Pixel Pipelines and Surfing Telescope Data
A STEM Equity Seminar for Owls (SESO) event
Presenter: Dr. Heather Flewelling, Astronomer
Friday, April 30, 2021
11 a.m.–Noon PST, main presentation. Register for Main Talk
12:30 –2:30 p.m. PST, one on one/ small group sessions. Sign up for a small group follow up with Dr. Flewelling
Dr. Flewelling's Bio
I received my BS in Physics from the University of Texas in 2001, and my PhD in Physics from the University of Michigan in 2009. For my PhD thesis, I studied Optical afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts, but also spent a lot of time writing code for the reduction pipeline for robotic telescopes and for an instrument mounted on one of the telescopes in Hawaii. For my first postdoc, I worked on the data reduction pipeline for the Pan-STARRS telescope, which at the time had the world's largest camera used for astronomy, with 1.4 Gigapixels. During my time in Pan-STARRS, I helped to design, test, and built the schema and database for the now publicly available Pan-STARRS database. This database is the largest astronomical database for a single telescope, with >6 billion objects, in 5 filters, and covering 3/4 of the sky. I also mined the Pan-STARRS data to find new and exciting variable stars. Later, I worked as a postdoc for the ATLAS project, where I helped with their pipeline and helped to find new near earth asteroids as well as new comets. I recently started a new position at Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, as an instrument scientist, where I help with the queue scheduling, and making sure the images from the MegaPrime Imager are reduced quickly and accurately.
I am a vocal advocate for improving diversity in STEM. I co-created Astronomy Allies with Katherine Alatalo, which is a grassroots effort to provide mentoring and help to scientists experiencing harassment or other issues at astronomy conferences. I am currently a member for the Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA), where I am lead editor of the AASWomen newsletter, a newsletter which shares stories about women scientists, career advice, and job opportunities.
