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Samuel Halverson

Photo of Samuel Halverson

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive

Pasadena, CA 91109

Curriculum Vitae:

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Member of:

Exoplanet Atmospheres

Scientist

Biography

My research focuses on developing new instruments and techniques to detect and characterize exoplanets, primarily using the Doppler radial velocity technique. I am broadly interested in pushing the measurement limits of exoplanet detection using both ground and space-based astronomical facilities to search for planets of all shapes and sizes. This involves developing new methods for modeling stellar activity, improving spectral data analysis techniques, and removing instrumental systematics. The majority of my instrumentation research revolves around developing new photonic technologies and astronomical spectrometers in both the optical and near-infrared to precisely measure the radial velocities of stars to search for orbiting planets.

Education

  • PhD Astronomy & Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University 2016
  • M.S. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University 2013
  • B.A. Physics & Astronomy, UC Berkeley 2009
  • A.A. Mandarin, City College of San Francisco 2005

Professional Experience

  • Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania and MIT 2016-2019
  • Optical engineer, JPL 2019-2025
  • Research Scientist, JPL 2025-Present

Community Service

  • Referee: Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A), the Astrophysical Journal (ApJ), Proceedings of Astronomical Society of the Pacific (PASP), Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems (JATIS), Geosciences, Applied Optics
  • Review panelist: NASA ROSES Exoplanet Research Program, NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics
    Research Grants, NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship Program, NOIRLab Time Allocation Committee
  • Reviewer: NASA Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business Technology Transfer program, JPL R&TD funding programs
  • Invited Steering Committee member, Extreme Precision Radial Velocity Research Coordination Network
  • Invited member, Astrophotonics Community Roadmap Team
  • Invited member of NASA/NSF Extreme Precision Radial Velocity (EPRV) Working Group – lead for instrument sub-group
  • Invited Lecturer, NASA Exoplanet Science Institute Sagan Summer School
  • Science Organizing Committee, Emerging Researchers in Exoplanet Science I conference

Research Interests

Exoplanet detection and characterization, high resolution spectroscopy, stellar activity, photonic systems, frequency standards.

Selected Awards

  • 2023: JPL Team Achievement Award, Modeling, error budgeting, and systems engineering for the successful PDR (HISPEC)
  • 2022: JPL Team Achievement Award, Final on-time delivery of wavefront-sensing and control algorithms (Roman CGI)
  • 2021: JPL Voyager Award, For leading the design, execution, and analysis of critical commissioning tests for the NEID high-precision Doppler Spectrometer.
  • 2021: NASA Group Achievement Award, For development and delivery of the state-of-the-art NEID radial velocity spectrograph.
  • 2020: JPL Team Achievement Award, Successful delivery of wavefront sensing and control algorithm library (Roman CGI)
  • 2016: NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellowship, NASA Exoplanet Science Institute
  • 2010: NASA Group Achievement Award, Space Interferometer Mission (SIM) Planet Finding Capability Study Team

