Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI)

meet a DESI member

Minji Oh

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What is your role in the DESI project?
I’m a post-doc mainly involved in GQC working group.

Where were you born? Where do you live now? 
I was born in Seoul, Korea and currently living in Shanghai, China for my post-doc position at SJTU.

What would you say is the most interesting or exciting thing about DESI?
One of the most interesting thing about DESI for me is to experience the pipeline for processing spectroscopic data. Before joining DESI, ‘data’ were just some binary files to me consisting of many columns including RA, DEC, z, and some weights. But, after joining DESI, I had many chances to learn about how raw data are processed in the pipelines before arriving at my hands. For example, participating in visual inspection and working on fiber assignment are the ones where I can experience some part of the raw data process.

Any advice for aspiring scientists?
Either failure or success, it can be a stepping stone for the next step.

Finally, what do you do for fun?
Reading books. Rather than reading fast, I prefer slow reading and enjoying each line, which makes me feel like having conversation with author. And, recently, (I’m not sure if I should say “because of“ or “thanks to” COVID19, but anyway) I started a couple of online book clubs with some old friends. After reading one chapter of the same book every week or every two weeks, we regularly meet online and discuss anything related to the chapter. You may want to try this as well. It is really fun!

Ignasi Pérez i Ràfols

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What do you do as part of DESI (both generally and day-to-day activities)?
I mostly work within the Lyman alpha working group [the science team in DESI that focuses on extracting information from quasar spectra in order to learn more about the history of  the universe, Ed.]. Alongside with Michael Walther I am co-lead of the Picca task force [Picca is the analysis code developed to process quasar spectra]. We work on the development of the analysis pipeline Picca, and we coordinate the team of developers. On a day-to-day basis I participate in many working group discussions where we discuss the research of the different members. I identify potential defects on the analysis and coordinate the actions required in Picca to fix/test them.

Where were you born ? Where do you live now ? What are the interesting places that standout that your work has taken you to?
I was born in a very small town near Barcelona, and I now live in Paris. I’ve also been living in Marseille and the Canary Islands! My work has taken me to several places both in Europe and the US.

What would you say is the most interesting or exciting thing about your job?
For me, the most interesting bits of scientific research are the sense of accomplishment once you finally solve the puzzle you are into, and the sense of seing things no one else in the world has seen yet.

Any advice for aspiring scientists?
Create a plan: what do you want to do in the next 5 years? And in 10 years? Where do you want to live? Yes, I think it is more important to live in a place you like rather than having a “better” position. Detail the initial stages of the plan, and just have a broad idea of what you want to achieve. Focus on the opportunities and modify the plan as necessary. And always have a backup!

Finally, what do you do for fun?
I like to do many, many things: climbing, biking, hiking (mostly in the mountains), dancing, cooking, … I also enjoy a lot “Castells” : we create human pyramids that go up 6 stories or even higher!

Santiago Serrano Elorduy

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What do you do as part of DESI (both generally and day-to-day activities)?
I have developed the auto-guiding system, an algorithm that analyzes the stars in the field and provides corrections to the telescope, driving it to the exact target location and stabilizing the telescope motors in that precise sky position during the entire exposure. This system is key to ensure the light from the target galaxies fall into each of the 5000 fibers. Any mispositioning or tracking error would prevent the light entering into those tiny fiber holes, decreasing the spectra signal-to-noise, reducing the survey efficiency and causing contamination from other sources. I have been part of the commissioning of all three of the following instruments: ProtoDESI, Commissioning Instrument and finally DESI. After many nights of tests at the Mayall telescope, we managed to reach the tight requirements on guiding accuracy and tracking.

Where were you born ? Where do you live now ? What are the interesting places that standout that your work has taken you to?
I was born in Barcelona and continue to live and work here. Thanks to projects like DESI, I had the opportunity to visit the most outstanding observatories on earth, such as El Roque de los Muchachos in the Canary Islands, the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in Chile and of course, DESI’s home, Kitt Peak National Observatory in the US. Astronomers and people working in observatories have something special and always lead to interesting conversations during the long nights of observation.

What would you say is the most interesting or exciting thing about your job?
The fact that with our algorithm we can move the Mayall telescope weighting 375 tons with a precision of a few milliarcseconds is really awesome!

Any advice for aspiring scientists?
Bring your own and risky ideas. Common and logical things have already been done and we won’t discover anything new with the things we know.

Finally, what do you do for fun?
When I had less kids at home I used to make films and build drones. Now I am playing with them and looking forward to build more things together once they grow.

Biprateep Dey

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What is your position or role in the DESI project?
I am a PhD student working mainly as a part of the Target Selection and Galaxy and Quasar Physics Working Groups.

Where were you born and where do you live now?
I was born in a small town in North Eastern India called Agartala. After doing by undergraduate studies in Bhubaneswar, India, I moved to Pittsburgh, USA where I am currently doing my grad school at the University of Pittsburgh.

