John I. Bailey Iii Email & Phone Number

Pasadena, Ca, Us

- Co-Principal Investigator of the Integral Field Units for Magellan, a $1.7M NSF Major Research Instrumentation funded facility instrument for the Magellan/Clay 6.5 m telescope at Cerro Manqui, Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. • Collaboratively led the project through all phases from conceptual design to commissioning, with sole responsibility for the control systems, encompassing specification, prototyping, motion, and embedded software, while ensuring adherence to timelines and budget. • Designed and fabricated all electronic and high-voltage systems and a major portion of the additively manufactured hardware using in-house fused filament fabrication. • Designed and built a robotic fiber polisher for assembled fiber gangs with 6000 fiber ends. • Carried out the assembly, integration, and testing of the reconfigurable IFU fiber slit mechanism, including the development of its metrology system. • Presently developing a combined M2FS/IFUM science data pipeline.- M2FS/IFUM Operations Manager. As one of two single points of failure in the M2FS/IFUM instrument operations team, I am responsible for coordinating and executing international, high-altitude maintenance work and the scientific programs of approximately 25 Principal Investigators at an operating scientific facility. This multi-stakeholder responsibility requires multi-year planning and both physically and mentally taxing day and night work periods exceeding 17 hours.

Santa Barbara, California, United States

- Mentor a team of about 10 researchers developing Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKID) and instruments. Apply expertise in engineering, robotics, and optical design to address complex challenges and impart these skills to others.- Co-Principal Investigator of the MKID Multi-Object Echelle(tte) Spectrographic Testbench, a $1.1M NSF Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation funded testbed instrument. Responsible for all optical and opto-mechanical design, assembly, alignment, calibration, and instruction of both graduate and post-doctoral researchers. - Solution Architect for the 3rd Generation MKID Readout, an integrated hardware, gateware, and software solution for a 2-20k multiplexed, scalable, high-bandwidth (4 GHz), high data rate (1.2 Tb/s) 4-8GHz RF readout system using the Xilinx Ultrascale+ RFSoC. The readout is to be capable of recording photon wavelength and microsecond arrival times at up to 100M photons per second. - Co-authored a paper on the only open-source oversampled polyphase filter-bank, one of the most viewed papers in its IEEE journal.- Supervised the XKID Integral Field Spectrograph for use behind the Magellan Extreme Adaptive Optics system (MagAO-X) at the Magellan/Clay 6.5 m telescope. Oversaw the development of a modular control system and a web-based instrument interface. Coordinated integration of XKID data into the MKID Science Data Pipeline. Engineered an integrated optical calibration assembly and a meniscus Barlow focal-ratio adapter, enabling no-contact integration with MagAO-X’s floating optical bench. Carried out clean room optical integration at Cerro Manqui, Chile.

Santa Barbara, California Area

- Support scientist for the MKID Exoplanet Camera on the Subaru Telescope, Mauna Kea, HI. Enhanced detector fill-factor with on-summit cryogenic RF wiring upgrades. Rewrote legacy code to enable off-site debugging and developed a consistent compute environment for increased software maintainability. Integrated capture of telescope observing metadata into the science data stream.- Guided doctoral candidate on orbital modeling of stellar and sub-stellar systems in open clusters. Crafted a specialized Bayesian Markov-Chain Monte Carlo analysis code using the ovara package. - Software architect for and developer of the MKID Science Data Pipeline, an efficient, multi-instrument, extensible package, designed for maintainability and future expansion by graduate students. Achieved a 50-fold improvement in performance, enabling on-site data reduction- Mentored multiple graduate students in foundational aspects of scientific software development principles including namespaces, encapsulation, readability, machine precision, and packaging.

Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands

Acted as a James Webb Space Telescope Mid-Infrared Instrument Medium Resolution Spectrograph calibration scientist. • Created Fourier and eigenimage-based models of the spectral resolution and optical point-spread function, addressing phasing and geometric effects in a sub-Nyquist integral field spectrograph. Documented and packaged work for multinational delivery by the European Consortium. • Acted as a liaison between and advisor to two multinational, multidisciplinary teams, focusing on optical modeling and scientific coding practices. • Assisted with JWST Optical Telescope/Integrated Science Assembly AIV testing at Johnson Spaceflight Center, aiding in personnel safety and crisis management during Hurricane Harvey's 500-year flooding event.Lead controls engineer for the βPictoris b Transit Monitor telescope network. • Engineered a fully autonomous observatory control system featuring on-site science data processing, remote archival, and adverse weather management; actively involved in risk and contingency planning for sites in South Africa and Australia. Addressed fire risks on-site due to poor electrical site conditions. • Oversaw the efforts of two M.Sci. students and contributed to the assembly, integration, and testing at the South African Astronomical Observatory.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

- Core team member of the Michigan/Magellan Fiber System (M2FS), a $3M, fiber-fed, 256-multiplex UVOIR spectrograph at Las Campanas Observatory, Cerro Manqui, Chile. Engaged in and contributed to every stage from concept to hands-on assembly, verification, and on-site reassembly, including optical, mechanical, electronic, and software elements. Led the development of electro- mechanical and calibration systems, instrument control, and observation planning software, ensuring cohesive operation of all subsystems. Engineered a custom robotic fiber polisher, handling approximately 1500 fibers.- Identified key unresolved questions in exoplanet formation and devised a comprehensive multi-year research program, incorporating the development of innovative technologies. Performed the necessary invention, design, sourcing, assembly, and testing of mechanical, electronic, and software enhancements to M2FS. These efforts transformed M2FS, within budget, into the first multi-object spectrograph with decameter velocity precision, significantly broadening its scientific capabilities and enabling peer-reviewed research cited over 1200 times.

Developed a comprehensive spectral extraction and modeling pipeline for a 4-year study of 20 stars, focusing on exoplanet formation and migration. The pipeline employs forward modeling using Telluric H2O absorption lines for a wavelength reference and is still in use as of 2023. Placed statistical bounds on orbital companions via Monte Carlo simulations.

Huntsville, Alabama, United States

Taught astrophysics and life-in-space concepts to middle-school students via hands-on laboratory experiments, fostering early scientific interest and understanding.

Lemont, Illinois, United States