My last day of work at the W.M. Keck Observatory is 14 December, 2007, after which I will be living in New Zealand.

I work at the W.M. Keck Observatory in an exciting and growing field called adaptive optics. Adaptive optics is a technology used to correct images that are blurred by atmospheric turbulence. The atmosphere makes stars twinkle when seen through the naked eye and degrades images taken through a telescope. Using adaptive optics, we are able to improve the resolution by a factor of 10 or more! Adaptive optics is like prescription glasses for a telescope with a prescription that changes nearly one thousand times a second!

My main job is to design and implement an upgrade to the Keck Observatory adaptive optics systems. In addition, I work on improving and characterizing the performance of the adaptive optics system in both natural guide star and laser guide star modes.

I also have an interest in adaptive optics for vision science and collaborated with the Indiana University adaptive optics on their retinal imaging adaptive optics system.

You can also learn more about adaptive optics at the Center for Adaptive Optics website.