I am a research astronomer whose main task is “make LSST find asteroids” — i.e., solve the asteroid linking problem in exciting new ways. I’m also interested in variable stars and Kuiper Belt objects, and in asteroid populations (particularly at very small sizes), collisional families, and asteroids with weird orbits or spin states. I love astronomical observing, looking at fresh data, and working on novel methods to squeeze all the science out of challenging data sets.

I currently work for Rubin Observatory as the Lead Community Scientist for the Community Engagement Team and as a Science Analyst for the Data Management team. My main research focus is supernovae, especially those of Type Ia.

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at the DiRAC Institute and a UW Data Science Postdoctoral Fellow at the UW eScience Institute. I am a member of the Rubin Observatory Commissioning team as well as a member of two LSST Science Collaborations: the LSST Solar System Science Collaboration (LSST SSSC) and the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (LSST DESC) where I am the co-convener of the Cosmological and Survey Simulations Working Group.

My scientific interests focus on creating new tools and methods to study large, complex datasets like the LSST through simulations, machine learning and high performance computing. These interests take me across a range of astronomical topics from detecting the faintest asteroids in our Solar System to measuring the distances to far-off galaxies.

Meredith Rawls is a research scientist in the Department of Astronomy and DiRAC at the University of Washington. She writes software to handle terabytes of nightly data from Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), which will ultimately become the highest resolution movie of the night sky ever made. She earned a BS from Harvey Mudd, a MS from San Diego State, and a PhD from New Mexico State. Her background is in stellar astrophysics, but lately she studies the plethora of newly-launched low-Earth-orbit satellites in the hopes observers worldwide don’t lose the night sky. She lives with her family in Seattle, enjoys playing viola, and primarily gets around by e-bike.

I am a research scientist at the University of Washington, working in the Data Management/Alerts Pipeline team of the LSST. I completed my bachelors in 2002 at Carleton College, in Northfield, MN, and my doctorate in 2010 at Drexel University, in Philadelphia, PA, both in physics and astronomy. I use large galaxy surveys to study galaxy evolution and the history and fate of the Universe.