Jared R. Rice, PhD

About Me

I am honored to have been commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Space Force. Currently I am stationed at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Previously I was an Assistant Professor of Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics at Southwestern Adventist University (SWAU) in Keene, TX. The position started in the fall of 2022 and I left in the spring of 2025. I am grateful and blessed to have made an impact in the short time I was there.

Prior to that 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.

Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae [ pdf ]

Publications

Highlights

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

ADS entries

Citations

Highlights

• Total citations: 279
• First author (FA) citations: 75
• h-index: 8
• h_FA-index: 3
• m-index: 0.7 (h-index has increased by 0.7 yr ⁻¹ on average)
• g-index: 16 (top 16 papers received at least 16 ² = 256 total citations)
• i10-index: 8 (number of papers with at least 10 citations)
• i100-index: 0 (number of papers with at least 100 citations)

ADS citation metrics

Research

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 postdoctoral research position, I 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

I had great fun teaching a variety of astronomy and physics laboratory and lecture courses from 2009-2025 as a graduate teaching assistant, adjunct instructor, and an assistant professor. Currently I do not have any teaching duties in the United States Space Force.

My teaching experience is segmented into four 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, as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Las Vegas, NV, and as an assistant professor at Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, TX. I have taught the following:

Southwestern Adventist University: 2022-2025

• Introductory astronomy + laboratory: 6 sections
• Introductory physics + laboratory: 9 sections
• College Algebra + College Algebra online: 17 sections

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

2025

• October: Commissioned as a brand new second lieutenant in the United States Space Force after the 60-day Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery Alabama.

2024

• August: Selected to be an officer in the United States Space Force.

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

• December 24: Manuscript "Growth of stellar mass black holes in dense molecular clouds and GW190521" with collaborator Prof. Bing Zhang accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.


• November 6: Gave online eigen*Talk presentation on "Growth of stellar-mass black holes in dense molecular clouds and GW190521" to Andrews University Department of Physics


• February 18: Manuscript "Constraining the nuclear equation of state via gravitational-wave radiation of short gamma-ray burst remnants" with collaborators Lin Lan, Hou-Jun Lü, and En-Wei Liang published in The Astrophysical Journal.


• January 25: Manuscript "The properties of prompt emission in short gamma-ray bursts with extended emission observed by Fermi/GBM" with collaborators Lin Lan, Rui-Jingi Lu, Hou-Jun Lü, Jun Shen, Long Li, and En-Wei Liang published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

2019

• August 27: White paper "The early career perspective on the coming decade, astrophysics career paths, and the Decadal Survey process" for the Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020 (Astro2020) with collaborators Emily Moravec et al. published in the Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society.


• April 27: Manuscript "Diagnosing the remnants of binary neutron star merger from GW170817/GRB170817A event" with collaborators Hou-Jun Lü, Jun Shen, Lin Lan, Wei-Hua Lei, and En-Wei Liang published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

2018

• October 24: PhD dissertation "Primordial black holes in the cosmological context and transient electromagnetic signatures from merging black hole binaries" published by ProQuest.


• September 1: Started first postdoctoral research associate position at Texas State University under the supervision of Prof. Blagoy Rangelov.


• August 2: Manuscript "Characteristics of two-episode emission patterns in Fermi long gamma-ray bursts" with collaborators Lin Lan, Hou-Jun Lü, Shu-Qing Zhong, Hai-Ming Zhang, Ji-Gui Cheng, Shen-Shi Du, Long Li, Jie Lin, Rui-Jing Lu, and En-Wei Liang published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.


• April 6: Successfully defended PhD dissertation at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Department of Physics & Astronomy

2017

• February 26: Manuscript "Cosmological evolution of primordial black holes" with PhD advisor Prof. Bing Zhang accepted for publication in the Journal of High Energy Astrophysics.


• January 30: Manuscript "Magnetar central engine and possible gravitational wave emission of nearby short GRB 160821B" with collaborators Hou-Jun Lü, Hai-Ming Zhang, Shu-Qing Zhong, Shu-Jin Hou, Hui Sun, and En-Wei Liang published in The Astrophysical Journal.

2016

• April 11-12: Attended the UNLV/Caltech Radio Transient Workshop


• February: Won the 2016 Nevada NASA Space Grant Consortium Graduate Research Fellowship.

2015

• September 9: Attended the UNLV Gamma-Ray Bursts and Numerical Simulations Workshop


• August 29: Manuscript "Radio afterglow rebrightening: evidence for multiple active phases in gamma-ray burst central engines" with collaborators Long-Biao Li and Zhi-Bin Zhang published in Astrophysics and Space Science.

Contact

: jaredr [ at ] swau [ dot ] edu

: jared [ dot ] r [ dot ] rice [ at ] protonmail [ dot ] com

ORCID : 0000-0003-3887-091X