About

Research

I am Dr. Bill Freeman, PhD. I have a MS and PhD in Physics from the University of California, Riverside. My research focused on outflows from high redshift (z~2) galaxies. I was part of the MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field (MOSDEF) Survey which studied 1,500 galaxies at z~1-3 with ~50 nights on the Keck telescope. I used the Keck telescope for 15 nights to study galaxies billions of light-years away. As a member of the MOSDEF team, I built the 2D to 1D extraction software called BMEP (prounounced bee-mep). To study galactic outflows, I did regression analysis using a custom markov chain monte carlo fitting code to decompose galaxy emission lines into narrow and broad emission. The faint broad emission is indicative of outflows. More information is available on the research page.

I graduated with a BS in physics from Louisiana State University. As an undergraduate, I studied the dust around Red Supergiant stars with my advisor Dr. Geoff Clayton. I simulated dust with a Monte Carlo radiative transfer code to explain Spitzer observations of Red Supergiants. I built a custom wrapper in IDL that is still being used by that research group.

Aside from research about Red Supergiant dust, I had several other research projects as an undergraduate. I was part of a high altitude weather balloon experiment that studied the atmosphere from 0 to 100,000 ft. I worked with a team of 4 other students to design a payload from the ground up to measure pressure, temperature, humidity, and the weather balloon its-self as a function of altitude. I was primarily responsible for writing science requirements and the payload/testing software. In addition to the balloon experiment, I also did two NSF REU summer programs where I studied asteroids and Saturn's Rings respectively (details on the research page).

Extracurriculars

I am very active in outreach for the physics and astronomy department at UCR. I frequently participate in public observations, physics demonstrations, and educational talks. I am also a mentor for the high school robotics team Poly Techs 3295 and North Robotics 6960. We build large (3x3x3 ft), heavy (~100 lb) robots that compete in the First Robotics Competition. See the robotics page for more info and sweet pictures!

During my freshman year at LSU, my time was dominated by being in the marching band. That year, the LSU football team won the national championship and I got front row seats. In my sophomore year, I joined the LSU Rugby team. I wasn't very good but out of all the sports I've ever played, rugby is my favorite. My junior and senior years were dominated by my studies and research. I did manage to have time for the AIAA club at LSU, and various honor societies.

Before college, I played nearly every organized sport imaginable: soccer, basketball, football, track and field, swimming, diving, and tennis. Outside of sports I participated in things like Science Olympiad and the chess team.

Nowadays, I still enjoy playing sports but play more casually and stick to pick-up sports like volleyball, touch football, and racquetball.

Other Stuff

Outside of school, I have always been an avid gamer. I have a combined ~10,000 hours of playtime on games like Counter Strike, DOTA 2, Overwatch, Spelunky, and H1Z1. I've played in nearly a dozen competetive seasons in leagues like CAL, CEVO, Faceit, and Tespa.