Virginia Kilborn is a professor and radio astronomer with the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at

Swinburne University Swinburne University of Technology (often simply called Swinburne) is a public research university based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1908 as the Eastern Suburbs Technical College by George Swinburne to serve those without access t ...

and is Swinburne's first Chief Scientist. She researches galaxy evolution by studying their gas content and is working on the surveys of the next generation of radio telescopes, including the

Australian SKA Pathfinder The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a radio telescope array located at Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The facility began as a technology demonstrator for the int ...

Career

Kilborn peered through her first telescope in 1986 to watch

Halley’s Comet Halley's Comet or Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, is a short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–79 years. Halley is the only known short-period comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and thus the o ...

, a once in 75 year event. She completed her PhD at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

before undertaking post-doctoral research at

Jodrell Bank observatory Jodrell Bank Observatory () in Cheshire, England, hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio astron ...

in England. Kilborn then undertook a ARC-CSIRO linkage fellowship at Swinburne’s Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing (CAS) in Melbourne in 2003. She began teaching the Swinburne Astronomy online program in 2006, lecturing in undergraduate Astronomy. She became Deputy Director from 2011–2013 and Acting Director for CAS in 2013. In 2015 Kilborn became Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy before becoming Dean of Science in 2019, remaining in that role until her appointment as Swinburne's first Chief Scientist in May 2021. Kilborn served as president of the

Astronomical Society of Australia The Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) is the professional body representing astronomers in Australia. Established in 1966, it is incorporated in the Australian Capital Territory. Membership of the ASA is open to people "capable of contributi ...

from 2015–2017 and, , is chair of the National Committee for Astronomy for the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

. Kilborn also leads many gender equity initiatives. She is chair of the CAS equity committee and a leader of university-wide programs to promote academic women and their careers.

Awards and recognition

* Honorary Fellow, Astronomical Society of Australia, 2022 * Vice-Chancellors Award for Culture and Values, Swinburne, 2015 * Vice-Chancellors Teaching Award (team SAO), Swinburne, 2012 * National, OLT Citation for Outstanding contributions to student learning, SAO core team, Swinburne, 2012 * Vice-Chancellors Early Career Research Award, Swinburne 2006

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilborn, Virginia living people Australian astronomers Academic staff of Swinburne University of Technology University of Melbourne alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Australian women scientists