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 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
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"