Yao-yuan Mao
Assistant Professor at University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Summary
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Senior🎓
Top SchoolYao-yuan Mao is an Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Utah with 13 years of experience probing dwarf galaxies and dark matter to illuminate galaxy formation and the Milky Way’s place in the cosmos. Trained at Stanford (PhD) and NTU, he blends observational surveys and cosmological simulations to connect visible galaxies with their invisible dark matter halos. His work as a NASA Einstein Postdoctoral Fellow and PITT PACC researcher reflects a track record of high-impact academic appointments and collaborative projects. Beyond astrophysics, he is a proficient programmer and open-source contributor—having improved core functionality and tests in the widely used matplotlib library’s patches module. Based in Salt Lake City, he bridges deep theoretical insight with practical coding skills to produce reproducible, survey-driven science. An uncommon thread in his profile is the combination of precision software contributions and expertise in small-scale cosmic structure, enabling both robust analysis and tool-building for the community.
13 years of coding experience
2 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Physics, Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Physics at National Taiwan UniversityDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Physics, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Physics at Stanford University
English, Chinese
Stackoverflow
1reputation
0reached
0answers
0questions
Github Skills (10)
data-visualizations10
data-visualization10
data-visualisation10
pytest10
python10
matplotlib10
testing10
data-science9
plot9
numpy8
Programming languages (9)
Github contributions (5)
matplotlib/matplotlib
Oct 2017 - Jan 2018
matplotlib: plotting with Python
Role in this project:
Data Scientist
Data ScientistContributions:7 commits, 1 PR, 10 comments in 2 months
Contributions summary:Yao-yuan primarily contributed to the `matplotlib` library by improving existing code and adding new functionality related to the `patches` module. Their work includes adding and refining the `contains_points` method, which checks if a point is within a patch's boundaries, and updating docstrings. The user also focused on code quality, fixing formatting issues and enhancing documentation clarity and style for better usability. Additionally, tests were created for these functionalities.
pythondata-sciencegtkdata-visualizationplotting
conda-forge/lsstdesc-gcr-catalogs-feedstock
Dec 2020 - Dec 2024
A conda-smithy repository for lsstdesc-gcr-catalogs.
Contributions:6 reviews, 27 PRs, 20 pushes in 4 years
pythongcr-catalogscondasmithycatalogs
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