Selected Publications

  • Quiet Please: Tracing Anomalous Radial Velocity Variations with a Physically Motivated Spot Model, Siegel, J., Halverson, S., Zhao, L., Al Moull, K., Robertson, P., Bender, C. F., Terrien, R., Roy, A.,Mahadevan, S., Hearty, F., Ninan, J. P., Wright, J. T., Ford, E. B., Schwab, C., Stefánsson, G. K., Blake, C. H., & McElwain, M. W. (2024), AJ
  • The death of Vulcan: NEID reveals the planet candidate orbiting HD 26965 is stellar activity, Burrows, A., Halverson, S., Siegel, J., Gilbertson, C., Luhn, J., Burt, J., Bender, C. F., Roy, A., Terrien, R., Vangstein, S., Mahadevan, S., Wright, J. T., Robertson, P., Ford, E. B., Stefánsson, G. K., Ninan, J. P., Blake, C. H., McElwain, M. W., Schwab, C., & Zhao, J. (2024), AJ
  • Revisiting Epsilon Eridani with NEID: Identifying New Activity-Sensitive Lines in a Young K Dwarf Star, Jiang, S., Roy, A., Halverson, S., Bender, C., Selgas, C., Otor, O. J., Mahadevan, S., Stefánsson, G., Terrien, R. C., Schwab, C. (2024), AJ
  • System design of the Keck Planet Finder, Gibson, S. R., Howard, A. W., Rider, K., Halverson, S., Roy, A., Baker, A. D., Edelstein, J., Smith, C., Fulton, B. J., Walawender, J., Brodheim, M., Brown, M., Chan, D., Dai, F., Deich, W., Gottschalk, C., Grillo, J., Hale, D., Hill, G., Holden, B., Householder, A., Isaacson, H., Ishikawa, Y., Jelinsky, S., Kassis, M., Kaye, S., Laher, R., Lanclos, K., Lee, C.-H., Lilley, S., McCarney, B., Miller, T. N., Payne, J., Petigura, E., Poppett, C., Raffanti, M. P., Rubenzahl, R., Sandford, D., Schwab, C., Shaum, A. P., Sirk, M. M., Smith, R., Thorne, J., Valliant, J., Vandenberg, A., Wang, S.-Y., Wishnow, E. H., Wold, T., Yeh, S., Baca, S., Beichman, C., Berriman, B., Brown, T., Casey, K., Chin, J., Chong, J., Cowley, D., Devenot, M., Elwir, H., Finstad, D., Fraysse, M., James, E., Jhoti, E., Killian, J., Levine, O., Li, A. C., Marin, E., Milner, S., Nance, C., O’Hanlon, T. J., Orr, D., Ortiz-Soto, R., Payne, T., Pember, J., Raskin, G., Savage, M., Seifahrt, A., Smith, B., Storesund, R., St¨ urmer, J., Suominen, N., Tehero, J., Von Boeckmann, T., Wages, K., Weisfeiler, M., Wilcox, M., Wizinowich, P., & Wolfenberger, A. (2024), Proc. SPIE
  • Staring at the Sun with the Keck Planet Finder: An Autonomous Solar Calibrator for High Signal-to-Noise Sun-as-a-Star Spectra, Rubenzahl, R., Halverson, S., Walawender, J., Hill, G. M., Howard, A. W., Brown, M., Ida, E., Tehero, J., Fulton, B. J., Gibson, S. R., Kassis, M., Smith, B., Wold, T., & Payne, J. (2023), PASP
  • Leveraging Space-based Data from the Nearest Solar-type Star to Better Understand Stellar Activity Signatures in Radial Velocity Data. Ervin, T., Halverson, S., Burrows, A., Murphy, N., Roy, A., Haywood, R. D., Rescigno, F., Bender, C. F., Lin, A. S. J., Burt, J., & Mahadevan, S. (2022), AJ
  • Into the Depths: A New Activity Metric for High-precision Radial Velocity Measurements Based on Line Depth Variations. Siegel, J. C., Rubenzahl, R. A., Halverson, S., & Howard, A. W. (2022), AJ
  • Stellar Activity Manifesting at a One-year Alias Explains Barnard b as a False Positive. Lubin, J., Robertson, P., Stefansson, G., Ninan, J., Mahadevan, S., Endl, M., Ford, E., Wright, J. T., Beard, C., Bender, C., Cochran, W. D., Diddams, S. A., Fredrick, C., Halverson, S., Kanodia, S., Metcalf, A. J., Ramsey, L., Roy, A., Schwab, C., & Terrien, R. (2021), AJ
  • Broadband Stability of the Habitable Zone Planet Finder Fabry-Perot Etalon Calibration System: Evidence for Chromatic Variation. Terrien, R. C., Ninan, J. P., Diddams, S. A., Mahadevan, S., Halverson, S., Bender, C., Fredrick, C., Hearty, F., Jennings, J., Metcalf, A. J., Monson, A., Roy, A., Schwab, C., & Stefansson, G. (2021), AJ
  • A Harsh Test of Far-field Scrambling with the Habitable-zone Planet Finder and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope. Kanodia, S., Halverson, S., Ninan, J. P., Mahadevan, S., Stefansson, G., Roy, A., Ramsey, L. W., Bender, C. F., Janowiecki, S., Cochran, W. D., Diddams, S. A., Drory, N., Endl, M., Ford, E. B., Hearty, F., Metcalf, A. J., Monson, A., Robertson, P., Schwab, C., Terrien, R. C., & Wright, J. T. (2021), ApJ, 912
  • Stellar spectroscopy in the near-infrared with a laser frequency comb. Metcalf, A. J., Anderson, T., Bender, C. F., Blakeslee, S., Brand, W., Carlson, D. R., Cochran, W. D., Diddams, S. A., Endl, M., Fredrick, C., Halverson, S., Hickstein, D. D., Hearty, F., Jennings, J., Kanodia, S., Kaplan, K. F., Levi, E., Lubar, E., Mahadevan, S., Monson, A., Ninan, J. P., Nitroy, C., Osterman, S., Papp, S. B., Quinlan, F., Ramsey, L., Robertson, P., Roy, A., Schwab, C., Sigurdsson, S., Srinivasan, K., Stefansson, G., Sterner, D. A., Terrien, R., Wolszczan, A., Wright, J. T., & Ycas, G. (2019), Optica
  • Frequency stability characterization of a broadband fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer, Jennings, J., Halverson, S., Terrien, R., Mahadevan, S., Ycas, G., & Diddams, S. (2017), Optics Express
  • The Impact of Charge Transfer Inefficiency on Extreme Precision Doppler Measurements, Blake, C., Halverson, S., Roy, A (2017), Journal of Instrumentation
  • A comprehensive radial velocity error budget for next generation Doppler spectrometers. Halverson, S., Terrien, R., Mahadevan, S., Roy, A., Bender, C., Stefansson, G. K., Monson, A., Levi, E., Hearty, F., Blake, C., McElwain, M., Schwab, C., Ramsey, L., Wright, J., Wang, S., Gong, Q., & Roberston, P. (2016), Proc. SPIE
  • ‘Modal-noise’ in single-mode fibers: A cautionary note for high precision radial velocity instruments, Halverson, S., Roy, A., Mahadevan, S., & Schwab, C, ApJ, 814, L22, 2015
  • An Efficient, Compact, and Versatile Fiber Double Scrambler for High Precision Radial Velocity Instruments, Halverson, S., Roy, A., Mahadevan, S., Ramsey, L., Levi, E., Schwab, C., Hearty, F., & MacDonald, N. (2015), ApJ
  • Development of Fiber Fabry-Perot Interferometers as Stable Near-infrared Calibration Sources for High Resolution Spectrographs, Halverson, S., Mahadevan, S., Ramsey, L., Hearty, F., Wilson, J., Holtzman, J., Redman, S., Nave, G., Nidever, D., Nelson, M., Venditti, N., Bizyaev, D., & Fleming, S. (2014), PASP
  • Suppression of Fiber Modal Noise Induced Radial Velocity Errors for Bright Emission-line Calibration Sources, Mahadevan, S., Halverson, S., Ramsey, & Venditti, N. (2014), ApJ
  • Development of a New, Precise Near-infrared Doppler Wavelength Reference: A Fiber Fabry-Perot Interferometer. Halverson, S., Mahadevan, S., Ramsey, L., Redman, S., Nave, G., Wilson, J. C., Hearty, F., & Holtzman, J. (2012), Proc. SPIE