Jack Elvin-Poole

Jack moved to Canada in 2022, bringing with him a research background in astronomy that led him, almost by accident, into a career in software development. Today, as lead developer for CanDIAPL's Real-Time Analysis theme, he works on anything the project does that is “live” — the moment a telescope detects something, and the team reacts with analysis or data processing in real time. Much of his work involves building databases, writing software that triggers on specific astronomy events, and helping scientists get their real-time analysis code up and running.

 

His path to this work began at the University of Waterloo, where he developed pipelines for the Rubin Observatory's “static” science. From there, an opportunity arose to move over to the Real-Time Analysis side of CanDIAPL, opening up a whole new set of problems to dig into. What excites him most about the project is how directly it confronts the challenges posed by the sheer volume of data in modern astronomy.

 

A typical week for Jack is a balance of writing code, meeting with CanDIAPL team members to align on shared goals, and thinking through new ideas to bring to the Canadian astronomy community. His favourite part of the job is talking with scientists about their work and figuring out how to help them achieve their goals amid all that data.

 

Outside of work, Jack enjoys gardening, playing video games, and travelling with his family. His advice for anyone starting out in the field is simple: be the person who finishes things!