About Me

Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)
M51, Chandra X-ray Observatory; image processing by J. Rice

I was recently hired as an Assistant Professor of Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics at Southwestern Adventist University (SWAU) in Keene, TX. The position starts in the fall of 2022. I am grateful and blessed to have been hired and am looking forward to this new chapter in my career as a high-energy astrophysicist!

Previously I was a postdoctoral research associate at Texas State University working with Prof. Blagoy Rangelov on a variety of topics in observational high-energy astrophysics. We study X-ray binaries in M51 with Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. We also study optical counterparts of X-ray sources in various starforming galaxies with Chandra and HST.

I also collaborate with Prof. Bing Zhang (my PhD advisor) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on theoretical high-energy astrophysics. We study primordial black holes, black hole accretion, and electromagnetic counterparts of binary supermassive black hole mergers.

I also collaborate with Dr. Robert Zavala (United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station) and Prof. Greg Taylor (University of New Mexico) on Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) imaging of AGN cores and jets. We have used the VLBA to image two AGN cores for ten hours each to quantify the core-shift effect in these bright radio sources.

I am also working with various collaborators on understanding the formation and evolution of short and long gamma-ray bursts and their afterglows through their electromagnetic and gravitational-wave emission mechanisms.

Publications

Lunar corona
Lunar corona, Las Vegas, NV, 2016; J. Rice

Highlights

  • ADS entries: 15
  • First author entries: 4
  • Refereed papers: 14
  • Refereed first author papers: 4

ADS entries

Citations

Cloud to cloud lightning
Cloud to cloud lightning, Las Vegas, NV, 2013; J. Rice

Highlights

  • Total citations: 140
  • First author (FA) citations: 53
  • h-index: 6
  • hFA-index: 3
  • m-index: 0.8 (h-index has increased by 0.8 yr −1 on average)
  • g-index: 11 (top 11 papers received at least 11 2 = 121 total citations)
  • i10-index: 5 (number of papers with at least 10 citations)
  • i100-index: 0 (number of papers with at least 100 citations)

ADS citation metrics

Research

Great Basin National Park
Great Basin National Park, NV, 2016; J. Rice

I am a high-energy astrophysicist and am interested in the electromagnetic and gravitational-wave radiation signatures of compact object systems in the universe. I am a theorist by training, but am now also working in X-ray, optical, and radio astronomy. In my first postdoctoral position, I have used the Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope to study all the X-ray point sources in the Whirlpool Galaxy/M51 (J. Rice, B. Rangelov, et al. I 2021, and J. Rice, B. Rangelov et al. II 2021, in prep).

I am broadly interested in accreting black hole systems (Rice and Zhang 2021) and primordial black holes (Rice and Zhang 2017) as cosmological probes.

The most exciting astronomy news of the last decade was the confirmation of the existence of black holes through the LIGO discovery of gravitational waves from the merging black hole binary GW150914. I am interested in the electromagnetic counterparts of supermassive black hole mergers, which may be visible by a number of future observatories.

Teaching

Parhelion and partial parhelic circle
Parhelion and partial parhelic circle, 2016; J. Rice

I had great fun teaching a variety of astronomy and physics laboratory and lecture courses from 2009-2018 as a graduate teaching assistant and adjunct instructor. Currently I do not have any teaching duties as a postdoctoral research associate.

My teaching experience is segmented into three time periods: as a graduate teaching assistant at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT, as an adjunct instructor of physics at Miami University in Oxford, OH, and as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Las Vegas, NV. I have taught the following:

University of Nevada, Las Vegas: 2013-2018

  • Introductory astronomy laboratory: 14 sections
  • Introductory physics laboratory: 6 sections

Miami University: 2012-2013

  • Calculus-based physics I (classical and quantum mechanics) lecture: 2 sections
  • Calculus-based physics II (E&M, thermodynamics, relativity) lecture: 3 sections

Montana State University: 2009-2012

  • Introductory physics laboratory: 8 sections
  • Intermediate physics laboratory: 3 sections
  • Intermediate astronomy laboratory: 6 sections

News

Great Basin NP
Bristlecone pine grove, Great Basin NP, NV, 2016; J. Rice

2022

  • April 8: Hired as Assistant Professor of Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics and Director of the Thomsen Observatory at Southwestern Adventist University, to begin in fall 2022.

  • March 28: Traveled to Keene, TX to give a lecture on Electric Potential and Capacitance to a physics class at Southwestern Adventist University

2021

  • November 29: Manuscript Jared R. Rice, Blagoy Rangelov, Andrea Prestwich, Rupali Chandar, Luis Bichon, and Clint Boldt, "X-ray binaries in M51 I: catalog and statistics" published in The Astrophysical Journal

  • October 9: Manuscript "Evidence for gravitational lensing of GRB 200716C" with collaborators Xing Yang, Hou-Jun Lü, Hao-Yu Yuan, Zhao Zhang, Bin-Bin Zhang, and En-Wei Liang accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

  • September 1: My first postdoctoral research associate position with Prof. Blagoy Rangelov at Texas State University has officially concluded. I am currently searching for either a tenure-track faculty position or another postdoctoral research position.

  • August 30: Manuscript Jared R. Rice, Blagoy Rangelov, Andrea Prestwich, Rupali Chandar, Luis Bichon, and Clint Boldt, "X-ray binaries in M51 I: catalog and statistics" accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

  • June 21-24: Panel Leveler for the first ever Dual Anonymous Peer Review (DAPR) Chandra X-ray Observatory Cycle 23 Proposal Review

  • April 15: Manuscript Jared R. Rice, Blagoy Rangelov, Andrea Prestwich, Rupali Chandar, Luis Bichon, and Clint Boldt, "X-ray binaries in M51 I: catalog and statistics" submitted to The Astrophysical Journal

  • February 15: Manuscript "Growth of stellar mass black holes in dense molecular clouds and GW190521" with collaborator Prof. Bing Zhang published in The Astrophysical Journal.

  • February 8-19: Attended the Yukawa Institute of Theoretical Physics International Molecule-type Workshop: Fast Radio Bursts: A Mystery Being Solved?.

  • In prep (submitting soon): Jared R. Rice, Blagoy Rangelov, Andrea Prestwich, Rupali Chandar, Luis Bichon, and Clint Boldt, "X-ray binaries in M51 II: individual sources"

  • In prep (submitting soon): Jared R. Rice, Blagoy Rangelov, Rupali Chandar, and Andrea Prestwich, "Optical counterparts to X-ray sources in nearby starburst galaxies"

  • In prep (submitting soon): Jared R. Rice and Bing Zhang "Transient electromagnetic signatures from merging supermassive black hole binaries"

  • In prep (submitting soon): Jared R. Rice, Robert T. Zavala, and Gregory B. Taylor, "Core shifts in compact symmetric objects"

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015