Scientific Staff | ast.noao.edu

NOAO scientific staff, location, scientific interests, and functional duties. Personal web sites can be accessed by clicking on the scientist’s name. The NOAO South Staff are listed below, and as a group here.

Phone numbers and email addresses for all employees are available in the NOAO Phone List Search.

**NOAO Science Staff**
Name	Rank	Scientific Interests	Functional Responsibilities	Location
Timothy Abbott (Tim)	Scientist	Late stages of binary stellar evolution; Optical and IR observing systems: telescopes, instrumentation; operations	Blanco Telescope Scientist, ACTR chair, DECam team support member	La Serena
Helmut Abt	Astronomer Emeritus	Double stars; stellar rotation; stellar characteristics; publication practices in astronomy	Thai 2.4-m telescope (Tucson supervisor), Scientometrics	Tucson
Lori Allen	Scientist	Star and planet formation; infrared astronomy and instrumentation	NOAO Associate Director for Kitt Peak National Observatory	Tucson
Michael Belton (Mike)	Astronomer Emeritus	Planetary science; comets; asteroids; Jupiter system		Tucson
Robert Blum (Bob)	Astronomer	Galactic Center; massive star birth; clusters; resolved stellar populations in the local volume	NOAO Deputy Director	Tucson
Adam S. Bolton	Senior Scientist	Observational cosmology; galaxies and dark matter; gravitational lensing; spectroscopic surveys; data mining, algorithms, and statistics	NOAO Associate Director for the Community Science and Data Center	Tucson
César Briceño	Associate Scientist	Star formation, young stars	SOAR Support, SAM support.	La Serena
Arjun Dey	Astronomer	Galaxy evolution; high redshift galaxies; large-scale structure	NOAO/KPNO DESI liaison scientist, Keck contact scientist	Tucson
Mark Dickinson	Associate Astronomer	Galaxy formation and evolution; high redshift galaxies; active galactic nuclei	Science Data Management program scientist; US TMT Liaison office	Tucson
Mark Everett	Research Associate	Exoplanets; stellar variability; time domain studies	Kepler Mission Follow-up Program	Tucson
Katy Garmany	Emeritus Scientist	Massive stars, evolution and formation; astronomical education	Tohono O'odham relations	Tucson
Stephen Heathcote (Steve)	Astronomer	Young Stellar Objects, Herbig-Haro outflows	NOAO Associate Director for NOAO South (including Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory)	SOAR/La Serena
Kenneth Hinkle (Ken)	Scientist	Circumstellar and interstellar matter; molecular spectroscopy; peculiar stars; instrumentation	US NGO, Gemini user support (Archive, AO, IR instruments); Instrument scientist (Phoenix)	Tucson
Richard Joyce (Dick)	Scientist	Late-type stars; mass loss; infrared detector and instrumentation development	Mayall 4-m Telescope scientist, Instrument scientist (WHIRC), NOAO-DESI Scientist, Member WIYN Science Steering Committee (SSC)	Tucson
Thomas Kinman (Tom)	Astronomer Emeritus	Galactic structure; galactic halo; horizontal branch stars		Tucson
Tod Lauer	Astronomer	Cosmology; large-scale structure of the Universe; evolution of the Universe; distance scale; structure of galaxies; dense stellar system; black holes in galactic nuclei; stellar populations	WIYN Board Member; Instrument Scientist: MOSAIC; NOAO LSST science working group; NOAO Survey Liaison	Tucson
Roger Lynds	Astronomer Emeritus	Star and galaxy formation; products of galaxy interaction in the recent and early Universe		Tucson
Thomas Matheson (Tom)	Associate Astronomer	Supernovae; novae; gamma-ray bursts; cosmology	Gemini user support (GMOS), Gemini archive support, NOAO LSST science working group, SCD/ANTARES	Tucson
Joan Najita	Astronomer	Star and planet formation; protoplanetary disks; astrochemistry; astrobiology; debris disks; exoplanets and substellar objects; infrared spectroscopy; wide-field surveys	Chief Scientist; Science Press Officer; e-newsletter Currents editor	Tucson
Gautham Narayan	Research Associate	Cosmology: dark energy, and the evolution of the Universe, distance indicators, supernovae, modeling and high-performance computing	Post doctoral researcher	Tucson
David Nidever	Associate Scientist	Galaxy formation and evolution; galactic chemical evolution; galactic structure; Magellanic Clouds; stellar populations; large photometric and spectroscopic surveys; software pipelines	Survey Data Scientist	Tucson
Robert Nikutta	Associate Scientist	AGN tori & central engine (IR & X-ray & sub-mm), surveys & catalogs (WISE, SDSS), Bayesian & advanced statistics, variability of AGN, IR interferometry, dust radiative transfer in clumpy media, software development, modeling & SED fitting, big data, HPC in astronomy, visualization	Survey Data Scientist	Tucson
Dara Norman	Associate Scientist	Gravitational lensing; large scale structure; quasars	NOAO Diversity Co-Advocate, Gemini user support (GMOS) (also assigned NDO, see above)	Tucson