What do you do as part of DESI?
I mostly work on developing and testing algorithms to select objects of which DESI will measure the spectra using the data from the imaging surveys. After the observations, I also go through the spectra to check whether the data satisfies all the science requirements. I also work on studying the physics of galaxies and want to study how populations of galaxies evolve. I have also done some observations with the instrument and help in developing some of the infrastructure for the survey.

What is the most interesting or exciting thing about DESI ?
Astronomy is the oldest form of observational science but we still know so little about our universe. We are still in the dark about what 95% of the universe is made of! By being a part of DESI, I get to work with a lot of wonderful people who are trying to answer some of the most basic and profound questions about our Universe like, When and Why did everything begin? or What is causing the expansion of the Universe? This exploration of the unknown is what excites me the most.

Any advice for an aspiring scientist?
Be curious, ask questions and try explore all the resources available to find the answers yourself. Sometimes you will find an answer, sometimes you won’t but in the process you will get to understand the scientific method of tackling a problem. Even if you don’t end up being a professional scientist, I believe learning the scientific method to solve any problem in our life is very important.

What do you do for fun? 
​I love exploring different cuisines and and recreate them on my own. I love to go out on hikes and explore new places. I also like to talk to others about science and help organize science outreach events in the city.

Claire Lamman

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What is your role in the DESI project ?

I am a second-year PhD student and I help test the algorithm which assigns our 5,000 robotically-controlled fibers to targets. I also search for intrinsic alignment in DESI galaxies and am part of the outreach team! Most of my time is spent figuring out the best way to condense a lot of different information into a format that’s easy to communicate – whether it be summarizing the results of fiber assignment, finding a good statistic to quantify galaxy alignment, or explaining a cosmology idea to the public.

Where were you born ? Where do you live now ? What are the interesting places that standout that your work has taken you to ?

I was born in Kenya but spent most of my life in Colorado. Now I live in Massachusetts, where I’m attending school. A few years ago I got to spend a summer on the big island of Hawaii and observe on one of the largest telescopes in the world! That was a very memorable adventure, and since then I’ve been able to go back twice thanks to astronomy.

What would you say is the most interesting or exciting thing about  your job ?

I’ve only been working on cosmology for a year, so for me the most exciting part about my job is that I’m learning something new every day. I get to explore the details of fascinating questions – How did the universe begin? How is it structured? What’s the deal with dark energy? And get paid for it! Being part of DESI, I also really enjoy getting to collaborate and make friends with astronomers all over the world.

Any advice for aspiring scientists ?

You don’t have to be a genius to be a good scientist. I’ve loved astronomy since kindergarten, but up until my first year of college I was certain that I wasn’t actually smart enough to be an astrophysicist. I eventually realized that persistence and creativity can go a long way – and I was smarter than I was giving myself credit for! The most admired scientists around me are not ones who immediately know the answer to every question, but those who have creative ideas and think about problems differently than others. Also learn to code.

Finally, what do you do for fun ?

Play music! I collect different types of instruments and love learning new ones. My favorite right now is the pipe organ. I also like to bake – especially astronomy cakes.

Below is one of Claire’s marvelous creations in the shape of the Mayall telescope.  More of her creations here! 

Kyle Dawson

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What is your role in the DESI project ? 

I work alongside Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille as the co-Spokesperson for DESI.  We coordinate the efforts of collaboration members in research with DESI data.  We help establish the critical path toward key measurements that motivated the construction of the project but also work with collaboration members to identify new and more sophisticated studies with the data. We identify the scientific goals in the collaboration, create the collaborative framework for members to pursue those goals, and help those researchers present their results to the rest of the scientific community.

On a day-to-day basis, we participate in many committee and working group discussions, discuss research with DESI members to help identify collaborators, and track the instrumentation and data quality so that we can keep the collaboration members apprised of the project status.  We are currently identifying scientific programs that can be conducted with the DESI facility in the late 2020’s, after the five-year survey is complete.  It is critical to identify those programs now and communicate the potential to the larger community to seed the process for any future program.

Where were you born ? Where do you live now ? What are the interesting places that standout that your work has taken you to ?

I was born in northern New Jersey and have lived in Little Rock, Arkansas, suburban Philadelphia, central New York state, and the San Francisco Bay Area.  I now live in Salt Lake City, UT and have lived here since 2009.  I feel most at home in California and Utah, as I have lived in those two places longer than anywhere else in my life.

As a scientist, I preferred travel for observing runs.  Hat Creek, in the high desert area between Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen in northern California, was probably my favorite location.   I traveled to Hat Creek as a graduate student for the radio observations that constituted my thesis data set.   My other preferred observing location was on the Big Island of Hawai’i, where I used to travel for Keck observations during my term as a graduate student and postdoctoral researcher.

The most interesting places I traveled were actually related to a previous job, before starting graduate school.   I used to work as a wilderness guide in Canada, and I have spent more than 300 nights camping in the wilderness of Ontario, Quebec, and the Northwest Territories.  My last trip ended in Kuujjuaq, which is in the Nunavik region of Quebec, on Ungava Bay.  I even had a celebrity sighting in the Kuujjuaq airport:  the town of 2500 residents was abuzz with a visit from Liam Neeson.  He was fairly understated, but his entourage of 20-somethings really left an impression.

