About

I am an Associate Scientist at Caltech/IPAC and the Lead Systems Scientist for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Science Support Center (SSC) at IPAC. I oversee the Pipeline Development Team for the Microlensing Science Operations System (MSOS), the pipeline which will generate the higher-level data products for the Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey (GBTDS), a Roman Core Community Survey. I work with teams at NASA Goddard and STScI to help prepare the mission for the data volumes of its wide-field surveys.

I am a stellar spectroscopist with a background in atomic and molecular physics. My research focuses on the chemical and kinematic characterization of stellar populations in the Milky Way and the Local Group.

Before joining IPAC, I was System Scientist for the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Before that, I was SDSS-IV Project Manager for APOGEE-2 and Las Campanas Observatory operations, based at the University of Washington and, earlier, the University of Virginia. I received my Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007, then held postdoctoral positions at ESO, the University of Chicago (JINA; KICP affiliate), and the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur.

I am the primary developer of MOOG_SCAT, a radiative transfer code that includes coherent, isotropic scattering.

A Little About Me

My path into science began with films and books. The Right Stuff and, funnily enough, SpaceCamp sparked my fascination with space, and the books of Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan made me want to understand the universe. I am a wife and a mom to two young children, and I love to travel, especially to visit family in France and in Texas.