Description
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument is the most powerful redshift survey instrument ever built because of the significant early investment in R&D. During this period, we optimized every design decision resulting in the largest and most stable fiber system in the history of surveys for astrophysics. I joined the DESI project as a postdoc who was passionate about finding technological solutions that enabled new science, and later became a research physicist at UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory. I personally designed and built the fiber system and oversaw the grating system that allow our spectrographs to be optimized across every wavelength band, ultimately becoming Lead Fiber Scientist (an L2 manager position), a Lead Observer, and DESI manager for nighttime operations (an L2 manager position). I strongly believe that the future of Cosmology relies on training and retaining instrument builders like me who rely on the prospect of future world-class survey instruments. In this presentation I will present the research that led to the success of DESI, and the role it plays in the path to stage V science.
