Above is an image of a Chandra Low Energy Transmission Grating (LETG) spectrum of a very bright X-ray source, the nova XTE J1118+480, showing only the shortest wavelengths. The major features are:

My primary job is to:

I also act as the Chandra Uplink Support INTerface (USINT) Coordinator; the USINT team helps observers to optimize their instrumental setups.

My own research often uses X-ray data from Chandra, Swift, and XMM, mostly focusing on solar wind charge exchange and stellar coronae, and lately on multi-year magnetic activity cycles. My graduate school research was on X-ray atomic physics using an Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT). After that I was hired by SAO to help build the system used to collect Chandra pre-flight ground calibration data (the HXDS) and then analyze those data. After launch I switched over to the CXC Calibration group to work on the LETG, which has involved calibration work on its associated detectors, the HRC-S and ACIS-S.