Technosignature Researcher & Computational Neuroscientist
Applying technical skillset to interdisciplinary research and development.
Recent contributions include radio astronomy technosignature research in the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI) and computational neuroscience research in biomagnetism and brain computer interfaces (BCI).
Further background and interests includes cognitive science, computer science, language studies, social engagement, and teaching.
"Technosignature Research" refers to searching for signs of technology in space as a proxy for detecting intelligent life in the universe. I look for anomalous narrowband, Doppler-drifting signals in very large radio astronomy datasets. We look for narrowband signals because astronomical phenomena are not naturally narrowband, thus suggesting it’s artificially generated, and we expect signals from a distant, moving source to drift in frequency (Doppler Drift).
University of Oxford
Physics Department |
Technosignature Researcher
I am currently posted at the University of Oxford, Physics department, working with Breakthrough Listen in the Astrophysics sub-department.
My primary research objective is to generalize software pipelines to more facilities, including the Parkes Observatory (New South Wales) and the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT), hoping to establish universal analysis tools.
As a faculty researcher within the Physics department, I aim to broaden technosignature research through interdisciplinary collaborations across the Mathematical, Physical, and Life Sciences division, especially within the astrophysics and computer science departments.
Look out for updates on the new research projects I am leading:
Detecting an electromagnetic component of humpback whale aerial sounds
Evaluating astronomical hydroxyl (OH) MASERs for amplitude modulation. (MASER = microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation)
The SETI Institute |
Technosignature Research Associate |
Scientific Software Developer
As Scientific Software Developer, I was tasked with streamlining the analysis pipeline for the 365-day Anti-Solar Point (ASP) survey, alongside being research assistant to technosignature research scientist Dr. Sofia Sheikh. The scaling improvements I made resulted in an overall 98.3% runtime improvement, transforming the analysis pipeline from running for nearly two months to process a single night of data, to near real-time. These changes and my greater system architecture overhaul has enabled the ASP pipeline to be compatible with a variety of surveys and comparative analyses, thus the coining of the Allen Telescope Survey-Agnostic Technosignature (ATSAT) pipeline: SETI Institute’s efficient technosignature pipeline.
That contract evolved into my full-time position as Technosignature Research Associate with the SETI Institute.
Sonera | Neuroscience Research Engineer
Computational neuroscience industry research in Biomagnetism — the detection and interpretation of magnetic fields generated by neural activity. Combining signal processing, machine learning, software engineering, and real-time data analysis for commercial applications of non-invasive magnetic sensing.
Sonera’s chip-scale, non-invasive Acoustically Driven Ferromagnetic Resonance (ADFMR) technology enables ubiquitous magnetometer sensing in real-world un-shielded (ambient) conditions. Our neuroscience research with magnetometers at Sonera includes neuro-motor gesture detection, silent speech classification, eye-tracking, muscle fatigue characterization, and magnetoencephalography (MEG).
Teledyne Intelligent Systems Laboratory |
Neuroscience Research Engineer
Software and electrical engineering for Brain Machine Interface Research to improve sleep quality via transcranial Electrical Stimulation (tES) neuro-modulating wearable — including clinical trials — as well as Neuroscience research and analysis for a multi-insititutional DARPA project to accelerate learning in VR simulations, via Vagal Nerve Stimulation (VNS).
Jadu AR | Backend Developer
In between Jadu’s Seed and Series A stage, I worked as a Unity Developer and Dev/Ops Engineer overseeing the backend for the crypto-assets and developing internal package bridges for Jadu when it was a mobile iOS game platform for interacting with NFT avatars in Augmented Reality (AR).
Jadu AR has evolved into a multi-genre Augmented Reality platform with applications spanning from gaming to spatially-based AI: through demonstrated hardware mastery in holograms, NFTs, mobile applications, and headset technology creative collaborations with artists including Michael Bay, Snoop Dogg, Grimes, and more.
Berkeley SETI Research Center | Breakthrough Listen |
Research Intern | Engineering Apprentice
As a student at the University of California, Berkeley, I did an undergraduate research apprenticeship with the Berkeley SETI Research Center for which I was a part of the pioneering Breakthrough Listen team to collaborate with the NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).
