What is your position on DESI? I am a PhD student at CEA Saclay working on two aspects of DESI project, namely the selection of the quasar targets as well as the integration and testing of the cryostats fitted to the spectrographs.
Where were you born? I was born in a town called Montluçon in central France.
Where do you live now? I currently live in the south of Paris, not far from my workplace.
What do you in your position on DESI? I work on the selection of quasar candidates, the more distant objects that will be observed by DESI, based on their photometry properties by making use of machine learning tools. I am also in charge of developing an optical bench in order to validate the accuracy of the positioning of the CCD sensors mounted within the crysotat vessels. Basically, an array of microlens is used to project very precisely a grid of spots on the CCD. Then, we are able to infer the possible misalignment of the CCD according to the observed distortion of the grid of spots.
What excites/interests you most about DESI? As a PhD student, DESI is a great opportunity to get a comprehensive overview of a large-scale science project conducted within an international collaboration. Moreover, my thesis related to DESI gets me involved in activities covering several disciplines ranging from data analysis, computer simulation to optics and mechanics.
What do you for fun? I like going back to my beautiful home region, in Auvergne, to see my family and my friends, do mountain hiking and biking and enjoy the local gastronomy.