Knut Olsen	Associate Astronomer	Stellar populations; galaxy formation and evolution; interaction of stars with the ISM	System Community Development Head, NOAO LSST science working group	Tucson
Sean Points	Scientist	Interstellar Medium (ISM); Magellanic Clouds; supernova remnants, evolved stars; instrumentation	Instrument Scientist: SOI, Goodman Spectrograph, COSMOS, and ARCoIRIS; Blanco Scheduler	La Serena
Stephen Pompea (Steve)	Observatory Scientist	Inquiry- and research-based science education; astronomical instrumentation	EPO Head, Manager Of Science Education, Public Information Officer	Tucson
Ronald Probst (Ron)	Scientist	Star-forming regions; low-mass stars; infrared imaging instrumentation	NOAO DESI System Scientist; Mayall 4-m improvements and operations	Tucson
Jayadev Rajagopal	Associate Scientist	Circumstellar dust, debris disks; high angular resolution techniques in optical/infrared; atmospheric turbulence	WIYN Telescope Scientist, Gemini User Support (NICI)	Tucson
Amy Reines	Research Associate	Massive black holes in dwarf galaxies; evolution of black holes and galaxies; AGNs; extragalactic star formation	Hubble Fellow	Tucson
Stephen Ridgway (Steve)	Astronomer	Variability, transients and temporal sky surveys	Data Lab Time Domain Scientist, Optical Interferometry Community Liaison, Co-Diversity Advocate	Tucson
Susan Ridgway	Associate Scientist	Quasar host galaxies	Gemini user support (NIRI, GMOS)	Tucson
Abhijit Saha (Abi)	Astronomer	Variable stars; stellar populations; cosmological distance scale; imaging and photometry	Time domain scientist, ANTARES project; Chair, Promotions and Tenure Committee; WIYN Board member; member Gemini Science & Technology Advisory Committee.	Tucson
David Silva (Dave)	Senior Scientist	Extragalactic stellar populations; elliptical galaxies	NOAO Director	Tucson
Malcolm Smith	Astronomer	Global environmental impact of light pollution; the early Universe; quasars/active galactic nuclei	Site protection, EPO	La Serena
R. Christopher Smith (Chris)	Astronomer	Supernovae; optical transients; supernova remnants; the interstellar medium	DECam support, AURA Head of Mission in Chile	La Serena
Verne Smith	Astronomer	High-resolution spectroscopy; cosmochemistry; nuclear astrophysics; chemical evolution; stellar populations; stellar atmospheres; stellar evolution	Chair of the NOAO Telescope Allocation Committee (TAC); Program Head of the US National Gemini Office (NGO); President of the WIYN Observatory Board of Directors	Tucson
Monika Soraisam	Research Associate	Novae, variable stars, Type Ia supernova progenitors, stellar population of M31	Postdoctoral researcher	Tucson
David Sprayberry	Senior Scientist	Instrumentation and observing techniques; galaxy formation and evolution; statistical analysis of galaxy populations, especially dwarf and low surface brightness galaxies	Manager of NN-ETS; Project Manager for NOAO-DESI	Tucson
Letizia Stanghellini	Associate Astronomer	Stellar structure and evolution; Galactic and extragalactic planetary nebulae (PNe); stellar populations	US NGO member	Tucson
Stephen Strom (Steve)	Astronomer Emeritus	Formation and evolution of planetary systems; origin of stellar angular moment		Tucson
Andrei Tokovinin	Astronomer	Statistics and formation of binary and multiple stars; adaptive optics; site testing	Instrument scientist(1.5-m echelle), project scientist (SOAR Adaptive Optics Module)	La Serena
Francisco Valdes (Frank)	Scientist	Cosmology; gravitational lensing; stellar spectroscopy; astronomical software	Data pipelines (ODI, DECam-CP,+), IRAF application development	Tucson
Nicole van der Bliek	Scientist	Instrumentation; young stars and cool stars	NOAO South Deputy Director	La Serena
Katherina Vivas	Assistant Astronomer	Stellar populationss, RRL variable stars, galactic structure	CTIO Support Astronomer, DECam support team member	La Serena
Alistair Walker	Astronomer	Stellar populations; the Magellanic Clouds; the distance scale; astronomical instrumentation and detectors	DECam Instrument Scientist, Leader of Optical Imagers Support Team, Member of the NOAO Promotion and Tenure Committee, Member of CTIO Advisory Committee on Technical Resources (ACTR), LSST Operations Planning	La Serena
Constance Walker (Connie)	Scientist	Inquiry- and research-based science education; submillimeter-wave spectroscopy of star formation in galaxies at different epochs	Dark skies awareness, informal science programs	Tucson
Benjamin A. Weaver	Associate Scientist	Galaxy properties, large-scale structure, astronomical "big data", Python in astronomy.	Data management, transfer and archiving for Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). Development of user interfaces, visualization and utilities for spectroscopic data.	Tucson
Sidney Wolff	Astronomer Emeritus	Star formation; stellar rotation	President, LSST Corporation	Tucson
Alfredo Zenteno	Research Associate	Observational Cosmology	DECam/Blanco Support	La Serena