Eric Howell

Eric Howell is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the School of Physics, Maths and Computing, University of Western Australia. He has been a member of the LIGO collaboration since 2005 and held an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship until 2023. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to advancing scientific knowledge and innovation.

Education: PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Western Australia (PhD W.Aust.).

His research focuses on multimessenger astrophysics, particularly the synergy between gravitational wave transients and gamma-ray bursts. He explores how combining gravitational wave and electromagnetic data can uncover the drivers of cataclysmic astrophysical events. Key areas of interest include:

• Gravitational Wave Astrophysics
• Gamma Ray Bursts
• Fast Radio Bursts
• Neutron Star and Black Hole Mergers
• Multi-messenger astronomy

Recent publications highlight his work on detecting coincidences between gravitational waves and fast radio bursts from neutron star-black hole mergers, analyzing gravitational wave candidates using Fermi-GBM and Swift-BAT data, and searching for continuous gravitational waves linked to pulsars. These studies emphasize the integration of observational techniques to understand cosmic phenomena.

Eric has received the Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship (2023) which supported his astrophysics research. His contributions have also been recognized through media coverage of his findings.

Narrative of grants and advising: Eric has led three significant grants, including

• 'Probing cosmic transients through gravitational wave observations' (2017–2023),
• 'Probing the biggest explosions in the Universe: a multimessenger approach' (2013),
• 'Predicting Rare Transient Events - A New Data Analysis Tool With Applications...' (2011–2016).

While no formal students are listed, his research collaborations involve numerous international partners.

Labs/teams: He is part of the science teams for NASA's MoonBEAM and StarBurst satellite missions, and co-leads the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA search for gravitational waves associated with Fast Radio Bursts since 2019. He also collaborates with institutions globally and speaks Japanese at a functional level.