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The Cluster Buster Team

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Patrick Treuthardt
-- Astrophysicist, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
-- Research Affiliate, Coastal Carolina University

Patrick is interested in what the shapes of spiral galaxies can tell us about some of their more elusive properties, like nuclear black hole mass and dark matter content. He especially likes that existing sky survey images can be used to estimate these parameters for large numbers of galaxies in a time-efficient way. In his spare time, Patrick enjoys playing board games with friends, working jigsaw puzzles with his wife, playing with his cats (Hans & Fritz), travelling, and outdoor activities like biking, hiking, and pickleball.

Alp Tezbasaran
-- Research Adjunct, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
-- Research Affiliate, Coastal Carolina University
-- Data Science Librarian, North Carolina State University
-- Ph.D. Candidate, North Carolina State University

Alp is a Data Science Librarian at the NC State University Libraries. In his role, he leads instruction on AI and Python programming topics, provides consultation on data science topics and tools, and manages the Data Labs to provide specialized hardware and software to patrons. Alp is a PhD student in Nuclear Engineering at NC State, a Research Adjunct in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Lab at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, and a Research Affiliate at Coastal Carolina University. His research is on High Performance Computing, AI, and ML applications in Nuclear Engineering Probabilistic Risk Assessment.

Ian Hewitt
-- Research Adjunct, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
-- Lecturer, Coastal Carolina University

Ian was a long time amateur astronomer and computer engineer when he decided to pursue professional astronomy. He is fascinated with using computers to try and understand the Universe around us. When not looking to the stars, he enjoys teaching, water sports (like scuba diving), travelling, and all kinds of history.

Ankit Biswas
-- Volunteer, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
-- Volunteer, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Ankit is an incoming freshman to Harvard College interested in astrophysics and machine learning systems. His work investigates the intersection between large astrophysical datasets and intelligent systems that can unveil new insights about physical phenomena. In his free time, he plays Quiz Bowl, reads sci-fi, and listens to his 1000-hour Bollywood playlist.

Patrick Wadsack-Stewart
-- Volunteer, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

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Cluster Buster Alumni

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Kara Snow
-- Volunteer, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences