative

Jim Lovell
University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
Jim Lovell completed his PhD, "Southern Radio Gravitational Lens Survey and Observations" at the University Of Tasmania in 1997. This work involved connected element and VLB interferometry of over 500 southern AGN. From 1997 to 1999 he worked at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science in Japan on the VLBI Space Observatory Program, VSOP, the first dedicated Space VLBI mission. There he contributed to data reduction and mission operations activities, as well as computer support for data reduction. From 1999 to 2007 Jim worked for CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility supporting radioastronomy activities at NASA's Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex (Tidbinbilla) including VLBI and single-dish spectroscopy. Since 2007 he has been employed as Project Manager for the AuScope VLBI project, responsible for establishing and operating three radio telescopes across Australia as a VLBI array for geodesy. His research interests include Inter-Stellar Scintillation (ISS) of AGN, multi-wavelength observations of quasars with kpc-scale jets and gravitational lensing. He leads an international collaboration that has made a large-scale northern sky survey for ISS with the VLA (the MASIV Survey). MASIV has shown that scintillating AGN are dominated by compact structure on sub-milliarcsec scales, making them excellent reference frame source candidates and demonstrating the value of ISS surveys in densifying the reference frame.

Kazuhiro Takashima
Geographical Survey Institute, Tsukuba, Japan
Since finishing graduate school at Tohoku University (with a Master degree in Information Science), Kazuhiro Takashima has been working for the Geographical Survey Institute (GSI) starting in 1996. The only exception was in 2007, when he taught Advanced Surveying Technologies at the College of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Kazuhiro Takashima joined the GSI VLBI group and made domestic and international VLBI experiments with the Kashima 26-m VLBI antenna. He also participated in the construction projects of the Tsukuba 32-m VLBI telescope and the Tsukuba VLBI Correlator; his dedication was instrumental for the successful realization of the project. In 2000-2001, he stayed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as a visiting researcher to further study geodetic VLBI. Kazuhiro Takashima has served as Network Representative on the IVS Directing Board since April 2008 as a replacement for Yoshihiro Fukuzaki. He was a member of Working Group 2 (IVS Product Specification and Observing Programs) and was a member of the IVS Observing Program Committee until March 2007. Currently, Kazuhiro Takashima is a Chief Researcher in the Space Geodesy Research Division of GSI.

Gino Tuccari
Istituto di Radioastronomia, INAF, Noto, Italy
Gino Tuccari graduated in Physics from Catania University in 1984 with highest honors. After a four-year stint at SGS-Thomson Microelectronics in Catania and Milano (1984-1988), he became first a Researcher with the Istituto di Radioastronomia del CNR at Noto Observatory (1988-2001) and then a Senior Technologist (2001 to current). Gino's responsibilities for Noto Observatory included the technical responsibility for the VLBI station (1996-2005), technical responsibility for the Noto Section of IRA (since 2006), and since 2007 also the administrative responsibility for the Noto Section of IRA. From 1991-2002 he was the station's EVN Technical VLBI Friend. Gino was/is active in several working groups and committees; among them are: coordinator of the Italian group within the EVN for the Mark IV upgrade of the European correlator at JIVE, team member in the RFI robust receivers project in the frame of the European TMR-LSR RTD, subgroup chairman for operations and vice chairman of the EVN TOG, coordinator of the Italian team for RadarVLBI, member of the Italian expert team of the University and Research Ministry. He was also involved in the efforts to upgrade the Chinese VLBI stations at Shanghai and Urumqi. Gino's research and development activities include the development of a digital baseband converter (dBBC), studies of radar VLBI observations of near-earth objects, metrology and antenna surface measurements with holographic methods, and development of low noise receivers.

