Visualization Specialist

I have worked in data analysis and visualization for the past 15 years. I spent 8 years in data analysis and observatory operations before switching to public outreach for Chandra, and then moving to STScI in March of 2017.

Highlights

• Astrophotgraphy: my interview with Smithsonian Education; my reddit AMA
• Public Speaking: given technical lectures at image processing workshops; given lectures to the general public and school groups about astronomy and the story of the Chandra X-ray Observatory
• Collaborations: with Harvard Art Museums, developed an interactive exhibit with colleagues in the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies exploring the connections between the use of light in both art conservation and astronomy; co-hosted an image processing workshop at Harvard with PixInsight (Summer 2014)
• Online Content Creation: astrophotography tutorials called openFITS geared towards novice users; supporting podcast videos for Chandra press releases; blog posts such as Astronomy Night on the National Mall; interactive JavaScript tools
• 3D Printing: expert in 3D printing for outreach purposes such as printing a model of a supernova explosion, or utilizing 3D printing and the Arduino electronics prototyping platform to shed light on the question of how an X-ray telescope such as Chandra focuses X-ray light

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Art & Design

My position within the Chandra team has afforded me the flexibility to seek out graphic design projects for various groups within the Center for Astrophysics.

• ADASS: designed a logo and established a style guide for the 2010 meeting of Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems in Boston
  
• X-ray Surveyor: designed a logo and web presence for this mission in the early stages of development
  
• Whipple Observatory: built a website and simulation video for this mission in its proposal phase

I've also had the opportunity to take on several freelance design projects in addition to pursuing a hobby in acrylic painting.

• In 2004, I entered and won a design contest sponsored by Novartis Institutes to redesign the NECCO candy factory's water tower.
• I created a large-format trade show booth in support of Banana Bunker's presence at the 2014 International Housewares Association meeting. This project involved the creation of the booth display as well as all handout materials. I also handled the creation of a social media presence for the company.
• I created a full-page print magazine advertisement for HitTrax.
• Over the past 14 years, I've handled the web and flyer design for my band, Riding Shotgun.

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Audio Recording & Engineering

Through my experiences with my band, Riding Shotgun, over the last 14 years, I've learned a lot about audio engineering for live and studio performance. I built a mobile recording unit enabling the band to capture high fidelity recordings in a variety of locations.

As an instrumental trio, the band uses effects to create a large sound using live looping and layered tracks. I designed an efficient guitar rig that can replicate studio sounds yet is easily and quickly set up and broken down.

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Coding

As a calibration scientist for Chandra, I used PERL, IDL, Python, C++, FORTRAN, and UNIX scripting in my daily work to streamline my workload and develop code. Although my public outreach work has me focused on working in the Adobe Creative Suite, I've created opportunities to continue coding in Python and, more recently, JavaScript.


Image Metadata Project & Chandra Skymap
I accurately tagged the entire Chandra image archive with astronomically relevant metadata. This was part of a collaboration with scientists across NASA to develop new metadata standards utilizing Adobe's exisiting extensible metadata platform (XMP).
All press imagery from Chandra contains metadata with detailed information about how the image was constructed, opening the door for new and innovative tools for exploration. For example, I developed Chandra SkyMap in JavaScript, providing the public with an intuitive, user-driven exploration of the sky as seen through Chandra's X-ray eyes.

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