Dr Joris Witstok
For references or a more detailed version of my CV, please contact me directly. You can see a full list of publications on the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS).
Research interests
Early Galaxy Formation and Evolution; First Galaxies; Reionisation of the Universe; Enrichment of Metals and Dust
Education
2018-2022: Ph.D. in Astrophysics (University of Cambridge)
Ph.D. in Physics at Sidney Sussex College, conducting research in the Galaxy Formation and Evolution group (led by Prof Roberto Maiolino), and as member of the JWST/NIRSpec GTO team. Thesis title: Spectroscopic studies of star-forming galaxies and the intergalactic medium in the early Universe. Supervisors: Dr Renske Smit and Prof Roberto Maiolino.
2017-2018: Master of Advanced Study (University of Cambridge)
Graduated with distinguished performance (Distinction, 85/100) in the Master of Advanced Study (MASt) in Astrophysics at Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge. Supervisors: Dr Ewald Puchwein, Dr Girish Kulkarni, and Prof Martin Haehnelt. Elected courses: Formation of Structure in the Universe, Quantum Field Theory, Cosmology, Extrasolar Planets: Atmospheres and Interiors, Dynamics of Astrophysical Discs.
2014-2017: Double Bachelor of Science (University of Leiden)
Graduated cum laude both in Physics and Astronomy (a double bachelor degree), combined with Honours College (8.9 out of 10 average).
First-author publications
- Witstok, J., Jones, G. C., Maiolino, R., Smit, R., Schneider, R., 2023, submitted to MNRAS: An empirical study of dust properties at the earliest epochs
- Witstok, J., Smit, R., Maiolino, R., Kumari, N., Aravena, Μ., Boogaard, L., Bouwens, R., Carniani, S., Hodge, J. A., Jones, G. C., Stefanon, M., Van der Werf, P., Schouws, S., 2022, MNRAS, 515, 1751: Dual constraints with ALMA: new [OIII] 88 μm and dust-continuum observations reveal the ISM conditions of luminous LBGs at z ~ 7
- Witstok, J., Smit, R., Maiolino, R., Curti, M., Laporte, L., Massey, M., Richard, J., Swinbank, M., 2021, MNRAS, 508, 1686: Assessing the sources of reionisation: a spectroscopic case study of a 30× lensed galaxy at z ~ 5 with Lya, CIV, MgII, and [NeIII]
- Witstok, J., Puchwein, E., Kulkarni, G., Smit, R., Haehnelt, M. G., 2021, A&A, 650, A98: Prospects for observing the low-density cosmic web in Lyman-alpha emission
Other publications
- Curtis-Lake, E., Carniani, S., Cameron, A., Charlot, S., Jakobsen, P., Maiolino, R., Bunker, A., Witstok, J., Smit, S., Chevallard, J., Willott, C., Ferruit, P., Arribas, S., Bonaventura, N., Curti, M., D’Eugenio, F., Giardino, G., Looser, T. J., Lützgendorf, N., Maseda, M. V., Rawle, T., Rix, H.-W., Rodriguez del Pino, B., Übler, H., Sirianni, M., Dressler, A., Egami, E., Eisenstein, D. J., Endsley, R., Hainline, K., Hausen, R., Johnson, B. D., Rieke, M., Robertson, B., Shivaei, I., Stark, D. P., Tacchella, S., Williams, C. C., Willmer, C. N. A., Bhatawdekar, R., Bowler, R., Boyett, K., Chen, Z., De Graaff, A., Helton, J. M., Hviding, R. E., Jones, G. C., Kumari, N., Lyu, J., Nelson, E., Perna, M., Sandles, L., Saxena, A., Suess, K. A., Sun, F., Topping, M. W., Wallace, I. E. B., Whitler, L., 2023, submitted to Nature: Spectroscopy of four metal-poor galaxies beyond redshift ten
