About
I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences. As part of the Rubin Observatory Science Pipelines Team, I develop algorithms that turn raw images into science-ready data products for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). I spend much of my time on Data Release Production and image/object characterization. More specifically, I am interested in instrument signature removal, PSF and shape measurement, and developing tools for data and pipeline visualization. I also contribute to Rubin Science Platform services and, more recently, have become involved in Solar System Processing (HelioLinC production) within the Alert Production team. Before joining Princeton in 2022, I did my PhD in physics at the University of California, Davis, under the supervision of Professor Tony Tyson. I am a member of the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC), for which I study the effects of galaxy photometry in crowded fields on deep imaging probes of cosmology and photometric redshift (photo-$z$) estimation.
Current Research
Impact of LEO Satellite Constellations on Weak Gravitational Lensing Studies
The rapid deployment of low-Earth orbit satellite mega-constellations, such as SpaceX’s Starlink, is introducing new challenges for ground-based astronomy. As these satellites traverse the night sky, they leave bright trails across images, contaminating data and introducing correlated noise. For weak gravitational lensing studies, which rely on detecting subtle distortions in galaxy shapes to map dark matter, these streaks pose a potential source of systematic bias. Understanding their impact is crucial as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) prepares to collect an unprecedented volume of cosmological data.
Photo Credit: Starlink Satellites Imaged from CTIO
Time-lapse image showing the passage of a Starlink satellite cluster (bright streaks) through a telescope’s field of view at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile in November 2019.
