What do you do here at Wright Lab?
I work with Laura Newburgh on the Simons Observatory, which is a new Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observatory that is currently being built in Chile. There will be four telescopes in total. I’m focused on developing the data acquisition software that will coordinate data collection among all the various systems within the observatory. I’m also leading a group that is developing near real time data quality checks, to make sure the telescopes are operating nominally. Additionally, I’m working in similar roles on the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT-the primary mirror of which is behind me in my photo), and CMB-S4, which are previous and next generation CMB experiments, respectively.
What is the most unique and/or exciting experience you’ve had here at Wright Lab?
I would say setting up our He3/He4 dilution refrigerator. It wasn’t my first time setting one up, but it’s not every day you get to do that, and it’s always an exciting experience!
What is something that people might not know about you that you’d like to share with the community?
I’ve played saxophone for over 20 years, and play in several groups currently (well, with the exception of being on a break due to the pandemic.) The band I helped form in grad school (and still play with) is called ¡Viva Mayhem! We have three EPs online on the major streaming services if you want to check it out. I’ve also been getting involved with the local music scene, and hope to be playing shows locally once things open up again.
Where do you like to work remotely?
From my apartment. I’ve enjoyed building my own computers for the past decade, and it’s resulted in a pretty great home office setup.