What would you say is the most interesting or exciting thing about your job ?

As co-Spokesperson, I have to learn about the status of the instrument, the operations of the telescope, the quality of the data, and science ranging from explorations of the Milky Way to tests of inflation on scales of billions of lightyears.  I am motivated by the challenge of learning the stellar, galaxy, and quasar astrophysics behind each DESI spectrum while also learning what needs to go into massive simulations.  There are just many different ways to interpret the DESI data and many different ways to produce exciting results.

Any advice for aspiring scientists ?

As with any career, there will always be uncertainty in job prospects and future research in the sciences.  First and foremost, don’t focus on those uncertainties, but rather seek gratification in the work you are doing today.  Whether the project is large or small, make sure that you have a sense of your own contribution to the project and also how that project contributes to the entire field.  The more you understand how your project fits into the broader landscape of science, the more you can appreciate the work of your peers and their diversity of contributions to bring the project to fruition.

Finally, what do you do for fun ?

I have two young kids, ages 5 and 8.  I spend much of my free time teaching them to bike, ski, garden, camp, and generally appreciate the outdoors.  I plan for them to be my long-term companions for these activities, and I very much enjoy running my training program toward that goal.

Eddie Schlafly

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What is your position or role in the DESI project?
I’m a researcher at LLNL working on the DESI operations team.

Where were you born? 
I was born in St. Louis, MO.

Where do you live now?
I live in San Leandro, CA, just south of Oakland.

What do you as part of DESI? 
My recent focus has been on testing the accuracy of the fiber positioning and finishing the imaging survey.  I also work on the telescope scheduling.  My work is entirely on the software side, so on a day-to-day basis I write code and make plots.  Finally, I think a lot about how systematics in the imaging can imprint onto the maps we’ll make with DESI.

What is the most interesting or exciting thing about DESI?
The scale of the projects we’re working on is just awesome, in a number of senses:

  • largest map of the universe
  • largest map of the Milky Way
  • millions of spectra, thousands of fibers, tens of spectrographs

It is thrilling to see all of this come together.

Any advice for an aspiring scientist?
Learn to program!  There is a ton of interesting stuff waiting to be found in real scientific data, and you can find it from home today using just a computer.

What do you do for fun? 
Recently, I spend a lot of time building structures with and reading to my two-year-old son.  I also hike, play frisbee, and read to myself.

Otger Ballester

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What is your position or role in the DESI project?
I am part of the team that developed the GFA units. I personally implemented the firmware running on the GFA and participated in the software parts, as well as some management tasks. [Note: The GFA is the Guide, Focus and Alignment camera on the focal plate]

Where were you born?
I was born in Barcelona, Spain.

Where do you live now?
In a small city near Barcelona called Terrassa.

What do you as part of DESI?
The GFAs are a small form factor CCD controller used in Guiding, Focus, and Alignment in DESI. It was completely designed and developed at IFAE in Barcelona. Now we are mainly doing bug hunting and solving some problems that were detected during the DESI commissioning.

What is the most interesting or exciting thing about DESI?
I’ve always been passionate about science and technology. This led me to get a degree in Physics and another one in Electronic Engineering. Working in DESI as well as in other projects where I collaborate in my institute lets me apply my technical skills in Physics projects, so I can enjoy both sides of the projects, science and engineering. Also, it gives me the opportunity to travel to amazing places with amazing  research instruments and meet very interesting people.

Any advice for an aspiring scientist?
I guess I won’t be original, but I will go with, work hard, be passionate, and do not be afraid of taking responsibilities.

What do you do for fun?
I am an amateur photographer and I am always thinking about apps or electronic devices I could make.

Aaron Meisner

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What is your role in the DESI project ?

I’m a member of the DESI scientific research staff at NSF’s NOIRLab, where our team works to ensure that DESI performs as expected and will continue to do so throughout its many upcoming years of operations. I’ve been heavily involved in the DESI target selection imaging surveys for over five years. As part of this effort, I’m responsible for processing roughly a quarter petabyte of NASA infrared satellite images. Recently, I’ve shifted toward working with the DESI commissioning team that’s testing all of the newly installed DESI hardware at Kitt Peak’s Mayall telescope via a campaign of preliminary sky observations. Within the DESI commissioning team, I’ve created image processing pipelines to analyze data from the commissioning camera and guider cameras.

Where were you born ? Where do you live now ? What are the interesting places that standout that your work has taken you to ?

I grew up in Bellevue, Washington. I currently live in Tucson, Arizona. The past travel opportunities that stand out to me are DESI-related trips to England and Spain for collaboration meetings, and visiting Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Kitt Peak is also great — even though it’s only about an hour’s drive from Tucson, it’s still a world-class astronomical site.

What would you say is the most interesting or exciting thing about your job ?

In terms of DESI, I really enjoy working with my fellow collaboration members, who are all extremely talented in different areas of technical expertise. I like that I’m continually learning a lot from interacting with DESI collaborators across many institutions and specializations. More generally, as a scientist, my favorite research projects are those that involve mining huge data sets for rare discoveries.

