Brief Bio
Dr. Dominic Benford is the Chief Scientist for the Cosmic Origins Program Office, where he is responsible for the scientific planning for and execution of future Cosmic Origins missions and the development of their requisite technologies. He is the Deputy Mission Scientist for WISE, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (wise.ssl.berkeley.edu/).
Dr. Benford joined the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland in 2001. Prior to this, he spent over two years in the Infrared Astrophysics Branch at Goddard, first as an NRC Research Associate, then as a Principle Physics Engineer for Raytheon/ITSS. He pursued research in far-infrared detector development as a Fellow of the GSRP program at Goddard from 1994-1998.
Dr. Benford was the Deputy PI of the Destiny mission to characterize dark energy, and served on the JDEM SCG and ISWG. He has led and participated in several mission concept studies, including the SAFIR Vision Mission, SPIRIT, SPECS, and FKSI. He has pursued research in continuum detectors for ground-based submillimeter observations, near-Terahertz heterodyne receiver technology, submillimeter observations of star forming regions and ultraluminous galaxies, and cryogenic systems for space observatories. His current primary technology research focus is in the development of ultrasensitive bolometers for far-infrared and submillimeter astronomy and supporting technologies. He is also heavily involved in developing far-infrared interferometry with the BETTII experiment, and in supporting cosmic microwave background polarimetry with the PIPER experiment.
Current Projects
Chief Scientist, Cosmic Origins Program Office
Deputy Mission Scientist, WISE
Brief Bio
Dr. Dominic Benford is the Chief Scientist for the Cosmic Origins Program Office, where he is responsible for the scientific planning for and execution of future Cosmic Origins missions and the development of their requisite technologies. He is the Deputy Mission Scientist for WISE, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (wise.ssl.berkeley.edu/).
Dr. Benford joined the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland in 2001. Prior to this, he spent over two years in the Infrared Astrophysics Branch at Goddard, first as an NRC Research Associate, then as a Principle Physics Engineer for Raytheon/ITSS. He pursued research in far-infrared detector development as a Fellow of the GSRP program at Goddard from 1994-1998.
Dr. Benford was the Deputy PI of the Destiny mission to characterize dark energy, and served on the JDEM SCG and ISWG. He has led and participated in several mission concept studies, including the SAFIR Vision Mission, SPIRIT, SPECS, and FKSI. He has pursued research in continuum detectors for ground-based submillimeter observations, near-Terahertz heterodyne receiver technology, submillimeter observations of star forming regions and ultraluminous galaxies, and cryogenic systems for space observatories. His current primary technology research focus is in the development of ultrasensitive bolometers for far-infrared and submillimeter astronomy and supporting technologies. He is also heavily involved in developing far-infrared interferometry with the BETTII experiment, and in supporting cosmic microwave background polarimetry with the PIPER experiment.
