Hi, I'm Jayke Samson Nguyen

Ph.D. Candidate @ UCSD A&A Department in the Konopacky Group.

I study exoplanets through ground-based direct imaging in the mid-IR. I'm also helping build the Gemini Planet Imager 2.0. Other interests include protoplanetary disks and planetary formation theory.

Projects

Direct Imaging of Exoplanets in the Mid-IR

I'm looking for exoplanets in the mid-IR (>4.7 µm). Planets at these wavelengths are older and colder than the current population of planets we've directly imaged.

The Pyramid Wavefront Sensor Upgrade of GPI 2.0

I helped build the new pyramid wavefront sensor going into the Gemini Planet Imager 2.0. I worked on integrating the movable mirrors, needed to direct the beam through the wavefront sensor.

GPI 2.0 AO Simulations

I've developed AO simulations of the new AO system on GPI 2.0 using HCIpy. The simulations were designed to test performance and efficacy of the upgrades to the system.

Code

Rain

Re-implementation of Drizzle, meant for performing the distortion correction solution for imaging systems.

Parallelize

An easy way of parallelizing functions that are performing mutually independent operations.

Fast Plot

A drop-in replacement of matplotlib.imshow using PIL instead.

Target Selection Tool

Generates plots of observing targets and their visibility in the sky at a given date.

ObsLog

A .toml file format for reading in observation logs.

Community Service/Outreach

Astro On Tap, San Diego

I'm currently one of the hosts for Astronomy on Tap in San Diego! AoT is a bi-monthly event that provides free, public talks about astronomy and astrophysics in a brewery.

Cohort Program

I'm currently a mentor for the Cohort program, a program for providing group mentorship for students at all stages throughout their undergraduate careers.

Astro Graduate Council

I was the first president of the newly formed Astro Graduate Council, a student organization for representing graduate students within the department.

I previously was an instructor for the Akamai program. With a small team, I helped design a day-long STEM project to teach fundamental engineering skills to undergraduate researchers beginning their research careers.