David Melnick

** ****** **. ***. * 843-***-****

Charleston, SC 29403 ac2tq4@r.postjobfree.com

EDUCATION BS in Astrophysics, BS in Physics May 2017 College of Charleston- Charleston, SC

• Thesis: Developing Algorithms to enhance Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescope’s Thermal Imaging of Extrasolar Planets

Awards and Accolades

• ”NASA SC Undergraduate Student Research Fellowship.” 2016, 2017

-Hubble Data analysis on newly discovered exoplanet systems

• Best Physics & Astronomy Poster 2016, 2017

-College of Charleston, School of Science and Mathematics Research Poster Fair for best in astronomy (2016), and best in physics (2017)

• ”Best of the Best.” 2016

-Evaluated best out of 312 applicants across 6 scientific disciplines, at College of Charleston, School of Sciences and Mathematics Research Fair

• ”Best Research by an Undergraduate Student in Math, 2016 Computer Science, Physics, and Astronomy.”

-Sponsored by Sigma Xi, at the state-wide South Carolina Academy of Science annual meeting

SKILLS Computation

• Communications: Published scientific writer, recognized presenter 3 years

• Fluent in Python, LATEX, Mathematica, R, HTML, PHP 3 years

• Expert in image processing research and development 2 years

• Operating systems: Linux/UNIX, Mac OS, Windows 5 years

• Frameworks: SCRUM agile software development 2 years

• Expert in Interactive Data Language (IDL) 2 years

• Graphics: DS9, GIMP Image Editor, Inkscape, ImageMagick, 2 years Photoshop

Instrumentation

• Linux mini-cluster hardware maintenance and upgrades 3 years

• High-end server computer designing, assembling, and optimizing 1 year

• Digital camera key performance and characteristic testing 2 years

• CCD multi-spectral imaging 2 years

• Infrared detector calibration 2 years

• Space-Based Telescopes: Ultra-precise characterization of 3 years infrared detectors

• Schmidt-Cassegrain and Dobsonian Telescope 2 years maintenance and operation

Languages

• English, native speaker

• Intermediate spoken and written Japanese

EXPERIENCE Lead Research and Development August 2016 - Present Pensievision C-Corp

• Lead development of prototype hardware and software for novel imaging system

• Implemented space-based image processing techniques to co-develop a prototype hardware and software system for endoscopic 3D imaging of cancer

• Responsible for training newly hired employees on data analysis techniques and SCRUM software development

Hubble Space Telescope Data Analysis May 2016 - August 2017 Exoplanet Astrophysics Research- College of Charleston

• Led analysis of large archival space telescope data to achieve pre-detections of new exoplanets in an international collaboration

• Worked in SCRUM agile software development to fabricate and optimize Princi- pal Component Analysis techniques of data reduction

• Implemented forward modeling for quality control, to evaluate throughput and efficiency of image processing algorithms

Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Image Processing March 2015 - August 2017 Astrophysics and IR-Astronomy Research- College of Charleston

• Wrote a complete novel image processing pipeline to carry out calibration, digital filtering, and Principal Component Analysis based image combination

• Developed algorithms such as statistical outlier rejection protocol, sub-pixel de- tailing and image registration, variable pixel linear reconstruction, and advanced Principal Component Analysis techniques

• Improved data reduction through intelligent exploitation of camera pointing vari- ability, intra-pixel dependent distortion, and non-linear saturation effects

• Created customized forward modeling procedures that use simulated planets to evaluate efficacy of test algorithms

• Collaborated with the NASA-Spitzer’s instrument team to optimize calibration of the infrared CCD detectors by using statistical image analysis methods PUBLICATIONS M. Samland, P. Molliere, M. Bonnefoy, A.-L. Maire, F. Cantalloube, A. Cheetham, D. Mesa, R. Gratton, B. Biller, Z. Wahhaj, J. Bouwman, W. Brander, D. Melnick, et al., 2017, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 603, 57. ”Spectral and Atmospheric Characterization of 51 Eridani b Using VLT/SPHERE”

GRANTS AND

FELLOWSHIPS

Princial Investigator for Competitive Funding Awards

• CofC URCA- Major Academic Year Support. $1,600 Spring 2017 To build a low-cost, high-performance, 48 thread, liquid-cooled computer

• NASA- South Carolina Space Grant Fellowship. $6,000 Fall 2016 - Spring 2017 Search for newly discovered exoplanets by ground-based telescopes in Hubble archival data

• CofC URCA- Research Presentation Grant. $780 Fall 2016. Research presented at The Space Telescope Science Institute’s High-Contrast Imaging in Space Conference

• CofC URCA- Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. $3,500 Summer 2016

Funded Spitzer data analysis pipeline development.

• CofC Physics and Astronomy Research Stipend $4,500 Summer 2015 To fund the development of image processing pipeline

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