Associate Professor John O'Byrne
Associate Head (Teaching & Learning), Physics; Associate Dean (Learning & Teaching), Science; Secretary, Astronomical Society of Australia
A28 - Physics Building
The University of Sydney
Telephone | +61 2 9351 3184 |
Fax | +61 2 9351 7726 |
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Website |
School of Physics Sydney Institute for Astronomy (SIfA) Astronomical Society of Australia |
Biographical details
Associate Professor John O'Byrne is an astronomer in the Sydney Institute for Astronomy. His current astronomical research interests centre on the rapidly expanding field of 'Astrophotonics', but he is also active in Physics and Astronomy Education research.
He is also an experienced educator, with over 20 years experience as a university lecturer, teaching physics and astronomy and managing various aspects of the teaching enterprise. Currently he is Associate Head (Teaching & Learning) in the School of Physics, responsible for all aspects of the teaching program in Physics, and an Associate Dean in the Faculty of Science with specific responsibility for academic standards. He has also taught extensively to adults, primarily within the University’s Continuing Education Program, in astronomy courses that have included viewing nights and tours to observatories in NSW.
A/Prof. O’Byrne has been an author or consultant editor for over 20 popular science and astronomy books, notably the 'Skywatching' series. He has also been a principal author for the 'in2Physics' HSC Physics text for years 11 and 12 school students, published by Pearson Education, Australia.
He is also a long-time Secretary of the Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA), the society of professional astronomers in Australia.
Research interests
A/Prof. O’Byrne's current astronomical reseach interests are focussed onAstrophotonics' - using optical fibre devices to enhance observations of faint astronomical objects. Earlier research has centred on high resolution using ground-based optical telescopes and interferometers, specifically Adaptive Optics, Optical Stellar Interferometry (in particular the Sydney University Stellar Interferometer - SUSI), multi-band optical filters for astronomy, multi-wavelength imaging of nearby face-on spiral galaxies and measuring magnetic fields on the Sun
He is also active in Physics and Astronomy Education research, with roles in various University, ALTC and AUTC projects, as well as interests in Astronomy and Physics education groups, in particular theSydney University Physics Education Research (SUPER)group.
Teaching and supervision
Current Teaching:
- PHYS1003 Quantum (Technological) lectures
- PHYS2011 Optics (Normal) lectures
- MRTY1031 Medical Radiation Physics lectures and labs
- MRTY1036 Health Physics + Radiation Biology lectures and labs
Current projects
Astrophotonics:
Contact Professor Joss Bland-Hawthorn for current projects.
Education Research:
Do students understand of basic concepts in Astronomy?
The Astronomy Diagnostic Test (ADT) is a survey developed in the US for undergraduate, non-science majors taking their first astronomy course. It is intended to test students' knowledge of basic concepts of astronomy. The Southern Hemisphere version of the ADT has a small number of minor changes to words and images of the original ADT to permit its use in the southern hemisphere (see http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~obyrne/astro_adt.html). This project will compare the available data sets, coordinate new data acquisition at other institutions in Australia, and look at results such as the gender gap in results from the US.
Preparing students for lab
We are currently developing a new system for delivering Junior Physics lab pre-work on-line in the eLearning system – aiming to improve the usefulness of the pre-work for students. The emphasis is on improving student understanding of physics concepts, experimental tools and analysis techniques. This project will use surveys of staff and student attitudes, interviews and other tools to study the effectiveness of this new system.
Gently flipping the lectures
For two years we have been trialling pre-lecture quizzes that ask students to prepare for lectures. Does it work? Do they like it? Does it make a difference? We have surveyed students to see if this gentle ‘flipping’ of the responsibility for studying lecture content works. This project will extend this work to see how best to ‘flip’ much more and get students to seriously prepare for lectures.
Selected grants
2017
- STEM Communications (Open Learning Environment - Undergraduate); Gordon T, Williamson A, O'Byrne J, Oakley C, Hurst J, Sharma M; DVC Education/Small Educational Innovation Grant.
