Jeff Morgenthaler

I have a PhD in physics, which means I understand the basic principles that underly all engineering disciplines and have an appreciation for many of the more esoteric scientific problems being addressed today, particularly in the fields of astrophysics and astronomy

I have developed hardware and software to address difficult scientific problems

I am particularly adept at creating adaptable algorithms for the robust automation of tedious tasks

I am expert in communication, both written and verbal and for technical and non-technical audiences

I am a good teacher, particularly one-on-one

I see myself leading a research group in an industry, government, or academic setting which solves complex problems and conveys the results to other experts as well as interested non-experts

Jeff Morgenthaler’s Specialties:

Algorithm development, automatic data reduction, curve fitting

Optical and electronic hardware development and prototyping

Computer control of equipment

Cryogenic systems, high vacuum, CAD design, machining

Optical telescope operation at several observatories

UNIX system management, computer network administration, network backups

Computer programming languages: IDL, C, FORTRAN, LISP, Pascal, BASIC

Jeff Morgenthaler’s Experience

Senior Scientist

Planetary Science Institute

(Educational Institution; Research industry)

July 2009 — Present (6 months)

Write scientific proposals and papers
Present scientific results at professional meetings
Supervise postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate researchers
Design, build, and debug astronomical instrumentation
Conduct optical astronomical observations
Develop software for the reduction and analysis of astrophysical data
Research Scientist

Planetary Science Institute

(Educational Institution; Research industry)

March 2008 — July 2009 (1 year 5 months)

Write scientific proposals and papers
Present scientific results at professional meetings
Supervise graduate and undergraduate student researchers
Design, build, and debug astronomical instrumentation
Conduct optical astronomical observations
Develop software for the reduction and analysis of astrophysical data
Research Scientist

University of Washington

(Educational Institution; 10,001 or more employees; Research industry)

August 2004 — January 2008 (3 years 6 months)

Write scientific proposals and papers
Present scientific results at professional meetings
Supervise graduate and undergraduate student researchers
Design, build, and debug astronomical instrumentation
Conduct optical astronomical observations
Develop software for the reduction and analysis of astrophysical data
National Research Council (NRC) Postdoctoral Fellow

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

(Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Research industry)

July 2002 — July 2004 (2 years 1 month)

Created AI-based software applications for reducing and analyzing >16000 images recorded with a science-grade CCD camera
Conducted optical astronomical observations
Supervised undergraduate researchers
Wrote papers, proposals, and presented results at professional meetings
Assistant Scientist, Research Associate

University of Wisconsin--Madison

(Educational Institution; 10,001 or more employees; Research industry)

August 1998 — July 2002 (4 years )

Conducted basic astrophysical research
Wrote proposals and papers
Presented results at professional meetings
Supervised high school interns
Conducted optical astronomical observations
Developed software for the reduction and analysis of imaging detector data
Lecturer

University of Wisconsin--Madison

(Educational Institution; 10,001 or more employees; Higher Education industry)

January 2000 — May 2000 (5 months)

Taught Astronomy 104: "Our Exploration of the Solar System"
http://wisp.physics.wisc.edu/astro104
Responsible for syllabus, lectures, web-based lecture notes, homework, exams, projects, honors section, and oversight of one TA
Text: "Universe", Kaufmann & Freedman, 5th ed.
Ph.D. Thesis Student

University of Wisconsin -- Madison

(Educational Institution; 10,001 or more employees; Research industry)

May 1995 — August 1998 (3 years 4 months)

The Study of the Interstellar Diffuse X-ray Background Between 150 eV and 280 eV with the Diffuse X-ray Spectrometer (DXS)
Completed analysis of large dataset from a Space Shuttle payload
Inherited large software project (C), completed unfinished work, corrected bugs, reduced data for scientific use
Presented results at scientific meetings
Wrote 300 page PhD thesis
Published results in refereed scientific journal
Graduate Research Assistant

University of Wisconsin--Madison

(Educational Institution; 10,001 or more employees; Research industry)

May 1991 — May 1995 (4 years 1 month)

Completed design and fabrication of first stage field effect transistor (FET) containment system
Participated in payload integration and testing of the X-ray Quantum Calorimeter (XQC), a sounding rocket payload demonstrating the feasibility of the X-ray detectors used on the Japanese satellites ASTRO-E and ASTRO-E2
Teaching Assistant

University of Wisconsin--Madison

(Educational Institution; 10,001 or more employees; Higher Education industry)

August 1990 — May 1991 (10 months)

Led discussion and lab sections in introductory physics for engineers