Néstor Espinoza
Associate Astronomer With Tenure
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolNéstor Espinoza is an Associate Astronomer with tenure at the Space Telescope Science Institute who specializes in exoplanet discovery and atmospheric characterization using JWST, HST, and TESS. Over 11 years he has led and co-led flagship JWST programs, developed widely used open-source tools for transit spectroscopy and data analysis, and published broadly while mentoring early-career scientists. As STScI’s Mission Scientist for Exoplanet Science and Core Implementation Lead for the joint “Rocky Worlds” DDT program, he bridges science strategy and mission operations to maximize flagship observatory returns. Trained with a PhD from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and a Bernoulli fellowship at MPIA, he combines strong statistical skills with hands-on observational expertise. Beyond research, he’s committed to science communication and community-driven software that enables reproducible exoplanet science.
11 years of coding experience
9 years of employment as a software developer
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Astrophysics, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Astrophysics at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
English
Stackoverflow
585reputation
34kreached
2answers
11questions
Github Skills (89)
radial10
simulation10
coefficients10
manifold10
assign10
journal9
numba9
flicker9
python9
asymmetric9
tool-kit9
visualization9
open-access8
steam8
science8
Programming languages (7)
Github contributions (5)
nespinoza/exonailer
Nov 2015 - Jul 2018
Tools for fitting transiting exoplanet lightcurves and radial velocities
Contributions:123 commits, 84 pushes, 2 branches in 2 years 8 months
lightcurvesradialexoplanetfittingradial-velocities
nespinoza/exoctk
Feb 2020 - Aug 2024
The Exoplanet Characterization Tool Kit
Contributions:4 PRs, 34 pushes, 15 branches in 4 years 6 months
characterizationpythontool-kitanalysisexoplanet
Find and Hire Top DevelopersWe’ve analyzed the programming source code of over 60 million software developers on GitHub and scored them by 50,000 skills. Sign-up on Prog,AI to search for software developers.