James Wiley

Background

About James Wiley

I am a mechanical engineer at Caltech Optical Observatories. I previously completed my PhD in physics at the University of California San Diego. My research focused on the development of optical and near infrared instrumentation for large ground based observatories such as the twin Keck telescopes atop Maunakea and the next generation Thirty Meter Telescope. I worked on the design and fabrication of the opto-mechanical system for Liger, an adaptive optics-fed imager and integral field spectrograph for the Keck I telescope. I also predicted the performance of instruments such as Liger through simulations for multiple science cases. Outside of research I have a love for science communication and outreach. I led UCSD's Cosmic Tours which is a portable planetarium program focused on bringing the universe to under-served communities. I also led the Sierra Conference which is a camping conference for all University of California graduate students in astronomy to network and share their science.