I'm a Senior Research and Instrument Analyst
at the Space Telescope Science Institute
(STScI)
located in Baltimore, MD. The STScI is operated by
AURA for
NASA and is a research center
whose primary mission currently involves supporting science
with the Hubble Space
Telescope. STScI is also the science and operations center for the
successor to HST, the
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST),
which may be launched by 2018.
The Institute is located on the Homewood Campus (Arts and
Sciences and Engineering) of the Johns Hopkins
University.
image processing and catalog generation/object classification and calibration
for the original Hubble Guide Star Catalog and the Digitized Sky Survey (the
original Archive at STScI)
proposal development and TAC and peer review support
observer support
Phase II observing program design/development and implementation
designing and writing the SM1 (1st Servicing Mission, in 1993) Early Release Observations (ERO) Phase II observing program on distant galaxy cluster CL0939+4713 (Abell 851) for Alan Dressler et al. at the time of the initial "rescue/optical correction" of Hubble. At the time, these observations were some of the deepest optical images ever taken of the night sky, and helped reveal that, contrary to predictions, the "repaired" HST with its new WFPC2 camera's corrective optics was a superb tool for the study of the morphologies of distant galaxies. These observations helped inspire the idea of the Hubble Deep Field and all subsequent deep and wide survey fields observed by HST.
helping develop HDF-N and HDF-S programs as member of original HDF-N and later HDF-S Working Groups. Also did WFPC2 data processing for HDF-N and HDF-S flanking fields, including drizzling all of HDF-S WFPC2 flanking fields. First author for large HDF-S flanking fields data paper. (Many more flanking fields than for HDF-N, and in 3 imaging instruments: WFPC2, STIS, and NICMOS. I am very grateful to all my many colleagues who did much work on that large paper, especially including Ed Smith, Harry Ferguson, and Richard Hook.)
helping design Hubble ACS Ultra-Deep Field as a member of the HUDF Working Group, and its parallel ultra-deep fields in WFPC2 (deepest UV images at the time) and NICMOS (deepest near-IR images at the time) with Massimo Stiavelli.
taking part as co-I in design and development of GOODS, HUDF05, and CANDELS surveys
testing JWST Design Reference Mission observing programs of several types, especially Deep Fields DRM observing programs, with Massimo Stiavelli and others, modifying as needed for testing purposes.
Since switching to INS (the Instruments Division at STScI) in 2004, I have worked on a variety of instrument-related tasks, including:
creation and delivery of calibration reference files to CDBS
ACS and WFPC2 calibration in general, and the original automated ACS superbias
and superdark calibration pipeline (with Mike Swam, Max Mutchler, and Marco Sirianni).
former ACS+WFPC2 Help Desk Lead
former ACS webmaster
WFC3 Thermal Vacuum testing for SM4 at NASA's GSFC
ACS replacement electronics testing for SM4 at NASA's GSFC
EVA support at NASA's GSFC for SM4 astronaut repair of ACS
testing, re-commissioning, and early science release observations of ACS post-SM4
(I suggested the ACS SM4 ERO target galaxy cluster Abell 370...)
I am particularly interested in and involved in calibration studies of CTE
(Charge Transfer Efficiency) in on-orbit CCD detectors, especially for extragalactic
extended sources in WFPC2 and ACS data.
JWST NIRCAM thermal vacuum testing out in Palo Alto, CA has also taken some of my time.
I have also been a long-time user and tester of drizzling software (since the
mid-to-late 1990s) for HST imaging and continue in this role with the new astrodrizzle
software.
I am currently the INS Phase II User Support Lead, coordinating the INS User Support observing program
review tools requirements and process for all of the INS Science Instrument Groups, working with OED
programming staff to develop and implement new web-based tools for this process, plus documenting the procedures and conducting the training for new Contact Scientists and Instrument Scientist observing
program reviewers who review GO, GTO, and calibration etc. observing programs.
Here are some of the various research projects in which I am or have been involved including the original Guide Star Catalog, and other projects, as author, observer, and/or co-Investigator or Principle Investigator:
Hubble Deep Fields-North and South, GOODS, Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, HUDF05,
CANDELS, and Hubble Frontier Fields "Blank" Extragalactic Surveys
Distant Galaxy Clusters and Gravitational Lensing, Hubble Frontier Fields Galaxy Clusters and Lensing Survey
ULIRGs and LIRGs (VLIRGs)
Polar Ring Galaxies and Collisional Ring Galaxies; Galaxy interactions and mergers
Globular Cluster Populations in galaxies
ULX and comet-like gas clouds in the Cartwheel Galaxy
Hoag's Object Hubble Heritage imaging
Steep-Spectrum Radio Sources
Multiwavelength Virtual Observatory investigations of Radio Galaxies
High-z Supernovae
Gamma Ray Bursts
Some other relevant experience over the years...:
In addition to Hubble, I have also done some work on testing James Webb
Space Telescope Design Reference Mission proposals (especially the
"Deep Fields" ones), and in addition to being a Hubble observer, I have
also used a variety of optical and radio telescopes in the US and abroad,
including observations at CTIO in Chile and La Palma in the Canary Islands
and at the VLA, as well as being a visiting researcher at the IAC on Tenerife,
and have also visited the Keck, Subaru, Gemini, and CFHT, etc. telescopes on
Mauna Kea in Hawai'i, and have been a part of teams getting data from the VLT,
Keck, Subaru, and others.
You can find more about all of this at my home page.