2016
- OLE: Introduction to Numerical Computing: Stock market crashes, rocket explosions and other catastrophes. (Open Learning Environment - Undergraduate); Murphy T, Wheatland M, O'Byrne J, Kerr C; DVC Education/Small Educational Innovation Grant.
2015
- Circumventing the second year slump: Active learning and enhanced student engagement across Second Year Chemistry and Physics; Schmid S, O'Byrne J, Hudson T, Rendina L, Rutledge P, Widmer-Cooper A; DVC Education/Large Educational Innovation Grant.
- Open Research in the Undergraduate Laboratory; Williamson A, Rendina L, Todd M, O'Byrne J, Rutledge P; DVC Education/Small Educational Innovation Grant.
2014
- Increasing engaged enquiry by flipping the tutorial in Mathematics and Physics; Myerscough M, Tillmann S, Johnston H, O'Byrne J; DVC Education/Small Educational Innovation Grant.
2013
- GNOSIS-J: completing the revolutionary OH suppression spectrograph; Bland-Hawthorn J, Croom S, Ireland M, Leon-Saval S, O'Byrne J, Colless M, Ellis S, Lawrence J; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF).
2010
- GNOSIS: a new window on the early universe using revolutionary photonic technology; Bland-Hawthorn J, Freeman K, Colless M, Couch W, Glazebrook K, Schmidt B, Tinney C, Lawrence J, O'Byrne J, Ellis S; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF).
2005
- Identifying Junior Science students 'at risk' of failing in semester 1 ("at risk 3"); George A, May E, Britton S, Schmid S, O'Byrne J; Science Faculty Education Research group (SCIFER), University of Sydney/Faculty Grant.
- Identifying Junior Science students 'at risk' of failing in semester 1; O'Byrne J, Britton S, Schmid S, May E; Faculty of Science/Teaching Development Grant.
2004
- A study of the effect on student learning of integrating on-line problems and assignment questions i; O'Byrne J, Sharma M, Stewart C; Science Faculty Education Research group (SCIFER), University of Sydney/Faculty Grant.
- Who are Junior Science students 'at risk' and why? ("at risk 2"); O'Byrne J, Britton S, Schmid S, Taylor C; Faculty of Science/Teaching Development Grant.
- Identifying Junior Science students 'at risk' of failing in semester 1; Britton S, Schmid S, Taylor C, O'Byrne J; Faculty of Science/Teaching Development Grant.
2003
- A Classroom Communication System; Khachan J, Sharma M, O'Byrne J, Bedding T, James B; DVC Research/Teaching Equipment Grant (Sesqui).
- Learning Outcomes and Curriculum Development in Physics; Mills D, et al V, Sharma M, James B, Prosser M, O'Byrne J; Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC)../Project Grant.
2002
- Interactive Physics Demonstrations; Sharma M, Khachan J, O'Byrne J, Bedding T; DVC Research/Teaching Equipment Grant (Sesqui).
- Improving Student Usage of Learning Resources in First Year Science; O'Byrne J, Franklin S, George A, Britton S; Faculty of Science/Teaching Development Grant.
- Identifying and helping Junior Science students 'at risk' ("at risk 1"); O'Byrne J, Britton S, George A, Franklin S; Faculty of Science/Teaching Development Grant.
2001
- Development of a new approach to teaching sports mechanics; Curtayne A, O'Byrne J, Cross R, Sharma M, Millar R; Faculty of Science/Teaching Development Grant.
- How do students in a science degree gain skills in understanding and interpretation of mathematical; Schneider I, Quinnell R, Sharma M, New P, O'Byrne J; Science Faculty Education Research group (SCIFER), University of Sydney/Inter-departmental Education Research Grant.
- Interactive learning with a classroom communication system; O'Byrne J, Khachan J, Sharma M, Stewart C; Faculty of Science/Teaching Improvement Fund.
2000
- New generation interference filters for wide-field astronomical imaging; O'Byrne J, Bland-Hawthorn J; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Small Grants.
- Fundamental Stellar Studies with the Sydney University Stellar Interferometer (SUSI): Emergent Fluxes, Effective Temperatures, Radii and Luminosities; Davis J, Tango W, O'Byrne J; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Large Research Grants (LRG).
Selected publications
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