Any advice for aspiring scientists ?

Nowadays there are many ways for everyone to get involved with scientific research, particularly through crowdsourced science initiatives in astronomy and other fields. The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project that I co-founded is one such example. Getting involved in crowdsourced science can be a great way to see what the research process is really like in practice, and to learn new skills that will have value even outside of careers in science.

Check out Backyard Worlds Planet 9 project ! https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/marckuchner/backyard-worlds-planet-9 

Antonella Palmese

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What is your role in the DESI project ?

I co-chair the DESI time domain working group. The goal of our team is to study the transient Universe: we want to find and characterize explosive events such as Supernovae and kilonovae, the disruption of stars close to supermassive black holes in the center of galaxies, and even the variability of binary stars within our own Galaxy. We are interested in studying thephysics behind the processes that happen within this transients, such as the accretion of mass in binaries and the creation of the heaviest elements of the Universe, but we also want to use some of these events to understand the dynamics of the Universe. In other words, we will also study cosmology with these events.

What have you been working on recently ? 

Currently, I am organizing the time domain working group activities. Within the working group, I have been leading efforts on potential science analyses that involve DESI and gravitational wave detections. In particular, I have been looking into using the DESI galaxies to do cosmology with gravitational waves from compact object binaries, such as binaries containing neutron stars and black holes. I am also studying how we can use some of the DESI fibers (some of the DESI 5000 “eyes to the sky”), to look at interesting emission from these binaries, and more in general, from transients that are detected in the sky by other experiments. In other words, I am interested in following up interesting objects and use them to understand the expansion and content of the Universe.

Where were you born, where do you live now?

I was born in Rome, Italy. I grew up and studied there, until I moved to London for my PhD at UCL. Now I live the Chicago suburbs, I am a postdoc at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and an associate fellow at the University of Chicago. I like to say that Chicago is the Rome of the US, so I feel at home here!

What would you say is the most interesting or exciting thing about your job?

What I love about my job is the possibility of constantly coming up with new ideas and perspectives to understand the Universe through different angles. I find that there too many interesting things I would like to work on, so I often don’t have the time to pursue them! I also love the possibilities that a big collaboration such as DESI gives to its members: the science possibilities are so broad that all of us get to learn about many different topic, and interacting with collaborators from a different field always brings to exciting new analyses, ideas and results.

Any advice for an aspiring scientist?

Society might teach us that there are fields other than science that are more important and that will make you more successful in life. Do not believe that, and if science is your passion, then never give up on your dream! Science is at the base of our everyday life even when we do not realize it, and astronomy in particular has always been one of the most inspiring science fields since the most ancient days of humanity.

What do you do for fun?

When I am not working, I love to do sports. I practice every day: I play beach volleyball competitively, and when I am not doing that, I love to do CrossFit. Olympic weightlifting is one of my favorite things in Crossfit! I also love to listen to music, go to concerts (rock, jazz, blues, electro-swing,…), and to the theatre.

Andrea Muñoz Gutiérrez

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What is your position or role in the DESI project?
I am a PhD student working on simulations for the Lyman-alpha working group

Where were you born? 
I was born in Mexico City, Mexico

Where do you live now?
I am currently living in Mexico City, Mexico

What do you as part of DESI?
I work changing the chemical composition of the Intergalactic Medium for the Lya-forest simulations, I have observed at the Mayall, and I just started to get more involved in Public Outreach and with the Early Career Scientists’ network.

What is the most interesting or exciting thing about DESI?
The most exciting thing of Astronomy for me is how from a very small place in the Universe we are able to know so much (and still so little!) about the Universe, its structure and evolution.  About my job, to see how the changes I make on the simulations affect the virtual universe we “create”. About DESI, I enjoy my daily work a lot, but the best part is getting to spend a few days working with the telescope and the instrument. Within the collaboration, it is also very exciting to know and share with astronomers and cosmologists who I admire, and getting to know the human beings behind the papers I read for my work.

Any advice for an aspiring scientist?
No matter how hard the way looks, don’t give up on the dream of becoming who you want to be. Allow yourself to turn into the grownup you wished to be when you were a child, and make that child proud: never stop questioning!

What do you do for fun?
I am a dancer trying to find her own language, so I currently take lessons of different styles. I love to travel, I do photography, I am passionate about spirituality, I meditate, paint (I’m not very skilled though), garden, spend time with my pets, and cook – and of course what most people do: watch movies and shows, and waste time in social media.

David Sprayberry

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What is your role in the DESI project ?

I manage the work at the Mayall Telescope in support of the DESI project.  During the installation phase, this consisted of daily oversight and planning updates for the installation work plan.  Now that installation is complete, I coordinate the daytime work of the engineering and technical staff with the nighttime science observing.  In doing this, I work closely with Klaus Honscheid, Paul Martini, Connie Rockosi, and many others.

Where were you born ? Where do you live now?

I was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA.  Before coming to NOIRLab, I’ve lived in three different countries across ten different time zones.  I live now in Tucson, Arizona, USA.  In normal times, I spend roughly half my time in the NOIRLab offices and the other half at the telescope on Kitt Peak.

