Josh Walawender
Staff Astronomer at W. M. Keck Observatory
Hawaii, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolJosh Walawender is a Staff Astronomer with 12 years of hands-on experience operating and developing instrumentation for major observatories, currently based at the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea. He combines a PhD in Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences with deep expertise in star formation and protostellar outflows, plus practical skills in maintaining, calibrating, and troubleshooting 8–10 meter class instruments and robotic telescopes. His career spans roles at Subaru Telescope, University of Hawaii observatories, and a postdoc building automated small-telescope surveys, giving him a rare blend of research insight and operational reliability. Known for guiding visiting astronomers through complex calibrations and rapidly resolving on-night instrument issues, he keeps science flowing under pressure. An engineer-scientist at heart, he pairs observational astronomy with software and systems work to streamline data reduction and instrument performance.
12 years of coding experience
1 year of employment as a software developer
BA, Physics, Astrophysics, BA, Physics, Astrophysics at University of California, BerkeleyPhD, Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, PhD, Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at University of Colorado Boulder
Github Skills (32)
ccd10
reduction10
python10
astronomy10
zoneminder10
telescope10
science10
remote-control9
pipeline9
orbital-mechanics8
scipy8
core-library8
astrophysics7
jekyll7
google-cloud7
Programming languages (5)
Github contributions (5)
joshwalawender/RemoteObserving
Nov 2019 - Oct 2023
Contributions:149 pushes, 38 branches, 1 tag in 4 years
joshwalawender/IQMon
Jul 2013 - Dec 2022
Contributions:566 commits, 230 pushes, 5 branches in 9 years 7 months
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