Personal profile
Biography
Dr. Tessa Vernstrom is a senior research fellow with the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR). She specializes in the field of extrgalactic radio astronomy.
Dr. Vernstrom holds a Doctorate and Masters in Astronomy from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver Canada. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Professor Bryan Gaensler at the Dunlap Institute at University of Toronto. Following that she was awarded the Bolton Fellowship at CSIRO in Perth Australia.
Dr. Vernstrom is involved in many surveys and projects in the radio astronomy community including the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) survey as Project Scientist and Polarisation Sky Survey of the Universe's Magnetism (POSSUM) both with the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. She is also co-chair of the cosmic magnetism science working group for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and chair of the SKA Pathfinders Radio Continuum Surveys (SPARCS) working group.
Roles and responsibilities
- Project Scientist, EMU Survey, June 2020 -Present
- Chair, SKA PAthfinders Radio Continuum Surveys (SPARCS) Working Group, June 2021 - Present
- Co-chair, SKA Magnetism Science Working Group, April 2022-Present
- Board Member, Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) board
- Member, Australia Telescope National Facility Time Assignment Committee
Previous positions
- Bolton Fellow, CSIRO, Perth AU; 2018-2021
- Postdoctoral Researcher, Dunlap Institute, Toronto CA; 2015 -2018
Research interests
- cosmic magnetism
- galaxy clusters and large-scale structure
- radio galaxies
- high-redshift galaxies
- galaxy evolution
Education/Academic qualification
Astronomy, PhD, University of British Columbia
Award Date: 31 Aug 2015
Astronomy, MSc, University of British Columbia
Award Date: 31 Aug 2011
Astrophysics, Bachelor of Science, University of Minnesota Minneapolis
Award Date: 31 Dec 2008
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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The life of central radio galaxies in clusters: AGN-ICM studies of eRASS1 clusters in the ASKAP fields
Veronica, A., Reiprich, T. H., Pacaud, F., Brueggen, M., Koribalski, B. S., Pasini, T., Vernstrom, T., Duchesne, S. W., Boeckmann, K., Sanders, J. S., Bahar, Y. E., Balzer, F., Barnes, L. J., Bulbul, E., Clerc, N., Craig, J. E. M., Comparat, J., Dannhauer, S., Dietl, J. & Dolag, K. & 18 others, , 6 Jan 2026, In: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 43, 20 p., e001.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2 Link opens in a new tab Citations (Scopus) -
Evolutionary map of the Universe: Detection and analysis of the shell surrounding the runaway Wolf-Rayet star WR16
Bradley, A., Filipović, M. D., Smeaton, Z., Hidetoshi, S., Fukui, Y., Bordiu, C., Cichowolski, S., Tothill, N. F. H., Alsaberi, R. Z. E., Bufano, F., Dai, S., Gordon, Y. A., Hopkins, A., Jarrett, T. H., Koribalski, B. S., Lazarević, S., Riseley, C. J., Rowell, G., Sasaki, M. & Urošević, D. & 1 others, , 10 Jul 2025, In: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 42, 6 p., e101.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access4 Link opens in a new tab Citations (Scopus) -
Improved Constraints on the Faraday Rotation toward Eight Fast Radio Bursts Using Dense Grids of Polarized Radio Galaxies
Pandhi, A., Gaensler, B. M., Pleunis, Z., Hutschenreuter, S., Law, C., Mckinven, R., O’Sullivan, S. P., Petroff, E. B. & Vernstrom, T., 1 Apr 2025, In: Astrophysical Journal. 982, 2, p. 1-20 20 p., 146.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access6 Link opens in a new tab Citations (Web of Science) -
Relighting the fire in Hickson Compact Group (HCG) 15: Magnetised fossil plasma revealed by the SKA Pathfinders and Precursors
Riseley, C. J., Vernstrom, T., Lovisari, L., O'Sullivan, E., Gastaldello, F., Brienza, M., Nayak, P. K., Bonafede, A., Carretti, E., Duchesne, S. W., Giacintucci, S., Hopkins, A. M., Koribalski, B. S., Loi, F., Pfrommer, C., Raja, W., Ross, K., Rubinur, K., Ruszkowski, M. & Shimwell, T. W. & 9 others, , 6 May 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. 697, 32 p., A45.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access2 Link opens in a new tab Citations (Scopus) -
Stingrays in the radio sky: Two unusual diffuse radio relic sources in the direction of the Magellanic Stream
