Christof Buchbender
CCAT Data Center Manager
I. Physikalisches Institut · University of Cologne
Zülpicher Straße 77 · 50937 Köln
I. Physikalisches Institut · University of Cologne
Zülpicher Straße 77 · 50937 Köln
As the CCAT Data Center Manager, I am responsible for the implementation of a Data Center that archives and processes the data taken by the Prime-Cam and CHAI instruments, which will be deployed at the FYST telescope of the CCAT observatory. The Data Center will be located at the "Regional Computing Center" of the University of Cologne. The data center will archive the raw data taken with the instruments, create "science-ready" data product and distribute them to the scientists. The overarching goal is to allow a fast scientific turn around from observations to publication.
As part of the GREAT team I was responsible for the Computer Infrastructure that was used to run the observations with GREAT on SOFIA. I managed the data backup pipeline and I designed an archive that allows to browse, interactively kalibrate and download the data taken by GREAT. Further the archive offered an automatic and interactive inflight log system, as well as the function to create data releases for GREAT data. As a member of the GREAT team I participated in many SOFIA flights in which I also observed as well as reduced data during the flights.
The first two years at the I. Physikalisches Institut I worked in the scope of the SMART/NANTEN2 project. Cologne contributed to the operations of the NANTEN2 telescope in Chile's Atacama Desert by deploying the Cologne SMART receiver. Unlike the more institutionalized setting of the IRAM 30m, NANTEN2 offered more of a hands-on experience. This experience not only expanded my understanding of telescope operations in high-altitude conditions but also offered invaluable lessons in remote telescope management.
I completed my PhD in Granada, Spain, where I had the privilege of serving as an Astronomer on Duty (AoD) at the IRAM 30m telescope. This role required me to spend one week per month at the observatory, acting as the primary liaison for visiting astronomers. My responsibilities encompassed aiding astronomers with their observing strategies, conducting maintenance observations, and facilitating communication among various expert groups, including those focused on receivers, backend systems, and computing. This role provided me with an in-depth understanding of the multifaceted operations involved in running a radio telescope.
I wrote my Diplom thesis at the Max-Planck Institut for Radioastronomy in Bonn (Germany) where I worked first as a Student Assistent then as a Diplom-Student (equivalent to Master Student). The topic of my work and thesis was a multi-wavelength study of the the Spiral Galaxy NGC3627. The thesis shows that a variable XCO conversion factor, as well as a variable Dust-to-Gas ratio has to be taken into account when trying to accurately estimate atomic and molecular gas content over the extent of a galactic disk.