- Robertson, B., Tacchella, S., Johnson, B. D., Hainline, K., Whitler, L., Eisenstein, D. J., Endsley, R., Rieke, M., Stark, D. P., Alberts, S., Dressler, A., Egami, E., Hausen, R., Rieke, G., Shivaei, I., Williams, C. C., Willmer, C. N. A., Arribas, S., Bonaventura, Bunker, A., N., Cameron, A., Carniani, S., Charlot, S., Chevallard, J., Curti, M., Curtis-Lake, E., D’Eugenio, F., Jakobsen, P., Looser, T. J., Lützgendorf, N., Maiolino, R., Maseda, M. V., Rawle, T., Rix, H.-W., Smit, S., Übler, H., Willott, C., Witstok, J., Baum, S., Bhatawdekar, R., Boyett, K., Chen, Z., De Graaff, A., Florian, M., Helton, J. M., Hviding, R. E., Ji, Z., Kumari, N., Lyu, J., Nelson, E., Sandles, L., Saxena, A., Suess, K. A., Sun, F., Topping, M. W., Wallace, I. E. B., 2023, submitted to Nature: Discovery and properties of the earliest galaxies with confirmed distances
- Katz, H., Saxena, A., Cameron, A. J., Carniani, S., Bunker, A. J., Arribas, S., Bhatawdekar, R., Bowler, R. A. A., Boyett, K. N. K., Cresci, G., Curtis-Lake, E., D’Eugenio, F., Kumari, N., Looser, T. J., Maiolino, R., Übler, H., Willott, C., Witstok, J., 2022, MNRAS: First Insights into the ISM at z > 8 with JWST: Possible Physical Implications of a High [O III] λ4363/[O III] λ5007
- Curti, M., D’Eugenio, F., Carniani, S., Maiolino, R., Sandles, L., Witstok, J., Baker, W. M., Bennett, J. S., Piotrowska, J. M., Tacchella, S., Charlot, S., Nakajima, K., Maheson, G., Mannucci, F., Amiri, A., Arribas, S., Belfiore, F., Bonaventura, N. R., Bunker, A. J., Chevallard, J., Cresci, G., Curtis-Lake, E., Hayden-Pawson, C., Jones, G. C., Kumari, N., Laseter, I., Looser, T. J., Marconi, A., Maseda, M. V., Scholtz, J., Smit, R., Übler, H., Wallace, I. E. B., 2022, MNRAS: The chemical enrichment in the early Universe as probed by JWST via direct metallicity measurements at z~8
- Robertson, B. E.; Tacchella, S.; Johnson, B. D.; Hausen, R.; Alabi, A. B.; Boyett, K.; Bunker, A. J.; Carniani, S.; Egami, E.; Eisenstein, D. J.; Hainline, K. N.; Helton, J. M.; Ji, Z.; Kumari, N.; Lyu, J.; Maiolino, R.; Nelson, E. J.; Rieke, M. J.; Shivaei, I.; Sun, F.; Ubler, H.; Williams, C. C.; Willmer, C. N. A.; Witstok, J., 2022, arXiv:2208.11456: Morpheus Reveals Distant Disk Galaxy Morphologies with JWST: The First AI/ML Analysis of JWST Images
- Tacchella, S.; Johnson, B. D.; Robertson, B. E.; Carniani, S.; D’Eugenio, F.; Kumari, N.; Maiolino, R.; Nelson, E. J.; Suess, K. A.; Übler, H.; Williams, C. C.; Adebusola, A.; Alberts, S.; Arribas, S.; Bhatawdekar, R.; Bonaventura, N.; Bowler, R. A. A.; Bunker, A. J.; Cameron, A. J.; Curti, M.; Egami, E.; Eisenstein, D. J.; Frye, B.; Hainline, K.; Helton, J. M.; Ji, Z.; Looser, T. J.; Lyu, J.; Perna, M.; Rawle, T.; Rieke, G.; Rieke, M.; Saxena, A.; Sandles, L.; Shivaei, I.; Simmonds, C.; Sun, F.; Willmer, C. N. A.; Willott, C. J; Witstok, J., 2022, arXiv:2208.03281: JWST NIRCam+NIRSpec: Interstellar medium and stellar populations of young galaxies with rising star formation and evolving gas reservoirs
- Bouwens, R. J., Smit, R., Schouws, S., Stefanon, M., Bowler, R., Endsley, R., Gonzalez, V., Inami, H., Stark, D., Oesch, P., Hodge, J., Aravena, M., da Cunha, E., Dayal, P., Looze, I. de, Ferrara, A., Fudamoto, Y., Graziani, L., Li, C., Nanayakkara, T., Pallottini, A., Schneider, R., Sommovigo, L., Topping, M., van der Werf, P., Algera, H., Barrufet, L., Hygate, A., Labbé, I., Riechers, D., Witstok, J., 2022, ApJ, 931, 160: Reionization Era Bright Emission Line Survey: Selection and Characterization of Luminous Interstellar Medium Reservoirs in the z > 6.5 Universe