What would you say is the most interesting or exciting thing about  your job ?

The most interesting thing is the constant flood of opportunities to learn new things.  I’ve absorbed so much about new technologies for instruments from the DESI project, that I sometimes forget all the fascinating cosmology that I’ve learned as well.  The most exciting thing is the chance to contribute to a science product that will have enormous lasting value to the cosmology and astrophysics communities.  And the most fun thing is working with so many people from so many different backgrounds who know so much more than I do about what they’re doing.  DESI project people are always fascinating to talk to!

Any advice for aspiring scientists ?

1) Stay curious; always wonder “what?” and “how?” and “why?”  2) Don’t ever be afraid to talk to people you don’t know.  That’s how you learn.  3) Don’t get discouraged.  Most things or ideas don’t work the first time.  Keep trying anyway.

Finally, what do you do for fun ?

I enjoy bicycling, hiking, going for walks, dining out, and being with my family especially outdoors.

Dustin Lang

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What is your role in the DESI project ?

I have been working on the imaging surveys for the last 5 years or so.  DESI is a survey to build a 3-d map of the universe.  We need to know ahead of time where to point DESI’s optical fibers to collect light from the distant galaxies that we want to map.  We do this by taking regular images of the sky, building 2-d maps, and measuring all the stars and galaxies in these maps.  We select promising galaxy targets for follow-up with DESI based on their shapes and colors in 2-d.  DESI allows us to measure the all-important third dimension — redshift or distance — for these galaxies.

The cosmology goals for DESI require that we have a very uniform and well-understood set of target galaxies that we start from, and this means having sensitive images and careful measurements of the stars and galaxies they contain.  No existing imaging surveys were sensitive enough, so we had to do our own!  We used three different telescopes and cameras, in Chile and in Arizona, to collect all the images we need.  We also use infrared images from the WISE space telescope operated by NASA.

What do you do as part of DESI?

In the early stages of this work, I was part of the team that went to the telescopes to carry out observations.  All together, we spent over 1000 nights to collect these images.  I love traveling to the telescopes; the secluded mountaintops are very quiet and peaceful, and the high desert terrain is starkly beautiful.  Even though it’s very tiring working long night shifts, we get into the rhythm of the sky, watching sunset and sunrise, moonset and moonrise, and even the rise and set of the Milky Way galaxy.

All our imaging observations are finished now, and now we are focusing on the computer programs that detect and measure the stars and galaxies in the images.  This is tricky because we have images taken in a variety of conditions — lots of clear and still skies, but some turbulent skies, and even light clouds on occasion.  We need to squeeze information from all these images, so we have to take into account what the atmosphere has done to the appearance of the galaxies in each image.  We’re currently working on our ninth full processing of our full image collection — Data Release 9 from the DESI Legacy imaging surveys.

In practice, I spend most of my day writing and debugging computer programs, figuring out where and why the software fails and how we can improve our processing to make the best measurements we can.

Where were you born ? Where do you live now?

I was born in Squamish, near Vancouver in western Canada, and grew up in the Kootenay region, in the mountains.  I did my PhD in Toronto, then did postdoctoral work in the USA for five year, then moved back to my partner’s hometown of Waterloo, Ontario.

What would you say is the most interesting or exciting thing about  your job ?

I just think it’s amazing that we can measure things about galaxies that are billions of light-years away, and figure out the shape and evolution of the whole universe.  Day to day, I spend a lot of time writing computer code and looking at images of galaxies, and galaxies just look amazing!  Most of the galaxies we will observe with DESI are so distant that they just look like tiny smudges, but nearby galaxies are just endlessly amazing.

I also have the privilege of working with a bunch of very smart, interesting, and dedicated people every day.  It takes hundreds of highly skilled and specialized people, with overlapping knowledge and interests, to make a complicated project like DESI work.  I’m an expert in a tiny little corner of the project, and it’s amazing to me that we can all coordinate our little patches of expertise to build something truly amazing.

Any advice for aspiring scientists ?

One of my advisors says “don’t choose what you work ON, choose who you work WITH”.  That might be a little extreme, but modern observational astronomy is a large collaborative undertaking, and working with people you like and respect is one of the things that makes it really fun.  Big science projects require all kinds of people, so don’t worry that you don’t know everything (nobody does!).  Follow up things that seem interesting to you!  Keep in mind that a lot of the science stories you see in the news are the results of years or decades of work — some days are thrilling, and some days are just a grind like any other job; persistence is really important.

Finally, what do you do for fun ?

I have a family (partner plus kids ages 9 and 11) and we like to go camping and hiking and dig in our garden.

Tamara Davis

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What is your position or role in the DESI project?

I’m a theoretical cosmologist, who also has a lot of expertise in redshift surveys through the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey and the Australian Dark Energy Survey (OzDES) on the Anglo-Australian Telescope.  At the moment I’m helping lead the visual inspection of survey validation data, focussing on quasars.  I am also helping out on the DESI membership committee and external collaborator committee.

