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Alana Henry Purchasing Manager
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Deputy Technical Director
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Office: 805 880-1640 Cell: 808-989-1722 |
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Mechanical Engineer
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Ben Burleson Computer Scientist
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Ben started with LCOGT in April 2006. He moved to Santa Barbara in 2003 after graduating from the University of Nebraska with a degree in Computer Science Engineering. Ben also enjoys running with 'Santa Barbara's Team in Training' group. |
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Ben Haldeman Mechanical Engineer
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Ben received a Bachelor's degree from Penn State University and a Master's degree from University of California, Berkeley; both in Mechanical Engineering. His research at UC Berkeley was sponsored by NASA and involved the design of a portable instrument for detection of previous life on Mars. Ben joined LCOGT in the Fall of 2005 and has worked on a variety of projects focused primarily on upgrading the instrumentation on our 2 meter class telescopes. Prior to working at LCOGT, Ben competed in the Hawaii Ironman and raced on a top American professional cycling team. |
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Bret Vanderhyden Machinist
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 Bryan Donnelly |
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Dave Mullins Electronic Technologist
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Well, I've worked a pretty wide variety of jobs in my life but this place takes the cake. If I was having any more fun, they'd have to charge me admission! You can find me in the Optical/Electrical lab next to the shop, wiring things, writing a little code, making custom enclosures, blowing stuff up, etc. I've always wanted a job where I could help fabricate everything we make. And now, I find myself doing just that! With telescopes, even. In my time off, you can find me spending time with the best little girl on the planet, riding my mountain bike, scuba diving, and fishing for monster tuna and seabass. |
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David Jahng Electrical Engineer
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Derek Johnson Mechanical Engineer
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Derek started work at LCO in July of 2007 to design and build the Sedgwick Observatory telescope mount as a senior project for obtaining his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (phew...that was a mouthful). Besides fabricating things in the shop and poking around with CAD, Derek enjoys playing the sax, SCUBA diving, drawing and painting, and exploring the greater Santa Barbara area. He plans to eventually go back to school for a degree in Studio Art or Industrial Design. |
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Éric Depagne Postdoc
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I am a high resolution spectroscopy specialist. I am working on stellar astrophysics and I study how the chemical composition of various class of stars , such as variable stars, massive stars or metal poor star, affect their physical properties. At LCOGT, I am in charge of building the spectrograph that we will install on our 1 m clusters. |
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Eric Saunders Postdoc
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Eric Hawkins Computer Scientist
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Eric holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in Computer Science from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Before starting with LCOGT in April 2006, Eric worked in the biomedical field developing software for minimally invasive surgical systems and in the satellite communications field as a design engineer and software engineer. In his spare time, Eric enjoys many outdoor sports including skiing, surfing, sailing, and cycling. |
Erika Bildsten Intern
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In summer 2007, Erika worked on the context camera project for FTN and FTS. This summer, she will again return as an intern. Erika is a Dos Pueblos High School and Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy senior. During the school year she participated on FIRST Robotics Team 1717 as a programmer and student leader. She will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Fall 2008. |
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System Administrator
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JB Harmon Mechanical Engineer
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J.B. Harmon was born and raised in the State of Hawaii before moving to California to attend college. J.B. (almost) graduated from Cal Poly in the Spring of 2007 with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering. J.B. Harmon holds a degree in Modern Day Funkiness, with a concentration in Awesome, from the Fonz's Institute of Coolness. Currently, he works at LCOGT as an engineer, primarily for the Sedgwick telescope mount.
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Jeff Minc Shop Assistant
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Josh Bower-Cooley Scientific Systems Engineer
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Jessica Barton Education Outreach Specialist
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Jessica holds a BS in Physical Science and an MAT from Western New Mexico University. She has taught for over 5 years, first in Malawi with the Peace Corps, then in Gallup, New Mexico. She joined LCOGT in December 2006 to work as a resource and support for teachers and students using LCOGT's telescopes and teaching materials. In her spare time, Jessica enjoys playing guitar, being outdoors, and chasing after her baby daughter. |
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Administrative Associate
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Joe Tufts Instrument Scientist
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John Hygelund Mechanical Engineer
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Project Manager
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John joined LCOGT in November 2006 as a Senior Project Manager, working with the telescope engineering project team in Santa Barbara, and helping launch the 0.4m and 0.9m global telescope networks. An avid stargazer and telescope maker for decades, John can often be found next to a telescope under clear dark skies.
