Alumni Spotlight: Christopher Lam

A former Flatiron Institute pre-doctoral fellow, Lam now works on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

A photo of Chris Lam working at a whiteboard in ipac. — Former CCA fellow Christopher Lam now works at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center and the California Institute of Technology. Courtesy of ipac

Astrophysicist Christopher Lam joined the Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute in 2022 for a one-year pre-doctoral fellowship in the Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA). While at CCA, he built a Python library called gaspery that uses Fisher Information to optimize the scheduling of radial velocity follow-up observations for exoplanet systems. He is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and runs a STEM cohort for first-generation and low-income college students called the Alliance for the Low-Income & First-Generation Narrative (AL1GN).

We recently caught up with Lam to ask him what he’s been up to as he’s continued his career.

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What are you doing now?
I am now a postdoc at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), working on the microlensing exoplanet occurrence rate pipeline for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

What is one thing that you’ve taken away from your time at the Simons Foundation that helps you in your current role?
My biggest takeaway was the impact of hospitality on producing a simultaneously nurturing and stimulating working environment. While most other academic environments can’t replicate the efforts of the large and amazing hospitality staff at the Flatiron Institute, my experience there shaped how I bring myself to the workplace and informed what I want to see in my scientific working environment. Basically, it gave me higher standards!

What is the coolest adventure you’ve been on since you left?
I went to Heidelberg, Germany, last month for a conference on microlensing, and it felt like stepping into a magical land! Also, I’m learning microlensing after working on identifying exoplanets through transiting and, through the CCA, radial velocity. That also feels like learning magic.

What’s your favorite non-work memory of the foundation?
I have so many! Either the after-school book club that the CCA pre-docs shared with some of our friends at the Center for Computational Neuroscience, or the holiday party at the American Museum of Natural History.