Where were you born?

I was born in Sydney, Australia.

Where do you live now?<

I now live in Brisbane, Australia.

What do you as part of DESI? 

At the moment I am spending a lot of time looking at some of the first spectra to come through the DESI instrument.  We are making sure the spectra are of high quality (they’re amazing!) and that our analysis software is giving the correct results for the redshift of each object we look at.

At the same time I’m still working on cosmology theory, and seeing how our data can best test theories of dark energy and dark matter that go beyond our standard cosmological model.

What is the most interesting or exciting thing about DESI?

I think one of the coolest things DESI will do is measure the mass of neutrinos.  When starting out in cosmology I never thought that making the largest ever map of the distribution of galaxies in the universe would help us understand the properties of one of the most enigmatic particles in the standard model of particle physics.  But the neutrino mass has an impact on the formation and growth of structure in the early universe, so we can detect its effects with DESI.  Feels to me like a great demonstration of the fundamental interconnectedness of all things (to borrow a Douglas Adams quote).

Any advice for an aspiring scientist?

Enjoy it.  It’s a privilege to be able to do research.  It’s an amazing career.  However, I see many junior researchers stressing over their future, when they really don’t need to!  There are so many great things you can do with the experience you gain from a PhD, and your skills will be in high demand in all sorts of industries.  My trick to stay relaxed and happy in research is this: don’t go into it expecting to do it forever, and don’t stress about whether you’ll get your next job in research or not… just be appreciative of the time you do get to do it.  Funnily enough if you use that technique, you may just find yourself succeeding beyond your wildest dreams!  I once asked my PhD supervisor if I was doing okay in my PhD.  He asked me “Are you enjoying it?”  I responded, “Yes.”  So he said, “Then you’re doing it right.”

There’s lots of other advice I could give, but that’s my main one.

What do you do for fun? 

My main fun-time thing to do is play Ultimate frisbee.  I’ve played all sorts of sports over my life, but Ultimate is the one that has occupied me since my PhD.  I have played all around the world, and represented Australia at seven world championships.  I love it, and the people-skills, leadership, and resilience I learnt from playing sport has definitely helped me in my career as an astrophysicist.

Jahmour Givans

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What is your role in the DESI project ?

I am a member of the DESI Lyman-alpha working group. In addition to this, I help organize the biweekly DESI Research Forum.

What do you do as part of DESI?

My work involves building better mathematical models of the Lyman-alpha forest power spectrum and its cross-power spectrum with other cosmological tracers such as quasars. On a day-to-day basis over the last several months, I have typically either been working on analytical perturbation theory calculations, numerically computing them, or playing around with simulation outputs. Our goal is to test these improved models against simulations and data in hopes of better understanding the high-redshift universe and more accurately determining cosmological parameters.

Over the last couple weeks, a panel of DESI members began organizing a new biweekly research forum. I am a member of this panel and spent time helping in this effort. Going forward I plan to be involved with recruiting speakers and organizing talks.

Where were you born ? Where do you live now?

I was born in Miami Gardens, FL and I currently live in Columbus, OH.

What would you say is the most interesting or exciting thing about  your job ?

The opportunity to better understand our universe is the most exciting thing about my job. Sometimes I have to take a moment and step back from the difficulties of day-to-day life to remind myself that, in some sense, I get to study the very thing in which all else exists. Nothing else I’m familiar with interests me more!

Any advice for aspiring scientists ?

At times you may feel discouraged from pursuing science because the work gets difficult and you begin to doubt your ability to be successful. Remember that every discovery made or new idea developed came from some person doing what they enjoy. None of those people were magical or possessed superhuman abilities. If they can find success then so can you.

Finally, what do you do for fun ?

I enjoy trying my hand at cooking different dishes and going out to sample the local cuisine. When the weather permits, I try to spend time outdoors at the park and checking out various events in Columbus.

John Moustakas

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What is your position or role in the DESI project?

I am a core member of the Data Systems team, the group which is responsible for taking the “raw” observations from DESI and delivering science-ready data for the rest of the collaboration. I am also
actively involved in the DESI imaging surveys (check out legacysurvey.org/viewer to tour around the sky!), and the group which is responsible for choosing the targets that DESI will observe.

Where were you born?

I was born in Athens, Greece to a Greek father and an American mother, but moved to San Diego, California when I was eight years old. I grew up, as my father would say, a “beach bum!”

Where do you live now?

My family—my wife and two boys, aged 8 and 12—and I live near Albany, New York, about three hours north of New York City, where I am a physics professor at Siena College, a small private liberal arts college. We own a nice home on about half an acre, have a great dog, and raise chickens!

What do you do as part of DESI?

I spend between 20%-40% of my time on DESI, depending on how busy I am with teaching! Most of my time right now is spent in support of the imaging surveys, making sure that DESI will turn its powerful spectroscopic fibers on the “right” distant galaxies and quasars, which will tell us about the energy content and evolution of the universe.

What is the most interesting or exciting thing about DESI?