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Jon De Vera Electrical Engineer
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Jon has been working at LCOGT since April 2006 and is a graduate of Cal Poly Ponoma in Electrical Engineering. In his spare time, he enjoys tuning and driving his WRX on mountain roads near observatories. |
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Maida Smith Finance Admin Director
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Maida has been with LCOGT since November of 2005 when Wayne lured her away from her QuickBooks consulting and bookkeeping business to come (try to) oversee the finances and administration of LCOGT. Along with her husband, Duffy, she shares her life with her chocolate lab and small grey cat and her two sons, Erik, 24 and Sean, 27. Her passions are playing and watching soccer, being at the beach, specifically in the ocean body surfing, and working in her garden. Oh yes, and she loves numbers and people, not necessarily in that order. |
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Marton Hidas Postdoctoral Scholar |
I obtained my PhD from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia in 2005. My work there involved setting up a new search for transiting extrasolar planets using the 0.5m Automated Patrol Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory (Australia). This project is now well under way and generating a steady trickle of planet candidates, eclipsing binary systems and variable stars. I started as a postdoc at LCOGT/UCSB in January 2007. I will be using the LCOGT telescopes to try to confirm transiting planet candidates, and search for transit-timing variations in known planets. I am also interested in following up some of the low-mass eclipsing binary systems found by transit searches. |
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Matt Dubberley Mechanical Engineer
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Michael Falarski VP of Operations
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Nairn Baliber Post Doctoral Scholar |
Nairn Baliber is a Postdoctoral Fellow at LCOGT and the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received his PhD in Astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin where, for his thesis, he designed and conducted a search for transiting extrasolar planets. In addition to continuing to dabble in extrasolar planet research, he is also monitoring members of young star-forming regions in order to study the angular momentum history of these stars. His most important duty in building the infrastructure of LCOGT and UCSB astronomy, however, is calling a weekly happy hour. |
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Nan Brooks
Executive Asst/Office Mgr
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Owen Barton Technical Webmaster
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Rachel Haynes Optical Engineer
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"Ladies and gentleman, take my advise, pull down your pants and slide on the ice." Major Sidney Freedman, M*A*S*H |
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Rachel Ross Education Outreach Specialist
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Rachel studied at UC Davis, where she was very active in astronomy teaching, researching, and outreaching. Rachel began with LCOGT in October 2005 and hopes to take over the world with the educational telescope network. Besides being the resident Jedi Master, Rachel loves the water and can often be found at the beach with her surfboard or a good science fiction book and stargazing at night. The force will be with you, always. Cowabunga dudes! |
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Rachel Street Post-Doctoral Scholar affiliated with UCSB |
Rachel graduated with a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of St. Rachel became involved with the WASP Consortium during this time and moved to Queen's University, Belfast to work on the SuperWASP project, contributing primarily to the development of the data reduction pipeline and to the selection and analysis of candidates. The WASP Consortium announced the discovery of two new transiting planets in 2006.
Rachel joined LCO in February 2007 as a post-doc affiliated with UCSB. |
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Rich Lobdill Electrical Engineer
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Richard Greene Sr. Instrument Maker
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Life in the fast lane |
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Rosie Piller Technical Writer
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Scientific Director
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Tim Lister Staff Astronomer
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Tim Simmons Research Assistant
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“Life is what the least of us make the most of us feel the least of us make the most of.” --W V Quine |
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Vincent Posner Mechanical Engineer
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Hobbies: Rock climbing, surfing, and tons of cool projects. |
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Wayne Rosing Technical Director/President
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Zach Walker Computer Scientist
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Zach joined LCOGT in 2006 after completing his Masters degree in Computer Science at San Jose State University. He is currently working on the software to support LCOGT developing network of telescopes. Outside of work he keeps himself busy enjoying the Santa Barbara outdoors. |
