Curriculum Vitae

Casper Farret Jentink
Astrophysics PhD Researcher

Email: casper.farret (at) unige (dot) ch

About Me

My interests and skills range from the field of astrophysics to instrumentation. Throughout my research, I design and build high-tech instruments for (ultra-)stable, high-resolution spectroscopy; silicon-based meta-materials; and study astrophysical processes underlying (exo-)planetary evolution. I enjoy the work on novel solutions for high-tech instrumentation to shed light on the laws that govern our Universe.

Academic Qualifications

PhD in Astronomical Instrumentation & Astrophysics
2021 — present
Observatoire de Genève - Université de Genève
Supervised by Prof. F. Pepe & Prof. C. Lovis
MSc in Astronomy
2018 — 2021
Kapteyn Astronomical Institute - University of Groningen
Grade: 8.3 out of 10 (Dutch grade system)
Supervised by Prof. F. Snik & Dr. W. Jellema
BSc in Astronomy
2015 — 2018
Kapteyn Astronomical Institute - University of Groningen
Grade: 7.1 out of 10 (Dutch grade system)
Supervised by Prof. J. McKean & Prof. A. Baryshev

Awards, Distinctions & Grants

SNF NCCR PlanetS Bonus Programme Grant
2023
CHF 135,000
Alpbach Summer School award for the EXPOSURE mission
2023
Kapteyn Science Day Award
2021
Beta Business Days Tech Start-up Award
2021

Research Experience

Project Lead: NIGHT
2021 — present
Near-Infrared Gatherer of Helium Transits
Leading the development of a novel high-resolution spectrograph for detecting helium in exoplanet atmospheres. Budget: ~CHF 900K
Project Lead: ABORAS
2021
A polarimetric Sun-as-a-star telescope connected to HARPS3
Simulation & Evaluation of an Effective Dielectric Material for a Resonant Immersed Waveplate
2020
Constructing the backend of the Kapteyn Interferometer for Short-baseline Solar observations (KISS)
2018

Professional Experience

Research Intern
02.2020 — 07.2020
SRON / TU-Delft
Micromachined dielectrics for SPICA/SAFARI
Astrophysics Teacher
08.2018 — 11.2018
Boswell Beta
Chair of the Board
09.2018 — 09.2019
Sirius A – the Study Association of Astronomy
Budget: ~€20K, >250 members
Vice-Chair & Commissioner of Internal Affairs
09.2017 — 09.2018
Sirius A – the Study Association of Astronomy
Board Member
10.2019 — 08.2021
JWG – Dutch youth association for astronomy

Teaching & Outreach

Teaching Assistant
09.2021 — present
University of Geneva
Observational Techniques Course
Teaching Assistant
2024
University of Geneva
Observations, Data Acquisition & Data Analysis, astrometry module
Teaching Assistant
10.2020 — 01.2021
University of Groningen
Evolving Universe course
First Year Mentor
09.2019 — 03.2020
University of Groningen
Planetarium Operator
04.2017 — 08.2021
Kapteyn Mobile Planetarium & DOTLiveplanetarium
Blaauw Observatory Assistant
02.2017 — 08.2021
University of Groningen

Skills

Technical
Astrophysics
Instrumentation
Engineering
Optics/lithography
Informatics
Professional
Public speaking/outreach
Teaching
Project management
Graphic design
Programming & Software
Python
Zemax
COMSOL
Adobe Creative Cloud
Languages
Dutch (native)
English (fluent)
German (proficient)
French (basic)

Selected Conferences & Workshops

SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation
July 2024
Yokohama, Japan
Spectral Fidelity conference
September 2023
Florence, Italy
Alpbach Summer School
Summer 2023
Alpbach, Austria
Extreme Precision Radial Velocity V
April 2022
Santa Barbara, CA
Download CV (PDF)
CV - Casper Farret Jentink