DESI is an incredibly ambitious and powerful instrument and project, which is tackling one of the most important outstanding problems in physics and arguably all of science—what is the physical nature of dark energy? The answer to this question will lead to new discoveries beyond our current knowledge, which is very exciting! It’s also a privilege to be working with such a bright and dedicated group of engineers and scientists. Tackling questions at the frontier of knowledge is what originally drew me to astronomy, and it’s humbling to be involved in the next 5-8 years of cutting-edge discoveries.

Any advice for an aspiring scientist?

My advice for an aspiring scientist is three-fold: First, be passionate about what you do; be curious, open to new ideas and perspectives, and strive to learn as much as you can at all times. Second, learn to code! Of course you should learn as much physics, astronomy, and math as you can, but I have found that being proficient with a programming language is enormously powerful and useful. And finally, learn to write well. The key to science is being able to communicate clearly and effectively.

What do you do for fun?

Most of my fun, free-time is spent with my family. I coach all my kid’s sports teams, including my younger son’s travel baseball team. I also love gardening, tackling “do-it-yourself” projects around the house, and exercising!

Pauline Zarrouk

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What is your position or role in the DESI project?

I am co-organizing the work in relation with a sample of 10 million bright galaxies (Bright Galaxy Survey, BGS) that DESI will observe at low redshifts. I am also in charge of organizing the DESI meeting in my research group at the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham, in the UK.

Where were you born?

I was born in France, in the suburb of Paris. I did all my studies in France, including my PhD.

Where do you live now?

Since January 2019, I live in Durham in the UK. I have started a postdoc at Durham University.

What do you do as part of DESI? 

DESI has been designed to understand the late-time acceleration of the expansion of the universe, the so-called dark energy. My first contribution to DESI is related to the Bright Galaxy Survey (BGS): since January 2019, I have been working on the selection of BGS targets from the imaging surveys that DESI will spectroscopically observe. For this project, I am co-supervising a PhD student at Durham, which means that we meet every week to have an update on the progress he made, we define the next steps, and we identify the issues. DESI has just started a very exciting period with the first spectra, which means that we can actually start testing our selection with real data. I am involved in these tests, such as: do we obtain the density of objects we expect? In parallel, I am also working on personal research projects. For instance, I developed a new method to measure the cosmic distance using BAO which is based on the cross-correlation between a sample of spectroscopic quasars from eBOSS and a sample of photometric galaxies from DESI imaging surveys.

What is the most interesting or exciting thing about DESI?

DESI is the first new generation of sky surveys which is actually taking data, which means that this period is very exciting and the next 2-3 years will be super exciting as we will be analysing the first data with an unprecedented precision to obtain information on the late-time acceleration of the cosmic expansion. I remember that when I was looking for a postdoc after my PhD, I only applied to institutions who were involved in DESI.
There are many personal things that I find really exciting in my job:

  • I learn something new almost every day and with DESI this is even more true as we are pushing the limits in terms of instrument, photometry, size of the samples…

  • I am able to measure and interpret parameters that describe the universe, like the evolution of the distances between galaxies! And with DESI we should be able to say whether this mechanism has constant properties (like a cosmological constant) or whether it varies with time (dark energy models). We will also test our theory of gravitation based on General Relativity (GR) and see whether it is still valid at cosmological scales. If not, can we explain the late-time acceleration of the expansion by modifying GR?

In general, what I find the most interesting in research is the fact that there is no book that can tell me what the next step is, I have to find it myself!

Any advice for an aspiring scientist?

I will give the advice that I found the most relevant when I followed a training organized by the program L’Oreal For Women in Science (In 2018 I received one of the 30 fellowships they propose every year for female PhD students and postdocs in science):

  • Believe in yourself and in what you can do

  • Go step by step: it may sound unfeasible to become an astrophysicist because the studies are long and competitive but try to succeed every year as best as you can and one day you will realize that tomorrow this is your PhD defense!

  • Go for it: size the opportunities

  • Get out of your comfort zone

What do you do for fun?

My day-to-day work is intellectual only so I need and I love doing physical activities when I don’t work: I love hiking, running and swimming, sports in general, it helps me regenerating. I also love the music, I would like to sing again in a choir and in a band and I play the piano.

Hu Zou

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What is your position or role in the DESI project?

I am a senior scientist at the National Astronomical Observatories of China and the member of Institutional Board in the DESI collaboration.

Where were you born?

Loudi city, Hunan Province in the central south of China.

Where do you live now?

Beijing, capital of China

What do you as part of 

I am the duty-PI of the Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey (BASS), which is one of the three components of DESI legacy imaging surveys. The imaging data are mainly used for the DESI target selections. From 2015 to 2019, I was devoted to the BASS survey and imaging validation. I am acting as a coordinator for the China Participation Group in the DESI collaboration. I have been deeply involved in the imaging, targeting and sciences about galactic physics and have been tracking the whole DESI progress.

What is the most interesting or exciting thing about DESI?

DESI is the most powerful instrument that can take 5000 spectra simultaneously in a single exposure. It can observe a great number of  astronomical objects in a relative short time. There will be tens of millions of galaxies at different distances will be observed, which can be used for both cosmological and non-cosmological researches.

