Assistant Director of NRAO (2006-present): Head of New Initiatives Office. Primary responsibilities include leadership of NRAO participation in the US and international Square Kilometer Array efforts, leadership of the US Space VLBI activities, and development of partnerships for the VLBA and other NRAO telescopes.
Current Astronomical Research: Radio interferometric observations of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and related objects. Primary areas of current research include (1) Sub-parsec-scale accretion processes in Seyfert and related galaxies; (2) Studies of young supernovae and super star clusters in nearby starburst galaxies; (3) Identification of past and future extragalactic gamma-ray sources; and (4) Combined VLA/Chandra imaging of Low-Luminosity AGNs.
Past activities at NRAO included the following:
(1) Assistant Director of NRAO (2001-2007): Director of VLA/VLBA Operations, with more than 200 employees working on VLA, VLBA, and EVLA. Duties included all aspects of planning, implementation, management, telescope time allocation, and reporting for VLA and VLBA, supervision/coordination of EVLA Project Manager, and balancing telescope operations with the EVLA Project.
(2) Deputy Assistant Director (2001): Oversight of Scientific Services, Computing, and Operations Divisions of VLA/VLBA Operations. Responsible for implementation, management, and reporting for these divisions, in their roles of supporting the VLA and VLBA radio telescopes. Preparation of reports to advisory and oversight committees. Direct supervision of the Division Heads.
(3) Division Head, Scientific Services (1999-2001): Supervision of service work of all staff scientists on the VLA and VLBA. Setting and monitoring of scientific and work priorities for VLA and VLBA. Implementation of new capabilities and more user-friendly systems, as well as testing of both new and old features. Outreach to public and astronomers via AAS meetings and special sessions, development of literature, talks in classrooms, and development of visitor center improvements. Reporting to advisory and oversight committees, particularly the NRAO Users Commmittee.
(4) Space VLBI and VLBA Operations Support (1996-2000): Support of all aspects of VSOP (VLBI Space Observatory Programme) operations in the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). At various times, this included activities such as detection of the first VSOP fringes seen at the VLBA correlator, tests of all aspects of the observing and correlation of VSOP data, development of operational procedures for VSOP, scrutinizing and imaging of VSOP data output from the VLBA correlator, construction and maintenance of the NRAO Space VLBI Project web site, and participation in international scientific operations with VSOP.
(5) ARISE Space VLBI Mission Development (1996-2000): Development of a proposed next-generation Space VLBI mission as JPL/NASA pre-project scientist. Preparation of detailed scientific case and mission science documentation for ARISE, and oversight of ARISE Science Advisory Group. Establishment of collaborations within and outside the U.S., and presentation of the mission concept to the astronomy community via the decade committee and various NASA working groups. Interaction with mission design team at JPL.
(6) Real-time Pie Town-VLA Link (1998-2000): Management and scientific leadership of the project to provide a real-time connection between the Pie Town VLBA antenna and the VLA. Development of Pie Town link into an operational system to double the baseline length of the VLA.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1984-1996
(1) U.S. Space VLBI Project (1992-1996): System Engineer for U.S. Space VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) Project, in charge of the design and management of the ground support system. This included activities such as (1) operational planning within the JPL Project; (2) development of requirements for Project data transfer system; and (3) coordination, with the Project Manager and Project Scientist, of the JPL efforts. Leader of International Mission Operations Group for Space VLBI, coordinating efforts and design interfaces among multiple international space agencies and radio observatories.
(2) POINTS Spacecraft Study (1991-1994): System engineer for JPL spacecraft design work on POINTS (Precision Optical Interferometer in Space), a space optical interferometer designed for global astrometry with 5-microarcsecond accuracy. Activities included (1) coordination and synthesis of engineering studies; (2) analyses of launch-vehicle and link capabilities; and (3) coordination of studies with principal investigator at MIT and study leader/scientist at JPL.
(3) Astrometric Technology Development and VLBI Catalog (1984-1990): Management of Astrometric Technology Development Task in JPL Deep Space Network (1989-1990). Duties included (1) oversight of tasks developing advanced techniques for increasing accuracy of both radio VLBI and optical astrometric measurements; and (2) budget negotiations with JPL sponsors. Development of JPL astrometric VLBI catalog (1984-1990). Activities included (1) planning and execution of experiments; (2) selection and observation of candidate reference quasars for navigation of interplanetary spacecraft such as Galileo and Magellan; and (3) management of the 5-person VLBI catalog effort.
(4) VLA Arraying for Voyager (1985-1989): In charge of all astronomical aspects of arraying VLA radio telescope for reception of telemetry from Voyager 2 during its Neptune encounter in 1989. Activities included (1) monthly tests of individual telescope systems; (2) analysis, development, and testing of techniques for robustly arraying the 27 individual radio telescopes; and (3) negotiation and development of engineering and astronomical requirements and interfaces between JPL and NRAO
(5) TDRSS Space VLBI Experiments (1985-1989): Key participant in first experiments successfully demonstrating the technique of VLBI between space and ground radio telescopes. Activities included (1) technical experiment design; (2) source selection and scheduling for all experiments; (3) development of correlator interfaces, and (4) correlation of the space VLBI data.