- Schouws, S., Bouwens, R., Smit, R., Hodge, J., Stefanon, M., Witstok, J., Hilhorst, J., Labbe, I., Algera, H., Boogaard, L., Maseda, M., Oesch, P., Röttgering, H., Van der Werf, P., 2022, arXiv:2202.04080: ALMA as a Redshift Machine: Using [CII] to Efficiently Confirm Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization
Successful observing proposals
- 2022: Principal Investigator of ALMA program 2022.1.00925.S: Cold Dust at Cosmic Dawn: uncovering a cool dust reservoir in the Epoch of Reionization
- 2022: Co-Investigator of ALMA program 2022.1.01384.S (PI: Fudamoto): Probing origins of the [CII] emission in the Epoch of Reionization
- 2022: Co-Investigator of ALMA program 2022.1.01131.S (PI: Smit): Resolving disks and mergers in the Epoch of Reionization
- 2022: Co-Investigator of ALMA program 2021.1.00722.S (PI: Schouws): Exploring the ISM conditions of UV-selected galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization by Surveying [OIII], [CII], and Dust
- 2021: Principal Investigator of Hubble Space Telescope program ID 16506: Imaging the sites of star formation at sub-kiloparsec scales in the Epoch of Reionization
- 2018: Co-Investigator of ESO observing runs 0103.B-0928(A) & 0103.B-0928(B) (PI: Smit): Rest-frame UV diagnostics of star-forming galaxies in an extreme protocluster environment at z ~ 3
Talks
- 2022: Invited talk at Scuola Normale Superiore (Pisa, Italy)
- 2022: Contributed talk at Metallicity Evolution conference (Catania, Italy)
- 2022: Invited talk at In Situ View of Galaxy Formation 2 (Ringberg, Germany)
- 2022: Contributed talk at NAM (Warwick, United Kingdom)
- 2022: Contributed talk at EAS (Valencia, Spain)
- 2022: DAWN (Virtual)
- 2022: Contributed talk at MAYA (Virtual)
- 2021: Contributed talk at SAZERAC SIP (Virtual)
- 2021: Wednesday seminar (Cambridge, United Kingdom)
- 2021: Contributed talk at NAM (Virtual)
- 2021: Contributed talk at EAS (Virtual)
- 2021: Contributed talk at SAZERAC 2.0 (Virtual)
- 2020: Wednesday seminar (Cambridge, United Kingdom)
- 2020: Contributed talk at EAS (Virtual)
- 2019: Advanced school (Sao P\( \mathrm{\tilde{a}} \)ulo, Brazil)
- 2019: Kavli Seminar (Cambridge, United Kingdom)
- 2019: Cosmic Web conference (Spineto, Italy)
Teaching
2019-present
Teaching assistant for second, third, and fourth year courses Introduction to Computing, Formation of Structure in the Universe, and the Physics of Cosmology, supervising small groups between two to six students.
2015-2017
Teaching assistant in the first and second year courses Introduction to Astrophysics and Introduction to Solid State Physics, being in charge of supervision sessions, correcting homework, and grading exams.
Outreach
2020: University of Cambridge
Gave an outreach talk for the Institute of Astronomy’s Public Open Evening (see also the YouTube channel of the IoA).
2015-2017: University of Leiden
PR ambassador and member of the PR team as a representative of the Bachelor degree of Physics.
2015-2017: Old Observatory (University of Leiden)
Custodian in the visitor centre of the Old Observatory in Leiden, and tour guide in the Old Observatory, displaying the historical building and its original telescopes to groups.