astrophysicist ➡️ software engineer
🔭 I was an observational astronomer working in the field of galaxy evolution and dynamics, where I used the world's best telescopes to look deep into space, and back in time, to a time when galaxies were younger and and more violent than they are today.
⭐ By studying their galactic dust and gas heated by exploding stars and active black holes, I uncovered how galaxies use them to fuel their star formation.
👨💻 I applied my knowledge in both physics and astrophysics to create innovative computer vision and image processing algorithms for aerospace and maritime technology in industry.
🛰️ Now, I combine my passions for imagery, computer vision, and remote sensing to develop open source software to empower fellow scientists and developers to explore the Earth.
talking
writing
Unique astrophysics projects
Published papers
(peer-reviewed)
Citations
Reads
(past 90 days)
Skills
Resume
Summary
Kevin Lacaille
Innovative & enthusiastic Software Engineer with 11 years of experience developing intuitive and user-friendly APIs, novel computer vision solutions, data science frameworks, image processing techniques, in both industry and academia.
Professional Experience
Senior Software Engineer
Spexi Geospatial, Remote, Canada
2023 - present
Developing an advanced geospatial drone imagery marketplace, leveraging cutting-edge technologies to scale and optimize performance.
- Created Spexi's geo-referencing service for drone imagery.
- Designing high scalability and user-friendly search and delivery web APIs.
- Developing and deploying image processing and computer vision models for precise object detection and classification (WALDO/YOLO-v7).
- Developing a data science framework for Spexi's imagery marketplace. Python: PyTorch, Open Neural Network Exchange (ONNX), OpenCV, SciPy, NumPy, Matplotlib, Rasterio, geojson, asyncio
TypeScript & JavaScript: Node, Turbo, Knex.JS, Turf.JS, Express.TS
Tools: git, bash, GitHub, Docker, Atlassian Tools, Google Earth Engine (GEE)
Cloud: Amazon Web Services (AWS); Lambda, SQS, API Gateway
Database: PostgreSQL, PostGIS
OS: MacOS
Software Engineer
Planet Labs, Remote, Canada
2021 - 2023
Developer Relations
Developing tools to enable and empower fellow scientists and developers to do amazing things using Planet's APIs and imagery.
- Lead developer on Planet's Python SDK, including a Python client and a command line interface (CLI)
for Planet's public APIs.
Planet SDK - Working directly with users to develop custom GIS solutions.
- Developing GIS-based code examples and demo apps and creating code-focused tutorials.
Planet Notebooks - Writing technical blog posts for Planet's Developer Center and maintaining developer tools
documentation.
Developer Center Blog
Developer Center
Python: asyncio, click, httpx, Rasterio, geojson, NumPy, Matplotlib, OpenCV, SciPy
Web Dev: HTML, JS, CSS, Redoc, Jinja, Pelican
Tools: git, bash, GitHub, GitLab, Jupyter Notebooks, Docker, Atlassian Tools, Google Earth Engine (GEE)
Cloud: Google Cloud Platform (CGP)
OS: MacOS
Algorithm Engineer
L3Harris WESCAM, Burlington, ON
2019 - 2021
Advanced Processing Team
Developed novel image processing pipelines and synthetic data generation tools for airborne and maritime platforms.
- The lead algorithm developer for two novel infrared-based imaging systems.
- Developed object detection, multi-target tracking, track to track association, and track fusion algorithms for imaging systems.
- Developed a radiometrically accurate synthetic data generator, resulting in massive reductions in labour hours spent in gathering feld imagery and rapid development of computer vision models.
- Maintained a ground truth and data ingestion application, an optical Yow model (FlowNet2), and an incorporated an object classifer (YOLOv4). Python: Matplotlib, NumPy, OpenCV, Pytorch, Tensorflow, Keras, SciPy, Scikit-learn
MATLAB: Image Processing, Computer Vision, Signal Processing, Deep Learning
Tools: git, bash, Docker, Atlassian Tools
OS: Linux
Research Assistant
McMaster University, Hamilton, ON
Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS
2012 - 2019
Observational Astrophysics Labs
Hands-on observational astronomy to commission prototype sensors and detect some of the most distant and ancient star systems.
- Developed spectral line fitting algorithms, modelled galaxy's dynamics, and used statistical analysis to uncover distant galaxies.
- Designed algorithms to align obscured star maps to unprecedented accuracy to confidently measure stellar growth. Python: Matplotlib, NumPy, SciPy, Pandas, AstroPy, AplPy, PyFits, Galpak
Tools: git, Starlink, CASA, LaTeX
OS: Linux, MacOS
Resident Scientist
East Asian Obervatory, Hilo, HI
2016
- Assisted in commissioning of an instrument on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT)
- Conducted >450 hrs of scientific observations with the JCMT's legacy and prototype instruments Python: Matplotlib, NumPy, AstroPy, AplPy, PyFits
Tools: git, bash, Starlink
OS: Linux
Education
Doctor of Philosophy (self-withdrew), Astrophysics
McMaster University, Hamilton, ON
2017 - 2019
Thesis title: "The nature of the interstellar medium of starbursts"
Master of Science, Physics
Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS
2015 - 2017
Thesis title: "A sub-mm survey of far-IR protoclusters & the variability of protostars"
Bachelor of Science Honours, Physics & Math
Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS
2011 - 2015
Thesis title: "Locating sub-mm galaxies within protoclusters at z>2"