JWST Center of Curvature Testing
Image Credit: NASA / Desiree Stover / Chris Gunn
Keira Brooks
scientific programming, instrumentation, astronomy, and traveling
About Me
Image Credit: NASA / Desiree Stover
While I grew up in Washington State in the US, my interests have taken me all over the world.
I have spent the last several years working at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, USA on the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). I am a Science Systems Scientist with the team that will make sure that we can guide with JWST while aligning the primary mirror. In addition to many other project, I was lucky enough to be part of the team that tested the individual primary mirrors segments which lead to some really cool pictures like the one above. In my job I also act as a software developer (Python is my language of choice), project manager, and instrumentation scientist. My favorite part about working on the JWST mission is being able to constantly solve problems and I am very excited to see the decades of hard work pay off as JWST is comissioned over the next few months. Check out more of my past projects here or check out my full CV to learn more.
Prior to working on the James Webb Space Telescope, I was a Peace Corps education volunteer in Rwanda and in 2016 I received my Masters of Science in Astronomy with a focus on instrumentation from Leiden University in the small city of Leiden in the Netherlands. I love traveling and look forward to doing more of it in the future.
Projects and Previous Work
My current work is as part of the team that will be commissioning the mirrors of JWST. See where Webb is and what is coming up next for the space telescope at Where is Webb? or read more about the latest at NASA's Webb Blog
Learn more about some of the projects I have worked on in the past by clicking on the photos below.
