Shelley Wright
Professor
Shelley’s research focus is on developing innovative astronomical instrumentation and observations using some of the world's largest optical telescopes. Shelley is the Principal Investigator of the UCSD Optical and Infrared Laboratory.
Jérôme Maire
Project Scientist
Jérôme is interested in developing high-angular resolution instrumentation, high-contrast imaging techniques and high-time resolution astronomy.
Saavidra Perera
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Saavidra is interested in optical atmospheric turbulence characterisation and correction techniques for the purpose of astronomy. Currently, she is working on the pyramid wavefront sensor for the Gemini Planet Imager upgrade.
Bryson Cale
Research Analyst
Bryson Cale is a Research Analyst at UC San Diego. He develops software utilizing novel algorithms to process & analyze data products from a variety of astronomical facilities to maximize their scientific yield with a particular interest in mathematical optimization.
Aaron Brown
Research and Development Engineer
Aaron specializes in mechanical engineering and has a diverse background in complex fuel systems and aerospace. He is developing instrumentation for SETI, Keck, and TMT.
James Wiley
Physics Graduate Student
James is a 4th year graduate student working on instrumentation for PANOSETI and Keck Liger. He also is exploring science simulations for Liger and investigating Keck KCWI data sets.
Alyssa Johnson
Physics Graduate Student
Alyssa Johnson is a third-year grad student working on the assembly, integration, and validation of PANOSETI’s optical/near-IR telescope modules - with a focus on nanosecond detector characterization.
Sophie Nathanson
Physics Undergraduate Student
Sophie Nathanson is a 3rd year undergrad student studying astrophysics. She is currently working on gathering observations with PANOSETI.
Bretton Simpson
Post Baccalaureate Physics
Bretton Simpson is Post Baccalaureate student that received his B.Sc. in Physics in 2024. Bretton is currently working observations and analysis of PANOSETI data.
Michael Trifoglio
Physics Undergraduate Student
Michael is a 4th year undergraduate studying physics. His work involves assisting Keck Liger development.
Andrew Kramer
Physics Undergraduate Student
Andrew Kramer is a 2nd year undergraduate student studying Physics with specialization in Astrophysics. He is currently working on LIGER hardware assembly and simulation data for both LIGER and TMT IRIS.
Gabrielle Scott
Engineering Undergraduate Student
Gabrielle is a fifth year undergraduate student studying mechanical engineering. She is assisting in the design and manufacture of high-precision instrumentation on LIGER.
Shree Doshi
Physics Undergraduate Student
Shree Doshi is a 2nd year undergraduate student studying Physics with specialization in Astrophysics. She is currently working on observations and analysis for PANOSETI.
Strawberry Wroolie
Physics Undergraduate Student
Strawberry Wroolie is a 4th year undergrad student studying Astrophysics. She is assisting in the design and assembly of instrumentation for LIGER.
Affiliate Members
Quinn Konopacky
Associate Professor
Quinn uses high resolution techniques on large ground-based telescopes to study star and planet formation and evolution.
Jean-Baptiste Ruffio
Research Scientist
Jean-Baptiste is a Research Scientist studying extra-solar planets at UC San Diego. He has been pioneering statistical and instrumentation techniques to push the frontiers of planet detection and characterization to better understand their formation.
Andrea Zonca
Computational Scientist
Andrea has previous experience in Cosmic Microwave Background data analysis and has a strong expertise in High Performance Computing and software development in Python, he joined the team to help develop the IRIS Data Reduction System.
Clarissa Do Ó
Graduate Student
Clarissa is a 4th year astrophysics graduate student. She studies exoplanet orbital dynamics and works on exoplanet instrumentation. Her current work is on the pyramid wavefront sensor upgrade of the Gemini Planet Imager 2.0 (GPI 2.0), an instrument that aims to directly image and characterize exoplanets.
Jayke Nguyen
Graduate Student
Jayke is a 3rd year graduate student working with Quinn Konopacky developing the new wavefront sensor upgrade for the Gemini Planet Imager 2.0. Beyond instrumentation, his research interests include exoplanet detection/characterization and protoplanetary disk dynamics.
Ben Sappey
Graduate Student
Ben is a 4th year graduate student interested in the direct detection of exoplanets and exoplanet atmospheric composition. He works with the KPIC Collaboration and on the calibration unit for the upcoming High-resolution Infrared Spectrograph for Exoplanet Characterization (HISPEC) instrument planned for Keck.
