People

Avi Loeb

Head of the Galileo Project

• Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science, Harvard Astronomy Department
• Director, Institute for Theory and Computation, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• Founding Director, Black Hole Initiative (BHI), Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences

aloeb@cfa.harvard.edu Website ↗

Steven Africk

• PhD, physics, Brown University

Richard Cloete

• PhD, computer science
• Laukien-Oumuamua Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University

richard.cloete@cfa.harvard.edu LinkedIn ↗

Biography

Richard is a computer scientist and a Laukien-Oumuamua Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University. He is a member of the Galileo Project working under the supervision of Professor Avi, having recently held a postdoctoral position at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Alex Delacroix

• Mechanical Engineer, Caltech Optical Observatory
• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Commercial airplane pilot, Airframe mechanic
• Mechanical Design and installation of the Gattini IR and UV telescopes and the ZTF Cryostat.

alex.delacroix@cfa.harvard.edu

Michael Hercz

• Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Sentynl Therapeutics, Inc.
• Managing Director, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Vice President, Law & Chief Compliance Officer, Victory Pharma

LinkedIn ↗

Ezra Kelderman

• Project Manager & Hardware Engineer
• B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University
• Music Production

Eric Keto

• Astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
• Project Scientist for the Submillimeter Array
• Associate Senior Member at Harvard's Institute for Theory and Computation

Website ↗

Lily Kuan

• Research & Technical Assistant

Biography

Lily Kuan is a Research & Technical Assistant with the Galileo Project at Harvard University. She supports instrumentation, calibration, wiring, field deployment, site visits, research documentation, and project logistics. She also contributes technical and practical insights based on her background and experience, and occasionally supports the project’s creative and art-related initiatives.

Frank H. Laukien

Co-Founder of the Galileo Project

• Visiting Scholar, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University
• Chairman, President and CEO, Bruker Corporation, Billerica, MA
• Co-chair, AACR Scientific Working Group Cancer Evolution

Eric Masson

• System Architect / Tech Lead
• High Performance Computing, Cloud
• Computer Vision and 3D interactive computer graphics at Dental Wings, Montreal, Canada

Andy Mead

• Audio Engineer
• Tufts University (BA, 2010)
• Partner at Novus Select

Gary Melnick

• Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian; Principal Investigator, Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite, NASA Explorer Mission
• Deputy Principal Investigator, Infrared Array Camera, Spitzer Space Telescope
• Science Lead, Biogenic Ices Investigation, SPHEREx, NASA Medium-class Explorer Mission

Vishnu Anand Muruganandan

• Postdoctoral Fellow

Biography

Previously, Vishnu has developed "Multi-objective Optimization algorithm for Infrared synchrotron beam" at Diamond Light Source, UK and lead the research on "High-resolution Imaging of Satellites in Low Earth Orbit using 0.6m optical telescope" at University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Currently in the Galileo project, Vishnu is developing Passive radar system using OneWeb and Starlink as an emitter.

Devesh Nandal

• Swiss National Science Fund Postdoctoral Researcher at Center for Astrophysics | Harvard and Smithsonian

Biography

Devesh Nandal is a Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. He builds next-generation stellar evolution models for massive and supermassive stars. His work develops the physics of rotation, angular-momentum transport, and various mass loss mechanisms. He also studies how dark-matter reshapes stellar structure and lifetimes. He applies these models to the early universe to test whether massive and supermassive Population III stars formed and left observable traces. He computes nucleosynthetic yields and compares predicted N/O, C/O, and Ne/O to high-redshift galaxies to identify chemical fossils. He also computes non-LTE stellar atmospheres and predicts spectroscopic signatures such as the Balmer-break morphology with Hβ in emission and higher-order lines in absorption. This program links stellar physics to JWST observations and to the origin of the first heavy black-hole seeds.

Garry Nolan

• Rachford and Carlota Harris Professor, ChEM-H, Stanford University
• Ph.D., Department of Genetics, Stanford University
• B.S., Biology, Cornell University

Jack Phelps

• RF Engineering and Passive Radar Electrical Engineering and Astrophysics, Princeton University

Matthew Szenher

• Vice President of Architect at Medidata Solutions (2009 - Present)
• The University of Edinburgh, Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Robotics (2003-2008)
• Adjunct Lecturer in Computer Science at Hunter College (2000-2003)