Any advice for an aspiring scientist?

Keep on learning and move forward.

What do you do for fun? 

Traveling, sport, and hiking.

Christian Soto

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What is your position or role in the DESI project?

I am one of the telescope operators at the 4meter/Mayall telescope.

Where were you born?

Originally born in Cali, Colombia. I moved to Florida in the fall of 1998. After high school, I moved to Gainesville, FL to attend the University of Florida. After college, I stayed in Gainesville working as a graduate research assistant in the astronomy department working in different projects including extra-solar planets, extragalactic evolution and AGN. I also took graduate courses (non-degree seeking) in aerospace engineering. I then moved to Arizona in the Summer of 2013.

Where do you live now?

Tucson, AZ.

What do you do as part of DESI?

As part of DESI, I am a telescope operator at the Mayall. I assist visiting astronomers with their work on DESI. I am primarily responsible for the control of the telescope making sure pointing is correct, the telescope systems are working properly and the telescope is slewed safely across the sky. I am responsible for the overall safety of the telescope and observatory facilities. I also contribute to documentation for telescope operations and safety. I am experienced with technical support for the telescope and its systems. Depending on the night, I might be asked to run tests for the engineer group.

What is the most interesting or exciting thing about your job?

The most exciting thing about my job is the opportunity I get to work with different astronomers, scientists and engineers from different backgrounds and expertise. As a telescope operator at KPNO, we are also asked to operate the 3.5m/WIYN telescope, and as such, we get to work on a variety of science projects during our 6 night shift. One night we might use a spectrograph on clusters, then switch to an imager to follow asteroids and then finally head to the Mayall to work on DESI. It makes our job very fun and interesting. On bad weather nights, we might also get the chance to host visitors from the public night program. It is a great opportunity to show them our work with first hands on experience of our control room and the telescope itself.

Any advice for an aspiring scientist?

Get involved early and try to work on different projects doing a variety of science. You might not know what really drives you until you try it! Perhaps you have always been interested in the solar system, but what if you give your self a chance at working with an infrared instrument to unveil the most massive galaxy clusters in the universe? or do spectroscopy of ultra-low metallicity star-forming galaxies? During this time you can find out where you can best use your skills: you can work in Scientific programming, instrumentation, data analysis, or observing techniques. Last but not least, never stop asking questions!

What do you do for fun?

On the days that I am off duty from the observatory, I work as a substitute teacher at Desert View High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District of Tucson, AZ. I am also the assistant coach for the boys’ soccer team. As a substitute teacher, I get assigned to all subjects from Math to English and Spanish to Art. I work with 9-12 grades but mostly enjoy working more with the upper classes. Being a substitute teacher (and coach) has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I use this opportunity to be a good role model for the kids and be a strong advocate for science and the work we do at Kitt Peak. It is very inspiring to see the kids get interested in science and astronomy whenever I tell them what I do for a living. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my family and I like to play soccer, run and hike the Sabino canyon. I also enjoy dancing.

Sarah E.

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What is your position or role in the DESI project (both generally, and day-to-day activities) ?

I am the point person for tiling and fiber assignment needs during the Commissioning Instrument and the various science programs embedded in late Commissioning phase. I will also do this for the Survey Validation phase of DESI.

This work has led to some software development and creation and maintenance of some visualization tools. The nature of the commissioning of an instrument demands a daily regroup and change of plans based on the ongoing discussions/analysis; the spectrographs and fiber positioner tests require a wide variety of tile designs and quick turnaround in their content and format. Catering to the needs of these tests has been part of my  daily routine over the past 5 months. There was an extended 9 months-long period of preparation prior to the first light which took the largest chunk my days..

What would you say is the most interesting or exciting thing about DESI (and/or your job and/or astronomy in general) ?

The comprehended scales of time and space by us neurologically advanced yet biologically limited creatures, is remarkable.

More astonishing is the notion that this breadth and depth of knowledge is only attained by capturing tiny pockets of energy from the sky and really not much else. To ponder clever/creative ways to derive information from 3% of any complex system to have a clue about the remaining 97%, even if never fully understood/resolved, is one of the most honorable parts of the human heritage.

DESI is making the largest 3D map of the universe and helping to probe such a vast volume of the physical universe we inhabit, in however minuscule way, is a worthwhile endeavor.

If you were not a scientist, what would your dream job be ?

Strangely, at this moment, nothing comes to mind as a dream job I would want to have. It could be a temporary state of mind or it could be because I attempt to do a bit of all I want to do as part-time jobs here and there while I keep an interesting day job; but maybe time investments would be different in other life realizations. Perhaps I would be an artist who does science in spare time as opposed to a scientist who creates art in spare time. .

Any advice for aspiring scientist ? 

Do not hesitate to ask your questions. You’d be surprised by the number of people who do or will have the same question; so your challenge becomes their quest as well; and what’s better than partaking in a collective search for knowledge.

What do you do for fun?

This [i.e., pleasant/meaningful interactions of similar nature]. Paint. Fly. Hike.