Candidates for Analysis and Data Centers Representative

Zinovy Malkin
Pulkovo Observatory, St. Petersburg, Russia
Zinovy Malkin is an experienced specialist in analysis of Space Geodesy observations, author of more than 200 publications and presentations. He is an Associate Member of IVS from its beginning in 1999. Zinovy received his PhD from Pulkovo Observatory in 1985, and Dr.Sci. degree from Institute of Applied Astronomy in 1997. He was one of the principal organizers and the primary scientist of the IVS Analysis Center at Institute of Applied Astronomy where he was working in 1990-2006. After moving to Pulkovo Observatory in 2006 he organized Pulkovo IVS Analysis Center and has been working with his colleagues on computation and analysis of EOP and radio source position catalogues and time series. He is presently the Head of the newly organized Laboratory of Radioastrometry and Geodynamics of Pulkovo Observatory. Zinovy served as a member of the IVS Directing Board (2003-2007), IVS Working Group on Product Specification and Observing Programs (2001-2002), IVS Working Group on VLBI2010 (2003-2005), IAU Commission 19 (Rotation of the Earth) Organizing Committee (2000-2006). Now he is a member of the IVS VLBI2010 Committee, IERS/IVS Working Group on ICRF-2, and several Working Groups of IAU and IAG. Zinovy is also a member of the Russian Working Group on VLBI with small antennas. One of his duties in this group is to help coordination with IVS, IAG, and IERS. More details on his biography and scientific activity can be found at http://www.zmalkin.com.

Oleg Titov
Geoscience Australia, Australia
Oleg Titov graduated from Saint-Petersburg University (Astronomical Department), Russia, in 1991. From 1991 to 1997 he was with the Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Acadamy of Sciences and obtained his Ph.D. from Saint-Petersburg University in 1996. From 1997 to 2001 Oleg was a research scientist at Saint-Petersburg University. In 2001 he became a project officer (now research scientist) with Geoscience Australia—a position he still holds. His research fields include the refinement of the VLBI data analysis for operational EOP determination and the improvement of the ITRF and ICRF reference frames. He also investigates the positional stability of individual radio sources using astrophysical information. In the last few years, he was also working on the analysis of time series of radio source positions searching for systematic effects in the apparent proper motion of reference radio sources. Oleg is chairman of the OCCAM Data Analysis Software user and developer group, now for over a decade. He is a member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and, within IAU, a member of the Commission 19 "Rotation of the Earth". He helped establishing the IVS Analysis Center at Geoscience Australia in 2001, and, four years later, was instrumental in initiating a project for a new geodetic Australian VLBI network. This project was approved within the frame of AuScope and three 12-meter antennas will be built in Australia in 2009–2010.

Candidates for Technology Development Centers Representative

Rüdiger Haas
Onsala Space Observatory, Sweden
Rüdiger Haas obtained his Ph.D. from the Geodetic Institute of the University of Bonn (Germany) in 1997. He came to Onsala within the framework of the European Training and Mobility of Researchers (TMR) Programme. In 1998 he was a guest scientist at the Communications Research Laboratory (CRL, now NICT) in Kogane/Tokyo (Japan). Since June 2004 he is an Associate Professor at Chalmers University of Technology and is responsible for the geodesy VLBI activities at the Onsala Network Station. He is the secretary of the European VLBI Group for Geodesy and Astrometry (EVGA) and he is chairing the VLBI task force of the Nordic Geodetic Commission. He is affiliated to all the IVS components at Onsala (Analysis Center, Technology Development Center, and Network Station). Rüdiger is a member of the VLBI2010 Committee. Specific tasks include simulation of atmospheric turbulence effects and a collaboration with the antenna research group at Chalmers on broadband feed developments.
Since the Onsala Space Observatory is also a member of the European and worldwide VLBI networks for radio astronomy, Rüdiger has an excellent overall awareness of VLBI activities, where Onsala recently has been heavily involved in e-VLBI.

Ryuichi Ichikawa
National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Japan
Ryuichi Ichikawa is a group sub-leader of the Space-Time Standards Group of the NICT (National institute of Information and Communications Technology; the former CRL), Japan. He obtained his Ph.D. from Hokkaido University in March 1994. From 1995 until now, he has been with the Kashima Space Research Center of the NICT, Kashima, Japan. From 1995 to 1999 he was a member of IAG special study group 1.159 (Use of GPS Positioning for Atmospheric Monitoring). In 1990, he started researching crustal deformation using GPS and he investigated atmospheric delay estimation using numerical weather models. From 1995 until 2001, he was engaged in the geodetic VLBI data analysis of the KSP network. He was envolved in the research of spacecraft tracking using the dVLBI technique during 2002–2005. After 2006 his research fields have also included the development of a compact VLBI system and he resumed his research work on atmospheric delay estimation using numerical weather models. Through his activities he has contributed to NICT's IVS Technology Development Center.