The successful applicant will contribute to development of software to operate the TURBO telescopes and telescope enclosures automatically, and process the data in real time to identify transient candidates. Responsibilities include optimization of the pipeline to analyze imaging as quickly as possible, and to organize data.


JOB INFORMATION

RESEARCH DESCRIPTION:
Analysis of data from the Total-Coverage Ultra-Fast Response to Binary Mergers Observatory (or TURBO). TURBO will consist of large-format CMOS detectors mounted on twelves 0.20-meter diameter optical telescopes both at Magdalena Ridge Observatory near Soccoro, NM and at Skinakas Observatory in Crete, Greece. Within two seconds of a trigger alert, TURBO will begin obtaining continuous, multi-band images of more than 150 square degrees. A prototype telescope in St. Paul, Minnesota has been implemented that can acquire images within two seconds of an alert. Counterparts to gravitational-wave detections of mergers will multiply the information available from just the gravitational waves alone by revealing the mergersâ™ distances, environments, and nucleosynthetic products. Given its unique sensitivity to prompt emission, TURBO may detect novel types of counterparts, yielding potential insights, for example, into the poorly understood observed population of binary black-hole mergers. When not responding to gravitational-wave mergers, TURBO will obtain observations of supernovae in nearby galaxies at the time of explosion (4-6 events each year), which can be expected to provide new understanding of their stellar progenitor populations and explosion mechanisms.

JOB DESCRIPTION:
The principal duty will be to develop software both to enable automatic operation of the TURBO survey and to process the data acquired by the telescopes at both sites as quickly as possible. 

JOB DUTIES: 

70%  Software development of data-processing pipeline and survey automation code

10% Communication with team members, including principal investigator

10%  Troubleshooting problems with telescope and telescope enclosure operation

10% Analysis of data and preparation of discoveries and analysis for publication

Other duties of a similar scope as assigned.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
B.S./B.A. degree, or a combination of education and relevant work experience to equal at least four years.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: 
Computer Science or Astrophysics undergraduate degree, experience working programming interfaces, electronics, databases, and team projects. 

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