Staff Scientist

Job Summary

IPAC at Caltech has an opening for a scientist to participate in the Euclid and Roman missions by joining the user support teams. IPAC is part of the Physics, Math, and Astronomy Division at Caltech (www.caltech.edu) and provides science operations, user support, data and archive services, and scientific vision to maximize discovery with observatories both in space and on the ground.

Roman: The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a NASA observatory designed to address key questions in the areas of dark energy, exoplanets, and infrared astrophysics. It is slated for launch in Fall 2026. The Roman Science Support Center (SSC) at IPAC is a part of the Roman Ground Data System, providing algorithm and software development for spectroscopic and Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey data processing. In addition, the SSC will support the operations of the Coronagraph Instrument, manage the Roman guest investigator proposal solicitations, and provide community support for exoplanet and wide-field spectroscopy science with Roman.

Euclid: Euclid is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission, launched in 2023, to study the geometry and nature of the dark Universe. NASA established the Euclid NASA Science Center at IPAC (ENSCI) in order to support US-based investigations using Euclid data. ENSCI participates in the Euclid Consortium's Science Ground Segment, providing algorithm and software development, participating in data quality assurance, and performing data processing. In addition, ENSCI supports the US research community by providing expert insight into the Euclid surveys, data processing, calibration, and data products.

Essential Job Duties

The position will be 50% with Roman and 50% with ENSCI.

As a member of the Roman team, your specific tasks will include:

• Working with SSC to support the research community
• Organizing and supporting virtual and in-person science meetings
• Responding to questions via the help-desk
• Writing documentation for the user community
• Participation in meetings to promote Roman science
• Conduct independent research
• Duties might also include helping to curate and release information on our Roman website

As a member of ENSCI, your specific tasks would include:

• Working with ENSCI to support the US-based research community in using Euclid data
• Developing and testing data analysis notebooks and services for the public Euclid archive
• Leading workshops (in person and online) on the use of Euclid data
• Writing documentation for the user community
• Responding to questions from the community via the help-desk and other channels
• Conduct independent research
• Participating in meetings, tele- and video-conferences, together with travel to Euclid workshops in Europe and relevant conferences to meet the user community in the U.S.

Basic Qualifications

• PhD in Astronomy, Physics, or a related field.
• 2+ years of experience post-PhD as a research scientist in infrared astronomy
• Strong verbal and written communication, along with demonstrated creativity and problem-solving capabilities

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with the Euclid and Roman mission and science
• Expertise with near-IR photometry and spectroscopy, including relevant data analysis software
• Proficiency with python notebooks
• Experience with organizing research-focused events, such as workshops
• Experience working with a distributed team