ADASSX

Deputy Director of the Catalina Sky Survey

Dr. Al Grauer is an observational astronomer with 52 years of experience. He has observed at professional observatories in Arizona, Hawaii, Chile, Australia, and Louisiana. He was a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for 30 years and is currently employed by the Catalina Sky Survey at the University of Arizona. As a member of the Catalina Sky Survey team he discovered 2 comets and is co-discoverer of tens of thousands of asteroids. He has published more than 75 papers in peer reviewed scientific journals. His wife, Patricia A. Grauer, and he collected data and wrote the application which resulted in the Cosmic Campground becoming the first International Dark Sky Sanctuary in North America. He continues to study night sky brightness and has published two scientific papers on the subject. His podcast “Travelers In the Night” has aired more than 6,600 times on more than 60 radio stations. It has more than 860,000 plays on the internet.

Alice is a Data Analyst at NSF NOIRLab for the Astro Data Lab team. She is the lead analyst in charge of ingesting new datasets into Astro Data Lab and is also a co-developer of the spectroscopy tool SPARCL (SPectra Analysis and Retrievable Catalog Lab).

Anmol Gandhi is an Independent Astrophysics Researcher from India with a background in Information Technology and a strong research focus on galaxy mergers, pulsars, and high-energy astrophysics. He presented his work on pulsar interactions at IPSC 2025 (IIT Roorkee), which is currently under consideration for publication in a Springer-affiliated journal. Anmol contributes to the SGAC Near-Earth Object (NEO) Project Group and is conducting theoretical modeling of spiral galaxy mergers using real data from SDSS and advanced simulations like IllustrisTNG and EAGLE. Additionally, he is independently developing a theoretical strategy framework for space debris mitigation. His current work explores compact object interactions, particularly magnetar–black hole mergers and investigates the possible influence of dark matter on their dynamics. Anmol aspires to pursue deeper research in high-energy astrophysics and contribute to international collaborations exploring cosmic structure formation.

I am an independent astrodynamicist and software developer. I've been providing a wide variety of software tools to the planetary defense community for about 25 years (see https://www.projectpluto.com/tools.htm ).

Research Scientist at SPACEWATCH® since 2022.
Ph. D. in Planetary Science with a Focus on Small bodies.
MS in Physics and Planetary Science
BS in Mathematics and Astronomy

Hi! I'm a young graduate trainee at ESA, developing the Meerkat software. I'll be starting a PhD on machine learning for time domain astronomy in September at the University of Manchester.

I am a staff scientist at Caltech/IPAC with research focuses on local volume galaxies and galaxy-targeted searches for gravitational wave events.

DESC Analysis Coordinator

Software engineer with Pan-STARRS.

ATLAS Co-PI and senior software engineer Larry Denneau was the chief software architect of the Pan-STARRS moving object processing system (MOPS) and adapted it to the ATLAS survey. MOPS is a software package that automatically identifies solar system objects (in particular hazardous asteroids) in the ATLAS and Pan-STARRS data streams.

Larry has been poking at computer keyboards since the early 80s and received his B.S.E.E. from the University of Arizona, whereupon he quickly escaped academia. His software career has spanned projects ranging from surface metrology for the semiconductor industry, medical scheduling, geophysical instrumentation, and a dot-com Internet startup that actually turned a profit. Now back in academia, Larry received a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Queen's University Belfast and has enthusiastically joined the effort to protect the earth from dangerous asteroids.

Incoming freshman at Caltech interested in pursuing astrophysics.

Maria Wicher – Science communicator, enthusiast of astronomy and planetary geology, discoverer of over 320 minor planets with the provisional status in citizen science projects. Member of the Polish Astrobiological Society and the Polish Society of Amateur Astronomers. Space educator and high school student. Actively popularizes knowledge about space, astrobiology and planetary defense, combining science with passion. A committed volunteer of the Planetarium – Silesian Science Park.

Professor of Astronomy at the University of Washington and the Rubin Observatory Solar System processing team lead.

Melissa (they/she) is Principal Software Engineer for LINCC Frameworks (LSST Interdisciplinary Network for Collaboration and Computing) at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. They additionally serve on the executive council for the LSST Informatics and Statistics Science Collaboration.

Principal Research Scientist, Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park

My primary research interests are based on the compositions and thermal properties of comets and sometimes asteroids. I am also a staff scientist for the Small Bodies Node of the Planetary Data System.

N Casale is a computer engineer with the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, contributing to the work of the Minor Planet Center.

Fr. Paul Gabor, S.J., Ph.D. studied particle physics at Charles University in Prague, worked at CERN and in Grenoble, then joined the Society of Jesus. He studied philosophy in Cracow and theology in Paris, where he also earned a doctorate in astrophysics. Since 2012, he is the Vice Director of the Vatican Observatory in charge of its branch in Arizona. His main research interests are exoplanets and instrumentation. He also teaches history of astronomy and philosophy of science at the University of Arizona.

Astronomer at the Minor Planet Center, working on MPC operations (NEOCP, PCCP, identifications pipeline, community communication, research, ex-officio IAU WGSBN member for the naming of minor planets and comets) and pipelines development.

Rob Seaman is the Data Engineer and a Co-investigator for the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona. Using multiple survey and follow-up telescopes in Arizona and Australia, CSS has discovered half of the known Earth-crossing asteroids, including five impactors that no longer cross our orbit, and two mini-moons that go around it. He serves as chair of the IAU Time Domain working group and is a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society. Rob got his start in astronomical software as a member of the IRAF group and heard about Python at the first ADASS meeting. He recognizes the value of both old and new programming paradigms. His current interests include archiving, data compression (FPACK), precision timekeeping, and system design for rapid transient response in service of planetary defense.

Dr. Juneau is an Associate Astronomer at NSF NOIRLab and the Project Scientist of the SPectra Analysis and Retrievable Catalog Lab (SPARCL). Based in Tucson, Arizona, she received a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Arizona and her scientific research focuses on galaxies and supermassive black holes. She is interested in applying novel analysis methods including machine learning, advanced visualization techniques, and in improving astrophysical science platforms. She is a member of the DESI collaboration and of JWST extragalactic survey teams.

High School Senior dedicated to catching a glimpse of the universe's secret and putting a dent in the cosmos.