Smeaton, Z. J., Filipović, M. D., Koribalski, B. S., Sasaki, M., Alsaberi, R. Z. E., Bradley, A. C., Crawford, E. J., Dai, S., Gupta, N., Haberl, F., Hopkins, A. M., Jarrett, T. H., Lazarević, S., Leahy, D., MacGregor, P., Rowell, G., Shabala, S. S., Urošević, D., Van Loon, J. T. & Vernstrom, T., 2025, In: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 42, 17 p., e119.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access2 Link opens in a new tab Citations (Scopus)
Datasets
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Catalogue of Radio Galaxies in the EMU Pilot Survey
Gupta, N. (Creator), Norris, R. (Creator), Hayder, Z. (Creator), Huynh, M. (Creator), Petersson, L. (Creator), Hopkins, A. (Creator), Wang, R. (Creator), Andernach, H. (Creator), Gordon, Y. (Creator), Riggi, S. (Creator), Yew, M. (Creator), Crawford, E. (Creator), Koribalski, B. (Creator), Filipovic, M. (Creator), Kapinska, A. (Creator), Shabala, S. (Creator), Vernstrom, T. (Creator) & Marvil, J. (Creator), CSIRO Publishing, 21 Mar 2024
DOI: 10.25919/ypfp-0p69, https://data.csiro.au/collection/csiro:62055v1
Dataset
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AS201 EMU: EMUCAT supermosaic images
Marvil, J. (Creator), Vernstrom, T. (Creator), Kapinska, A. (Creator), Hopkins, A. (Creator) & Pallot, D. (Creator), CSIRO Publishing, 2023
DOI: 10.25919/pmya-xt15, https://data.csiro.au/collection/csiro:61132v1
Dataset
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AS201 EMU: EMUCAT diffuse images
Duchesne, S. (Creator), Rudnick, L. (Creator), Hopkins, A. (Creator), Vernstrom, T. (Creator), Kapinska, A. (Creator) & Pallot, D. (Creator), CSIRO Publishing, 2023
DOI: 10.25919/hpg7-nv56, https://data.csiro.au/collection/csiro:61134v1
Dataset
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Pairs of LRGS
Vernstrom, T. (Creator), Zenodo, 4 Dec 2022
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7395299, https://zenodo.org/record/7395299
Dataset
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AS103 (ASKAP Pilot Survey for POSSUM): reprocessed cubes with off-axis leakage correction
Ma, Y. K. (Creator), Vernstrom, T. (Creator), Akahori, T. (Creator), Thomson, A. (Creator), Anderson, C. (Creator), Sun, X. (Creator), Taylor, R. (Creator), Van Eck, C. (Creator), Harvey-Smith, L. (Creator), Willis, A. C. (Creator), West, J. (Creator), Stil, J. (Creator), Rudnick, L. (Creator), Raja, W. (Creator), Purcell, C. (Creator), O'Sullivan, S. (Creator), Mcclure-Griffiths, N. (Creator), Leahy, J. P. (Creator), Landecker, T. (Creator), Heald, G. (Creator), Farnes, J. (Creator), Carretti, E. (Creator), Brown, S. (Creator), Gaensler, B. (Creator) & Vanderwoude, S. (Creator), CSIRO Publishing, 18 Mar 2024
DOI: 10.25919/yx7d-x676, https://data.csiro.au/collection/csiro:62003v1
Dataset
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Cosmic powerhouses: The birth, death, and legacy of black hole jets
Shabala, S. (Investigator 01), Power, C. (Investigator 02), Vernstrom, T. (Investigator 03) & Morganti, R. (Investigator 04)
ARC Australian Research Council
1/01/24 → 31/12/26
Project: Research
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The Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU): Maximising Scientific Results from Year 1 of the Radio Survey
Vernstrom, T. (Chief Investigator), Hopkins, A. (CoPI), Kapinska, A. (CoPI) & Riseley, C. (CoPI)
The University of Western Australia
1/01/24 → 31/12/24
Project: Research
Prizes
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School of Physics, Math, and Computing Mid-Career Researcher Special Commendation
Vernstrom, T. (Recipient), Oct 2023
Prize: Award
Press/Media
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Scientists Glimpse Faint Shocks in Cosmic Web that Links the Universe
7/05/23
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media
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Astronomers spotted shock waves shaking the web of the universe for the first time
6/03/23
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media
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The largest structures in the Universe are still glowing with the shock of their creation
16/02/23
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media
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POLARISED SHOCKWAVES SHAKE THE UNIVERSE’S COSMIC WEB
16/02/23
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media
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We found some strange radio sources in a distant galaxy cluster. They’re making us rethink what we thought we knew.
1/08/22
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media