Rychard Bouwens is an assistant professor at the University of Leiden. He is also a former member of the Advanced Camera for Surveys

Advanced Camera for Surveys

The Advanced Camera for Surveys is a third generation axial instrument aboard the Hubble Space Telescope . The initial design and scientific capabilities of ACS were defined by a team based at Johns Hopkins University. ACS was assembled and tested extensively at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp...

 Guaranteed Time Observation (GTO) team and postdoctoral research astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz

University of California, Santa Cruz

The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...

. His work helped lead to the discovery of UDFy-38135539

UDFy-38135539

UDFy-38135539 is the Hubble Ultra Deep Field identifier for a galaxy which has been calculated to have a light travel time of 13.1 billion years with a present comoving distance of around 30 billion light-years...

, the most remote object ever observed from Earth. He works on the interpretation of high redshift

Redshift

In physics , redshift happens when light seen coming from an object is proportionally increased in wavelength, or shifted to the red end of the spectrum...

 starburst

Starburst (astronomy)

In astronomy, starburst is a generic term to describe a region of space with an abnormally high rate of star formation. It is reserved for truly unusual objects....

s. He helped create the Bouwens' Universe Construction Set (BUCS), which can simulate arbitrary galaxy fields and calculate any galaxy observables.

He obtained his Bachelor's degree in physics, chemistry, and mathematics from Hope College

Hope College

Hope College is a medium-sized , private, residential liberal arts college located in downtown Holland, Michigan, a few miles from Lake Michigan. It was opened in 1851 as the Pioneer School by Dutch immigrants four years after the community was first settled...

. He then went on to earn his Ph.D.

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 in physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

 at the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 under the supervision of Joseph Silk and also worked with Tom Broadhurst.