1. Can you describe your role in the SDSS collaboration and what you enjoy most about it?
Catalog Archive Server (SkyServer/CasJobs) Data Scientist – I love making this fabulous data available to the world with our wonderful services.
2. Can you tell us about your educational background and how you got interested in the field of astronomy/astrophysics?
PhD in Astronomy/Astrophysics from the Ohio State University, I was always interested in the computational aspect since I came from a Physics and Computer Science undergraduate background. My PhD thesis was numerical simulations of counterrotating disks in spiral galaxies. Astronomy had been a hobby and interest since childhood. After finishing grad school, I was lucky to land at the ground floor of the SDSS project, and in particular the gargantuan task of making this unimaginably large dataset available to the worldwide community online. My background (expertise in both astronomy and CS) turned out to be ideal for this endeavor.
3. What projects are you currently working on and what are you most excited about?
The SDSS Catalog Archive Server, and the SciServer generic science platform are my two main projects. They both involve making the largest scientific datasets available to the scientific community as well as the public and K-12 communities. What excites me most about this is that anyone with reasonably fast access to the internet can have access to the same data and services that professional scientists do. This is mind-blowing!
4. Can you describe how you balance work and personal life, and what advice would you give to someone just starting in the field?
I’m pretty flexible about mixing my work and off-work hours. There are times (often) when my attention is required after the regular working hours, and I’m fine with that because I don’t see my work as inherently stressful. It helps that I’m an empty-nester now, but it was never that stressful even when my daughter was young.
5. Can you share with us a unique hobby or interest that you have outside of work?
Drawing/sketching, and playing tennis. Also learning piano (and how to read sheet music) after the age of 60 – quite challenging!