I am now an astronomer at Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena. I design and build optical and infrared instruments that turn photons into physics. Projects I currently lead or co‑lead include Henrietta, a cryogenic IR spectrograph aimed at exoplanet atmospheres; MIRMOS, an integral‑field spectrograph for the Magellan Telescopes; and the Local Volume Mapper, a 500‑object IFU survey that will map the interstellar medium of nearby galaxies.

I worked at the Caltech Observatories as a Research astronomer. From 2010 to 2012 I was a senior postdoctoral scholar leading SED Machine. Prior to my work on SED Machine, I was a postdoctoral scholar working on the MOSFIRE spectrograph for the mighty Keck Telescope.

My Ph.D. work was supervised by Professor David Koo at Lick Observatory. My academic lineage (from the Berkeley “Badgrads” wiki): N.P. Konidaris (2009) → D.C. Koo (1981) → I.R. King (1952) → H. Shapley (1913) → H.N. Russell (1900) → C.A. Young (no Ph.D.). I’m fond of the imagination required to produce Young’s 7-prism spectrograph (figure from Young, “Spectroscopic notes”, 1870):

Contact Information

• Office: 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, California, 91101 USA
• Email: npk@carnegiescience.edu
• Phone: 831-704-6425