Bradford Holden
Research Astronomer at UC Santa Cruz
California, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolBradford Holden is a research astronomer and observatory scientist with over a decade of experience enabling world-class astronomical measurements at UC observatories. He co-leads the development of a next-generation optical spectrometer for Keck I and serves as Project Scientist for a ground-layer adaptive optics facility that will effectively boost Keck’s collecting power by 50–100%. A co-founder of the PypeIt data-reduction project, he blends instrument design, software development, and operational strategy to turn raw observatory data into science-ready products. Based in California and grounded in a PhD from the University of Chicago, he also manages day-to-day observatory operations—from dome maintenance to automated scheduling—demonstrating a rare combination of hands-on engineering, scientific leadership, and practical systems thinking.
11 years of coding experience
8 years of employment as a software developer
University of California Santa CruzPhD, Astronomy and Astrophysics, PhD, Astronomy and Astrophysics at University of Chicago
Github Skills (20)
reduction10
python10
pipeline10
connections7
planet6
nightly6
vnc6
remote-control6
finder5
radial5
windows4
perl4
telescope4
science4
zoneminder3
Programming languages (2)
Github contributions (5)
bpholden/UCOmain
Feb 2021 - Mar 2025
This repository contains a specialized collection of software that runs the Automated Planet Finder telescope on a nightly basis.
Contributions:7 PRs, 666 pushes, 8 branches in 4 years 2 months
pythonplanetsciencenightlyspecialized-collection
bpholden/UCSCmaster
Jun 2015 - Feb 2021
Contributions:4 PRs, 1401 pushes, 49 branches in 5 years 9 months
schedulermasterucsc
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